Mama's Cooking

[ll79]

Hi, I have had celiacs for a little over a year now. My mom recently made some cookies for me that were gluten free. However, she made regular cookies right before that. While the regular cookies were in the oven, she cleaned the cooking ware and cooked me some gluten free cookies. I have had two cookies for the last three days around lunch time and for the last three days in the evening I have been having some major stomach problems. So, my question is, can a person use the same cooking ware for gluten free foods and for regular foods?

[larry mac]

IMO, no. Emphatically no.

Not only that, I'm only comfortable if I myself do the cooking. There's simply no way on earth that someone else, despite the very best intentions, can fathom the intracasies of cross contamination.

Last night I watched my step-daughter, who is pretty good (relatively speaking) at trying to accomodate my gluten-free diet (by trying not to poison me too much), wash a pizza cutter with which she had just cut a regular gluten pizza, with the sponge in my sink. Yes, the same sponge I use to wash dishes with. And she is the smart one!

I keep completely separate pots & pans for my wife (& daughter), and myself. I only feel comfortable (by that I mean not totally freaking out), when I do almost all the grocery shopping, cooking, and dishwashing.

best regards, lm

[Juliebove]

Heavens no! That flour gets all over everything. And there are those here who say you can not clean the bakeware enough to make it safe. Now I did not personally replace all of my bakeware. But I do tend to use foil pans for baking now and if I make something like oven fries or pizza, I cover the pans with foil. That seems to work for my daughter but she has an allergy to wheat and not celiac.

What I won't do is bake with wheat flour at all. That gets all over the kitchen and would be very bad for you! I actually got rid of all gluten containing items at first. But then my husband began to complain. He wanted crackers. And sandwiches. So I would buy him pre-made sandwiches. The crackers were kept away from her food. Eventually I got to where I would buy bread on occasion but I am very careful to avoid cross contamination.

[hannahp57]

there are a number of things that could have gone wrong...

1.)her ingredients could have had gluten or been contaminated from the other gluten containing things in that kitchen

2.)she could have put your cookies on the same baking sheet without thinking about it

3.)the utensils may not have been cleaned as thoroughly as is necessary. if she used wooden spoons cleaning is not effective in removing gluten and so would contaminate you regardless

4.) could be CC just from flour in the air, on her hands, etc.

this is a risky business. its nice for others to offer because it definitely doesnt happen often but from now on recommend she bake cookies for you at YOUR house (maybe have a bake day together!-that'd be fun) that way your stuff is not CC'ed and you can have an eye on things

[lpellegr]

Other ways to cross-contaminate: I used to dip the measuring cup from the flour into the sugar. My first year gluten-free I tried to make regular Christmas cookies for everyone else and gluten-free ones for me, and I ended up giving away 5 pounds of sugar that I had contaminated by that old habit. The margarine/butter they use can be contaminated with crumbs from previous use. Flour stays in the air for at least 24 hrs after use, and settles on everything. They love you and they mean well, but you take a risk every time you eat someone else's home cooking. If she wants to do that again, she should make the gluten-free food first (and you should come over and supervise, if Mom will tolerate that).