I am afraid we are up to our eyeballs in the FreeFrom Food Awards judging at the moment so neither managed to see the Channel 4 programme yesterday nor read the Mail/Sun. But, thank goodness, Alex is on the ball and has covered the subject for us on his Food Allergy and Intolerance Ink blog – see here.
The only thing that we would add for general interest is a link to an article that Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, founder of Genius Gluten Free, wrote for us last year explaining why making gluten-free bread was so much more expensive than making a standard supermarket loaf.
However, bread is one of the hardest products to make ‘freefrom’ so, while there is certainly some excuse for it being more expensive, the same does not go for look-a-like products such as the Tesco tomato ketchup that Alex quotes (£1.20 for the ‘freefrom’ version, 65p for the ordinary one) when the only possible extra expense could be extra testing for allergen contamination.
And hardly anyone in the UK makes gluten free bread that is also maize/corn free. Sigh. Only Warburtons Thins (which are delicious) and Barkat (which tastes like cardboard).
I sigh at all the products I can’t eat – and know they make manufacturers and sellers think they’re catering to this market adequately.
For Anna . . . . I avoid both gluten and maize too. If you haven’t already I personally recommend considering the range of breads from Artisan Bread Organic. They retail exclusively through independent health food stores (including WholeFoods) but also sell directly online. All their breads are gluten-free and they are all or mostly all maize free too.
They are very dense breads, like a typical german bread. My experience is that they are flavorsome, filling, freeze well, toast well but the slices are very small so they are not particularly useful for making sandwiches, unless you like really small sandwiches 🙂
http://www.artisanbread-abo.com/Gluten-Free+Breads/Loaves.htm
Thanks for that information. Is this in the UK? We live in Australia but spend 4-5 months a year in the UK, as I write for UK publishers and also have family there. Currently my husband has developed a recipe that works well – for toast. It only stays soft for a few hours after baking so I have a sandwich then and not again till it’s new loaf time.