JennyC

I just got a call back from Oberto. Oh Boy Oberto Natural Style Beef Jerky in original, hickory or peppered flavors are gluten free. They said that they label their gluten! Their caramel coloring is made from brown sugar, the vinegar is apple cider vinegar, and the modified food starch is from corn.

One of the most helpful companies yet.

I am trying to find a good gluten free jerky for our weekend camping trip. So far I have contacted 4 companies and none of them could give me a list/gluten labeling policy over the phone! They all need to call me back, and one of them needs to check with quality control.

I just needed to vent. I hope they get back to me in time!

As a side note I still don't trust ConAgra. Every time I call them I get a different answer regarding their gluten labeling policy. It really seems that they don't label their gluten. The three customer sales representatives that I have talked to are not even very knowledgeable about gluten. The first one gave me the 8 common allergen speech and never directly answered my questions about other glutens, the second one said that the "wheat" label includes all forms of gluten, and the third one did not answer my gluten questions and is calling me back about the jerky.

Oh well. What else would I have done with my time?

I normally don't ask many questions like this..but I don't know where to start. We are going camping this weekend and we would like to make beef stroganoff. When we have made it in the past we used a mix, but I can't remember the names of any of the mixes, let alone have any idea of their gluten free status. I know gluten free pantry has a mix, but I don't have time to order it.

Thanks in advance.

Portland Oregon?

Here's a link to a blog that contains gluten free restaurant information.

Open Original Shared Link

How about yesterday I tried a new halibut recipe and after I was done cooking it, the platter fell on the floor. At the table my son accidentally spilled his milk of the fish that I managed to save.

Just one of those days.

I usually use normal recipes and substitute the gluten-free flour mix that I use. 3 parts rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca starch/flour and 1 tsp xanthan gum/1.5 cups flour. That gives you many more baking possibilities.

Sorry I can't be more specific but this weekend I was looking at canned frosting, milk chocolate flavored, and one of the three major brands listed wheat starch.

It was probably Betty Crocker. Duncan Hines creamy style frosting, except the Coconut Pecan is gluten free. (I CALLED!)

I'm almost scared to comment on the issue, but I think that some people have been very rude. I understand that many are upset and many have been directly attacked. I have not been around for long, but I hate to see people leaving this site. I am very thankful for the support that I've found here. You all have been great. This part of my life would have been much more difficult without you all.

Let's end this ugly mess with some kind words.

These are by far the BEST brownies that I have ever had! My family ate the entire pan within hours. If you like chocolate you have to try them. Some reviews say that the batter is thin, but mine was fine. You just have to make sure that you beat the eggs long enough (I did it for about 2 min at medium speed). I also used 1/4 cup of pounded walnut powder and high quality bitter-sweet chocolate, mainly because I was too lazy to go to the store.

Thank you so much for posting. These brownies are fabulous.

What about the boxed mac & cheese?! It's not that great but my son likes it, and it's nice to make in a pinch!

Vodka is distilled after it has been fermented. (Distillation separates components of a liquid mixture based on their boiling point and also somewhat on weight if all other things are equal.) Alcohols have a much lower boiling point than does water and gluten. Gluten is a relatively heavy molecule and is VERY heat stable and has a high boiling point. Theoretically, if the alcohol has been distilled there should not be any remaining gluten, especially since drinking alcohol goes through many successive distillations to remove any methanol that might be present. That being said, very few processes if life are perfect.

As I mentioned above, gluten is very heat stable. I googled it but couldn't find an exact temperature. Since it so heat stable it does not break down thoroughly in deep fryers or pots & pans. This is one reason that gluten is added to so many products as a stabilizer.

Hope this helps.

What I like is that all their gluten-free products are reasonably tasty, and, of course, convenient.

What I don't like is that they are totally gouging us. It is not that much more expensive to make gluten-free products from scratch (white rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch are 69 cents/pound at the Asian groceries), but they charge $7.99 for a tiny pan of brownies that's about 1/2 the size of the $2.99 pan of bakery brownies or 1/4 the size of the $3.99 pan of Costco brownies. And brownies don't call for that much flour, either!

I too live by an Asian grocery store that carries rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca flour. I bought some but I have been hesitant to use it because I have no idea if they were made in a gluten-free facility, as they were made in China.

What have been your experiences with Asian flours?

Thank you for responding. I bought the pizza crust and the biscuits. My son is eating the crust now & seems to like it. It is always nice to get ideas from others about gluten-free food. It's so expensive, and no one wants to waste their money.

When it is "baking" in the oven it smells fantastic, which is why it is such a disappointment when it never seems to cook thoroughly. Even if you leave it in the oven for longer, it will burn before the chewiness goes away.

I'm still pretty new at this, but I think that when my son gets glutened that his cheeks turn red and some of the capillaries in his cheeks also become visible.

