Bag Of Gluten!

[CMCM]

I was in the health food store the other day and saw a bag of GLUTEN! Bob's Red Mill, I think it was. I just looked at it thinking it was a bag of pure poison to all of us!

[Kaycee]

I see bags of "gluten flour" in the supermarkets too , and yuck, it makes my stomach turn. How could anybody with a conscience even consider marketing the stuff!

Cathy

[confused]

I was in the health food store the other day and saw a bag of GLUTEN! Bob's Red Mill, I think it was. I just looked at it thinking it was a bag of pure poison to all of us!

I have an bag in my kitchen lol. My poor mom thought she grabbed me the gluten free bread mix. So i was getting to make it, and looked at the label and it was just gluten bread, i was like omg, im glad i didnt open it.

paula

[tarnalberry]

Vital wheat gluten is an important ingredient when making whole wheat bread as whole wheat flour doesn't have as much gluten as bread flour and hence doesn't rise as well. I had to throw out a bag from my kitchen when I went gluten free.

[Guest lorlyn]

When i saw it at the health food store i was thinking it was also a bag of poision and my daughter could not beleive they sell it.

[hathor]

Imagine the seitan -- that is pretty much straight gluten that is eaten by itself! It is used as a mock meat in some vegetarian dishes. I used to love the stuff

[larry mac]

I was in the health food store the other day and saw a bag of GLUTEN! Bob's Red Mill, I think it was. I just looked at it thinking it was a bag of pure poison to all of us!

I use to add vital wheat gluten to my bread all the time. Was one of the many things I had to dispose of three months ago.

I'm finding that it's important to keep in mind that wheat is not "bad" or "evil" to normal people. It is to us of course, but we are an extremely small group. I had never even heard of Celiac Disease prior to last December.

By comparison, I was well aware of peanut allergies due to the media, product packaging warnings (I wonder if that was the first warnings), the airlines stopping the peanut servings, and my neighbor's kids having peanut allergies. We don't think anything about eating peanuts or react in any way when we see a bag or can of peanuts, but I'm sure they do. It doesn't mean that peanuts are "bad" or "evil" though.

Same for dairy and any number of other foods. Just because some people have dairy intolarance doesn't mean cheese is "bad" or "evil".

If everyone eliminated everything everyone else was intolarant to, nobody would be able to eat anything!

best regards, lm

[RiceGuy]

Vital wheat gluten is an important ingredient when making whole wheat bread as whole wheat flour doesn't have as much gluten as bread flour and hence doesn't rise as well. I had to throw out a bag from my kitchen when I went gluten free.

Apparently they don't know about guar gum

[codetalker]

Vital wheat gluten is an important ingredient....

I love seeing it labeled that way on the store shelf. Makes me expect to see "Vital arsenic" on the next product over.

[tarnalberry]

Apparently they don't know about guar gum

Gah. Guar doesn't work *nearly* as well. Another reason I just don't do bread.

(So sayeth the food snob. )

[Mountain Mama]

Tarnalberry, the food snob, I was wondering... Do you have a blog or something with recipes you make on it?? You always post these wonderful snobby menus from holidays and the like. I want! lol Where do you get your recipes? If you tell me you make them up then you better be making a cookbook! I want to be a food snob too!

P.S. I have never had dark chocolate! lol

[Nancym]

Heh! I used to bake with it all the time.

[tarnalberry]

Tarnalberry, the food snob, I was wondering... Do you have a blog or something with recipes you make on it?? You always post these wonderful snobby menus from holidays and the like. I want! lol Where do you get your recipes? If you tell me you make them up then you better be making a cookbook! I want to be a food snob too!

P.S. I have never had dark chocolate! lol

I have a website, but the easiest place to find them at the moment is here, on a thread I started for posting my recipes: Open Original Shared Link

I primarily make them up, often with inspiration from cookbooks, food shows, restaurants, and friends.

PS- get yourself some tasty chocolate! thursdays are chocolate tasting days, after all. you've got five days to get yourself some.

[Mountain Mama]

Oh thank you so much!! I am just beside myself, I can't wait to try the butternut squash soup!!! YUMMY! Thanks again!! And, to help out a dark chocolate newbie, what kind should I try that I can get fairly easily by thursday? Not from a specialty shop... I am far away from them at the moment. I am near a Haggen, Safeway, etc. I had no idea thursdays were chocolate tasting days! Onward to new traditions!

[hathor]

And, to help out a dark chocolate newbie, what kind should I try that I can get fairly easily by thursday? Not from a specialty shop... I am far away from them at the moment.

It really is dependent on what your stores have. I would advise against the Hershey's dark chocolate bar because it contains dairy and it isn't that good (IMHO, of course -- people have different tastes). Be sure to check the ingredients.

I always try to go for organic because I think it is better for the planet, it is less likely to have chemicals or other additives, it seems to taste better, and I know that none of the countries with appalling labor conditions have any organic production (google "child slavery chocolate"). You also might look for chocolate by non-US countries, less likely to be overly sweet (this is just a generalization -- so, of course, there are exceptions: just giving you a couple hints in making an initial selection if you have more than one possibility readily available to you).

