Cheeses?

[aljf]

Which cheeses have gluten and which don't? I know bleu cheese is a no-no, but what about feta and gorgonzola? (I'm asking about them because of similar textures.) I am also pretty sure that hard cheeses are fine, but what about in-between cheeses like brie?

Thanks!

[Guest gfinnebraska]

Here is a reply I found from Richard:

I've never found a brie that wasn't gluten-free.

It's also not true that all blue cheese has gluten. Most blue cheese made in the U.S. is started on an artificial medium, not bread. Boar's Head blue cheese is gluten-free. The cheese used in Outback's blue cheese dressing is gluten-free. Kraft and Marie's blue cheese dressings are gluten-free (or were last time I checked). I'm sure there are other brands that are gluten-free.

Hope that helps!!

[Guest gfinnebraska]

Feta and gorgonzola are both gluten free as well.

[skbird]

Are you sure about gorgonzola? I was under the impression that any blue-veined cheese *could* contain gluten, depending on if the cuture was started on bread or not.

Ah, and I have seen brie blue cheese (Cambzola is my favorite) and the last time I ate that stuff I got gluten sick so I am avoiding that from now on. Blue veined cheeses are my favorite so this has not been easy for me. I would love to find one in my stores that is confirmed gluten free (can't find Boars Head - is it a dressing? I'm looking for the actual cheese, not a dressing).

I have read that some crumbled or shredded cheeses can contain flour to prevent sticking but don't know which brands.

Stephanie

[Guest gfinnebraska]

I got my information doing a "search" on this site. You may want to check into it further, but that is what this site says.

[skbird]

Hmmm. Well, if I do a search on Google with "gluten free gorgonzola" I get a few hits:

Open Original Shared Link

Cheese

Allowed: All aged cheese, such as cheddar, Swiss, edam, parmesan; cottage cheese; cream cheese; pasteurized processed cheese; cheese spreads.

Avoid: Any cheese product containing oat gum, some veined cheeses (bleu, stilton, roquefort, gorgonzola).

Open Original Shared Link

Foods to Omit

* Malted milk

* Some milk drinks

* Flavored or frozen yogurt

* Any cheese product containing oat gum, some veined cheeses (bleu, stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola)

Open Original Shared Link

Veined Cheeses: Gluten free: Unknown. Vegetarian: Unknown. Comments: Some veined cheeses like Roquefort, blue cheese, Gorgonzola, and Stilton may use a cultured blue mold that could be of bread origin.

Personally, I'd avoid unless I had confirmation that it was indeed gluten free. Which is a major bummer as when I first read your post I got excited - I'd be SO happy to eat gorgonzola...

Stephanie

[ianm]

BLUE CHEESE HAS GLUTEN!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Tell me this isn't true! It's my favortite.

Can't say I've ever had a problem with it but I will be more careful with it.

[celiac3270]

These days that isn't much of a threat.....I don't think any of the mainstream companies make it using bread.

[skbird]

Yeah, it's a weird thing. But I don't eat mainstream cheeses all that often, I am a major cheese lover and will go out of my way to try this weird one or that artisan one. The stinkier, the better! I love the French imports - and it appears those are the most likely suspects. I did feel pretty bad after eating the Cambzola one so I will avoid, though sadly.

Here I am in a store I found with TONS of imported cheese...

Stephanie

[ianm]

Whew! That's a relief. Cheese is the most important food group.

[lovegrov]

As I said on that earlier post, it simply is not necessary to avoid all blue-veined cheeses. If you call companies you can find out how the culutre was started. Many cheeses are no longer started with bread mold.

Even when it is started on bread, there's considerable debate about whether gluten is even transferred. You're not putting actual bread into the cheese, just the mold or culture. If it IS transferred, the amount would be less than 1 part per million by the time you get to the finished product, at least according to a cheese maker who wrote to a St. John's poster a couple of years ago). As I also pointed out, there are a number of blue cheese dressings known to be gluten-free, including Outback, Kraft and Marie's.

This is STRICTLY a personal decision, but I have decided not to worry about blue-veined cheeses. I am NOT advising anybody else to follow this path based on what I've said here. You need to and should do your own research. But no matter what, there most definitely ARE blue-veined cheeses that are gluten-free.

