What Is That Bad Taste In My gluten-free Foods?

[maddycat]

I've been gluten free for over 3 years now so have had a chance to try lots of different gluten free foods. There are some foods that have an off taste to them (it actually repulses me)- it is hard to explain but the best I can do is say that it tastes like that bad taste you get in the back of your mouth, like bad breath, after sleeping or if you have a cold. I have tasted it in mostly gluten-free bread products- sometimes in Glutino breads, LaTortilla Factory Ivory Teff tortillas, Whole Foods gluten-free Breads and most recently in a bag of my beloved Pamelas pancake mix (oh no!). It doesn't seem to be in every loaf, or every time for a particular brand, that is what is stumping me about this. Anyone know what I am talking about? Or am I just crazy?! Anyone know what it is, is there a particular flour that goes "bad" or rancid and causes this? None of the items have been past sell by dates and I mostly keep them frozen until use (not the Pamelas mix), so I don't think that is the problem!

Thanks for any help- I tried to ask my Husband (he is not gluten-free) and he had no idea what I was talking about- maybe I am just a super sensitive taster now!

Marcia

[MonKol]

  On 1/11/2010 at 6:31 PM, maddycat said:

I've been gluten free for over 3 years now so have had a chance to try lots of different gluten free foods. There are some foods that have an off taste to them (it actually repulses me)- it is hard to explain but the best I can do is say that it tastes like that bad taste you get in the back of your mouth, like bad breath, after sleeping or if you have a cold. I have tasted it in mostly gluten-free bread products- sometimes in Glutino breads, LaTortilla Factory Ivory Teff tortillas, Whole Foods gluten-free Breads and most recently in a bag of my beloved Pamelas pancake mix (oh no!). It doesn't seem to be in every loaf, or every time for a particular brand, that is what is stumping me about this. Anyone know what I am talking about? Or am I just crazy?! Anyone know what it is, is there a particular flour that goes "bad" or rancid and causes this? None of the items have been past sell by dates and I mostly keep them frozen until use (not the Pamelas mix), so I don't think that is the problem!

Thanks for any help- I tried to ask my Husband (he is not gluten-free) and he had no idea what I was talking about- maybe I am just a super sensitive taster now!

Marcia

In my fairly short experience, I have found that MANY gluten free foods, especially frozen meals are loaded with garlic. My husband and I hate garlic but some of my favourite meals have it in, for example almost all Amy's brand and Glutino frozen meals have a lot of garlic. I am not sure why this is, perhaps to give flavor to something that would otherwise be bland in their opinion? Maybe this is what you are tasting? In my opinion, despite the health benefits, garlic is putrid, especially when others around you have to smell it on your breath. I know if someone is near me with garlic breath my stomach turns over and I have to get away. And then there is the waking up in the night dying of thirst and fuming of it. This is a huge shame because I live on these frozen foods, or used to. Now as well as checking for gluten-free, I am now checking for garlic... which believe me, is in almost everything. I can rely on Ian's (chicken nuggets have garlic but only a little) and certain hormel canned items. Next stop is looking at easy recipes to try where I can control the ingredients, but it's hard.

[mommida]

I am guessing from my memory what is in those products.

pea protein

bean (grabanzaor fava) flour

and the worst IMO is quinoa. I have a gag reflex from the after taste exactly like you describe.

I don't like sorghum either

[OptimisticMom42]

I've noticed that some gluten free products have to much baking soda for my taste buds. Yucky after taste of dishsoap.

[maddycat]

Thank you for your responses!

1) Definitely not garlic- I am a garlic lover and actually made my yucky tasting bread into garlic bread to try and mask the taste!

2) I couldn't find many ingredients that overlapped between products other than rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch, cornstarch and baking powder. So, not not a pea/bean flour- which I don't really like the taste of either, but it isn't the taste that I am trying to describe in the original post!

Keep the ideas coming, I really want to solve this mystery!

Marcia

[DownWithGluten]

  On 1/12/2010 at 2:53 AM, MonKol said:

In my fairly short experience, I have found that MANY gluten free foods, especially frozen meals are loaded with garlic. My husband and I hate garlic but some of my favourite meals have it in, for example almost all Amy's brand and Glutino frozen meals have a lot of garlic. I am not sure why this is, perhaps to give flavor to something that would otherwise be bland in their opinion? Maybe this is what you are tasting? In my opinion, despite the health benefits, garlic is putrid, especially when others around you have to smell it on your breath. I know if someone is near me with garlic breath my stomach turns over and I have to get away. And then there is the waking up in the night dying of thirst and fuming of it. This is a huge shame because I live on these frozen foods, or used to. Now as well as checking for gluten-free, I am now checking for garlic... which believe me, is in almost everything. I can rely on Ian's (chicken nuggets have garlic but only a little) and certain hormel canned items. Next stop is looking at easy recipes to try where I can control the ingredients, but it's hard.

Really, that's what that odd taste is with Amy's? I love garlic. But I have noticed that a lot Amy's foods all have this same...odd...taste to them. That's like...eeck. The only two that DON'T have it, that I actually eat, are the mac n cheese and the cheese enchiladas. But the other more 'dinner' types I've tried that have rice and other stuff, I bit it and ask myself "ew why do these all taste the same with this same odd taste?" Didn't taste like garlic to me, but maybe that's what non-fresh, frozen and then unfrozen garlic tastes like.