I like Dagoba, Green & Black, and Endangered Species. Trader Joes has some dark chocolate specific to particular countries that is also nice. But there is a lot of yummy stuff out there. I'm just listing the stuff I see when I go to the grocery store!

As a newbie, you probably want to develop your taste. Good dark chocolate will list the cacao percentage. If you go for a high percentage at first, it may seem overly bitter to you, accustomed as you are to very sweet milk chocolate (which now seems too sweet for my taste). So pick something that is lower at first, without containing anything you don't want. Savor it slowly ...

Try out different things and see which you like. Sounds like fun to me

Oh my, I need to go buy some chocolate

[Mountain Mama]

Why thank you Hathor! I will try one of the brands you mentioned. I have never been a milk chocolate person, it is too sweet for me, but never thought to try dark chocolate! I think I will venture out today and see what chocolate I can find, this may make a great new hobby! lol

[tarnalberry]

Savor it slowly ...

heh... good point. I see people talk about how they eat a whole chocolate bar in a day, and I think "Gah! I'd be sick, and I LOVE chocolate." Good dark chocolate is strong stuff, and a little piece (like 1/2" by 1/2") is a good place to start. Three pieces that size, and I'm done - leaving a small bar like Dagoba makes good for ... four days, at least. A Tropical Source bar is easily a week of chocolate.

and all this chocolate talk has doomed me - I just placed a very large order for a very large amount of good dark chocolate. *sigh* (Bonnat, Castelain, Dagoba, Domori, Cluizel, Pralus, Slitti, Theo, and Valhrona... Long live Chocolate Tasting Thursdays!)

[Nancym]

I usually get my chocolate at Trader Joe's. I like the Noir 85% and the chocolate from one source the best. lindt 85% is good too. But I now have a chocolate box where I keep my chocolate bars. Yeah, you really can't eat that much of the really, really dark stuff. I have a square or two and I'm totally satisfied. With more sugar that stuff goes down a lot faster.

[Mountain Mama]

Ok, I went out and got some! I got the 59% Dagoba semisweet dark, and it is good, I like it alot. I also got Green & Black's 70% bittersweet, but then noticed on the back it says made in a facility that manufactures wheat, so I haven't tried it. I also got Endangered Species 70% Dark chocolate with deep forest mint and that one is the big winner!!! I LOVE that one, it is perfect, the best chocolate I have ever had, which, lol, is not saying much as these are the only dark chocolates I have ever tried. But I will definately but that one over and over. I will buy the Dagoba also, but really really like that mint one. I had 2 peices of each and you are so correct, they are rich, and they will last me several days. How fun is this! Thanks so much for luring me into the world of dark chocolate, I had no idea what I was missing out on!!

[larry mac]

edited / lm

[Mountain Mama]

Oh Larry,

I am so sorry for the hijacking of the thread. I did just pop in and do that rather rudely in my chcoclate excitement! A new chocolate thread will be started, a fantastic idea I might add. Come on over and join, I am new to chocolate and need some help, lol.

I will now return you to your bag of gluten topic, enjoy!

[larry mac]

Oh Larry,

I am so sorry for the hijacking of the thread. I did just pop in and do that rather rudely in my chcoclate excitement! A new chocolate thread will be started, a fantastic idea I might add. Come on over and join, I am new to chocolate and need some help, lol.

I will now return you to your bag of gluten topic, enjoy!

Thank you but I pretty much think the Bag 'O Gluten is dead, I killed it. Sorry, just my misguided idea of levity.

I'm not personally knowlegeable about fancy chocolate. Although I did recently try some of the new dark chocolate products showing up in the regular stores. Thought they were really tasty.

best regards, lm

[larry mac]

Oh Larry,

I am so sorry for the hijacking of the thread. I did just pop in and do that rather rudely in my chcoclate excitement! A new chocolate thread will be started, a fantastic idea I might add. Come on over and join, I am new to chocolate and need some help, lol.

I will now return you to your bag of gluten topic, enjoy!

Thank you but I pretty much think the Bag 'O Gluten is dead, I killed it. Sorry, just my misguided idea of levity. I'm not personally knowlageable about fancy chocolate. Although I did recently try some of the new dark chocolate products showing up in the regular stores. Thought they were really tasty.

best regards, lm

p.s., Think I better go mow the yard now!

[hathor]

I spent considerable effort writing a response to Bag 'O Gluten (coming up with what I thought was a very witty statement) and then you, tarnalberry, Nancym, and hathor hijacked the thread!

Sorry Given the interest, perhaps we need an entire forum devoted to the subject. There is another thread (about dairy intolerance) that has turned into a discussion of dark chocolate as well ...

[larry mac]

Sorry Given the interest, perhaps we need an entire forum devoted to the subject. There is another thread (about dairy intolerance) that has turned into a discussion of dark chocolate as well ...

Yes dear hathor, I was very aware of the other thread. That's why I couldn't stand idly by and do nothing all the while the forum was being hijacked by the chocolate girls! Actually, it was an ill timed attempt at facetiousness (on a scale of one to ten, about a seven).

yours truly, lm