For the person who asked, Boar's Head is a brand of cheese and deli meat. I find it at some Krogers. You can see what they make at boarshead.com.

richard

[skbird]

I'll give one a shot when I can find a verified gluten free blue cheese as I did get sick after eating one that isn't verified. I was pretty surprised, actually, that it made me sick, but don't want to go through that again. I wish I could find Boar's Head locally or one of the other ones listed on the delphi forums but I have not had any luck.

Thanks for the information.

Stephanie

[lovegrov]

If you can't find Boar's Head or another listed, then all you can do is get the names of the ones you can find and then try to track down a company phone number or web site.

richard

[skbird]

I'm motivated now! I *love* blue/bleu cheese! I go to a cheese shop and will spend $50 if I'm not careful... drool... <homer sound>

Thanks!

Stephanie

[minibabe]

Boars Head has gluten-free blue cheese and I eat the Boars Head feta all the time....I even bring it into restaruants because I dont want to risk eating bad Feta.

[lovegrov]

Never heard of feta with gluten.

richard

[Rikki Tikki]

OK Kimberley:

I just gotta know. Where did you find your very cute avatar?

[Guest Sibewill]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever seen Boars Head Blue cheese? I was begining to think it is just a figment of my imagination, and have even been told it doesn't exist by several deli departments...

[lovegrov]

I haven't just seen it, I've bought and eaten it.

richard

[Rikki Tikki]

I thought all cheeses were ok unless they were processed or shredded?

Thanks

[skbird]

I live in California and I've never seen Boar's Head, but then maybe there's an embargo on non-California cow cheese (it's a big campaign here - "Good Cheese Comes from Happy [California] Cows" (uh, as opposed to, say, "mad" cows???) ... I can find cheese from other countries here, though, so who knows...

When I look at the Delphi food list, they list Maytag and Treasure Cove as both having been started on wheat or rye bread but not having any testable gluten in the end result. What I wonder though is if they use rye bread, can they test appropriately? The glutens in wheat, rye and barley are all different and from what I've read the elisa test is for wheat gluten. So saying there's no testable gluten in a product that uses rye bread as a starter doesn't necessairly make me feel safe.

I have had the Maries blue cheese dressing at Round Table Pizza, btw, and gotten glutened from it. If I bring my own vinegar, I don't get glutened there, but if I use the blue cheese, I do. I think since they must mix it it could be a slightly different formulation. I could be wrong on that. But beware...

Stephanie

[lovegrov]

I can't tell you how accurately they can measure rye, but as I said before, the culture they use is miniscule. If the culture were pure 100 percent gluten, the amount

would be somewhere around one part per million. Of course the culture is not 100 percent gluten (if there is indeed any gluten at all), so the percentage is well below one part per million (according to the information I read from a cheesemaker). You probably get more gluten than that every time you eat out through cross contamination.

If you're convinced the Marie's has made you sick then I certainly would stay away from it, but it's absolutely impossible to compare different visits and say the dressing was the culprit. For all you know, the time you had the Marie's somebody picked croutons out of your salad. Or perhaps they keep their dressing in large open containers that allow contamination as people work around them. The only way you could make a true comparison that would mean anything would be for two equally sensitive celiacs to split the same salad with one using the restaurant dressing and the other using their own vinegar.

richard

[tarnalberry]

Boar's Head is available in Ralph's supermarkets (among other places) in Southern California. I think I saw it in one of the stores in Northern California when I was there last Christmas, but I don't remember where.

[skbird]

I've heard that it's a miniscule amount of any grain left in blue cheese, if there is any, but I have gotten sick now from Cambozola brand blue cheese (which is a German made blue cheese brie) and the Maries was from the salad bar (by me), and freshly poured (not double-dipped...) so no croutons. I'm thinking that the dressing was made from a mix, and may have had flour in it for thickening or something. Don't know. Just know I was sick for sure after eating it....

I will look the next time I'm near a Ralphs - the nearest one is more than an hour away from me... (I'm in Chico, think there's an embargo on Ralph's in Chico, and that I'm not actually kidding about!)

Stephanie

[lovegrov]

I do doubt that the same Marie's mixture I buy in the store would be used on a salad bar because of the expense, unless it's an expensive restaurant.

richard