I did the blood tests with my son. They did the common allergy panel (I'm guessing the top 8 allergens), common environmental, and seasonal allergies. I liked getting the blood test because it is only one poke, which can traumatic enough. I guess that the skin test is little more sensitive though. For most purposes I think that the blood test should be fine.

I totally see where you are coming from. I think my son may be getting an occasional glutening from his babysitter's home. I also understand that they don't want your son to feel different than the other children. If I were you, I would tell them that you have thought it over and it is not worth the risk to his health to have his meals prepared in a gluten containing facility. Ask them to please provide you a menu of the week's lunches to that you can try to prepare things that are similar for your child. Realistically, cross contamination is a very difficult issue to tackle, and I would not expect government employees who are cooking for many children to be able to accommodate it. I know that it took me a while before I remembered to wash my hands after each time that I touched gluten or to stop putting gluten free utensils down of the counter surface, and so on.

I'm going to go to Whole Foods today and I am planning on checking out their bakery section. Given the money that I have wasted on gluten free foods that my 3.5 year old refuses to eat, I have decided to ask about your experiences with the Whole Foods bakery. It would be great if you could tell me the foods that are good and the foods that a waste of money.

Thanks.

I too like to support Kraft, but Hidden Valley is just too good! When I called them a couple of weeks ago they said that their original ranch (as well as the dry mix) is gluten-free. Quite a few of the ranch variants were not, but I didn't write down the information because I was so happy about the original ranch!

I tried this bread at a local gluten free food fair and it's the best gluten free bread that I have had. It kind of reminds me of traditional potato bread because it kind of has a yellow color, but it does not taste like potato bread and it was really moist--not hard and crumbly. (I thought the bread was great, but I don't think that my son will like any gluten free bread, period. ) They also make a variety of other gluten-free goodies like scones, brownies, cookies, granola bars, and more.

Angeline's Bakery:

Open Original Shared Link

I will pass forward the flour recipe given to me:

3 parts white rice flour

2 parts potato starch

1 part tapioca flour/starch

*unless otherwise noted add 1 tsp xanthan gum for every 1.5 cups of flour

This recipe works the best out of everything that I have tried. In general, the more starches you can use the better. Gluten free baking is different than baking with wheat, and can often take time and patience before you will get good results. If you follow this recipe, it should cut down on the bad baking experiences.

Hope this helps.

I believe that most HMO insurances give you the right to a second opinion at another hospital. There are issues with getting testing done now. Tests are unreliable until he is at least 2 years old. Most importantly, if he is not consuming plenty of gluten then his tests will come back negative regardless if he has celiac disease or not. The tests look for an active autoimmune reaction and if he is not eating gluten then he will not have a reaction. If you strongly suspect celiac disease, then I would keep him on a gluten free diet until he is old enough for the tests. Then at that point, if you desire to do so, I would do the gluten challenge and then do the testing.

In regards to the allergy test, I see no reason why she would not order it. The blood test is a very effective method for allergy testing, and they can test using a wide variety of allergens with a single poke.

I thought the company just wouldn't confirm FLOAM's gluten status.

When I called Floam a couple of months ago I got the beloved "what's gluten?" response. I asked the girl to read me the ingredients and it sounded fine. It's just made out of Styrofoam balls and highly processed organic compounds. Nothing in the ingredients caught my attention.

I think that Elmer's glue in gluten free. Crayola addresses the gluten issue on their website. Off of the top my head, I think the only Crayola product that contains gluten is their dough.

Jenny,

These companies that I listed have had a solid "we won't hide anything" policy for as long as I have been on this board. Maybe Peter or one of the other members has the documentation. I fully trust this list, and have verified many of them myself, and have gotten trustworthy responses. I can't speak if this has changed very recently.

Thanks. I must have gotten a new guy when I called. It didn't make sense that such a big company would not clearly list their gluten.

I too started my son on the gluten-free diet before seeing the pediatric GI, based off of his blood test results. I was told to do the gluten challenge with my son, but I went home to think it over. After getting advice from the wonderful people on this board and doing some thinking of my own I decided against the biopsy. The gluten-free diet is something that your family can manage on your own. You can get follow up testing (like diabetes, tTG, ect) done through other doctors than a pediatric GI, such as naturalists, internists, and your son's pediatrician. Blood work and dietary response is becoming a more accepted way of diagnosing celiac disease, so if your son has those factors then it is nearly unquestionably celiac disease.

Lastly, this is the concept that made me fully decide against the biopsy: If your son's biopsy comes back negative are you going to put him back on gluten?

After reading about your son's symptoms, I can guess that the answer to that question is no. If the answer is no, then why put him through hell to do a test that is not going to make any difference in his life style? If the diagnostic measures that your family has done for your son are not enough for him as he gets older, then he can make the choice to the gluten challenge and biopsy when and if he desires to do so.

I hope this helps. Best wishes.