[stolly]

This might be bad to say on a celiac forum, but I don't like the taste of tapioca...that is the bad taste in gluten-free foods for me. If I use it in baking, I use it minimally and try to replae it with corn starch.

[RiceGuy]

Since you don't notice it every time you eat a given food item, I'd have to guess it's not the tapioca (though I and others seem to find it distasteful). Two things I know of which can and do vary from batch to batch are the freshness of bean flours, and the effects of chemical leavening agents (baking powder/soda). I discovered that all the flours from Bob's Red Mill which are stone ground are partially rancid right from the mill. That's because stone grinding produces too much heat, breaking down some of the components in the grain/beans. But any flour can go rancid over time, especially those with notable protein content. Even if you freeze them, in all likelihood, the store where you bought them did not. Bean flours are particularly perishable, and I don't let my bean flours sit at room temperature more than a month or so. Same for teff. Amaranth spoils probably faster than any other I know of, though I think it might be both mold and rancidity for that one.

As for baking powder and soda, I find that baking soda can turn a dough or batter nasty in minutes, if the pH goes too far alkaline. Baking soda is NOT needed unless there are acidic ingredients like milk, or if it is the only leavener (no baking powder is being used). Most recipes which call for soda only use it to balance the pH, so the baking powder doesn't fizzle out before the thing is cooked. So if you use water instead of milk, then there's a good chance you don't need the soda. Baking powder can also effect the taste negatively, depending on the type, and the other ingredients. I find that Rumford's has less of a chance of imparting a bad taste than Bob's Red Mill, but it doesn't work well for gluten-free baking, because it doesn't wait for the heat of the oven before it reacts. So it will fizzle out too soon (thus little rise) in many cases. Bob's works better than any other I've tried, but the last few times I've tried it, I couldn't get it to work without it turning the whole thing nasty. I'm still not sure what it is reacting with, but I did find it has much less effect on starches and the more starchy flours.

Do avoid baking powder with aluminum. It's not healthy, and it does taste off too IMO.

[maddycat]

  On 1/13/2010 at 1:12 PM, RiceGuy said:

Since you don't notice it every time you eat a given food item, I'd have to guess it's not the tapioca (though I and others seem to find it distasteful). Two things I know of which can and do vary from batch to batch are the freshness of bean flours, and the effects of chemical leavening agents (baking powder/soda). I discovered that all the flours from Bob's Red Mill which are stone ground are partially rancid right from the mill. That's because stone grinding produces too much heat, breaking down some of the components in the grain/beans. But any flour can go rancid over time, especially those with notable protein content. Even if you freeze them, in all likelihood, the store where you bought them did not. Bean flours are particularly perishable, and I don't let my bean flours sit at room temperature more than a month or so. Same for teff. Amaranth spoils probably faster than any other I know of, though I think it might be both mold and rancidity for that one.

As for baking powder and soda, I find that baking soda can turn a dough or batter nasty in minutes, if the pH goes too far alkaline. Baking soda is NOT needed unless there are acidic ingredients like milk, or if it is the only leavener (no baking powder is being used). Most recipes which call for soda only use it to balance the pH, so the baking powder doesn't fizzle out before the thing is cooked. So if you use water instead of milk, then there's a good chance you don't need the soda. Baking powder can also effect the taste negatively, depending on the type, and the other ingredients. I find that Rumford's has less of a chance of imparting a bad taste than Bob's Red Mill, but it doesn't work well for gluten-free baking, because it doesn't wait for the heat of the oven before it reacts. So it will fizzle out too soon (thus little rise) in many cases. Bob's works better than any other I've tried, but the last few times I've tried it, I couldn't get it to work without it turning the whole thing nasty. I'm still not sure what it is reacting with, but I did find it has much less effect on starches and the more starchy flours.

Do avoid baking powder with aluminum. It's not healthy, and it does taste off too IMO.

Thank you- Riceguy- I'm thinking it must be a spoiled or rancid flour in the mix. Yes, it is stumping to me because it is not in every batch of each item that I buy and the ingredients are not changing. I guess it is possible that it is the teff in the wraps and some other flour in the bread products- it could produce the same off taste. Or else it is the leavening like you mentioned,perhaps too much is used in the "bad" tasting batches?? Surprisingly they even put baking powder in the wraps (not sure why as they don't really need to be leavened since they are so thin).

Marcia

[MonKol]

  On 1/13/2010 at 12:16 AM, Aura said:

Really, that's what that odd taste is with Amy's? I love garlic. But I have noticed that a lot Amy's foods all have this same...odd...taste to them. That's like...eeck. The only two that DON'T have it, that I actually eat, are the mac n cheese and the cheese enchiladas. But the other more 'dinner' types I've tried that have rice and other stuff, I bit it and ask myself "ew why do these all taste the same with this same odd taste?" Didn't taste like garlic to me, but maybe that's what non-fresh, frozen and then unfrozen garlic tastes like.

i am the same, i live on the mac and cheese and the cheese enchiladas!!! but nothing else tastes good to me. i don't know about the garlic but when i eat ANY of the other meals, my husband is disgusted by my breath... they all have garlic in the ingredients and i have that garlic taste in my mouth. Maybe is isn't the garlic but why does the mac and cheese and enchiladas taste so good... and not have garlic?