Allergy Friendly

by Danielle Margulies

I'm on a mission – to find all the allergy friendly products out there that are made with simple ingredients and not loaded with dubious gums, chemicals and oils.
I've found two fabulous products this week, one sweet and one savory – that both fit the bill.

First I wanted to find out what the common food additive gums are and what they do:
Guar Gum – it comes from the Guar bean (a drought resistant bean; it is used for food, fed to cattle and in manure). It is used as a thickening agent – popular because it is up to 8 times as thickening as corn starch. Beans are notoriously difficult to digest and anyone with a food allergy-compromised digestive system should pay attention to find out if Guar Gum is a friend or foe.
Xanthan Gum – developed in the US in the ‘60s Xanthan Gum is the slimy result of the fermentation that takes place when a type of bacteria (the type that causes black rot to form on vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower) is mixed with corn sugar. Anyone with corn allergies should be vigilant about their reaction to this gum and some people are specifically allergic to it. Workers exposed to it during the production process showed significant allergic symptoms. Yum, Xanthan Gum anyone? It's very popular in food production (especially salad dressings and ice cream) as it creates a flowing gelatinous, homogenized texture.

Locust Bean Gum – also called Carob Gum or Carubin it comes from the seeds of the carob tree. A much more friendly gum it has been used since ancient times for it's thickening properties, both culinary and otherwise - it was actually used by the Egyptians to paste the bandages on to mummies - it is now added to dressings and ice creams and is a useful alternative additive to thicken pie fillings instead of corn or wheat products.
Acacia Gum – also called Gum Arabic it comes from the bark of the Acacia Tree and is primarily used as an emulsifying, stabilizing and thickening agent in ice cream, candy and syrups.

Now that's out of the way, here are the products this week – a cookie and a cracker that don't have any extra anything in them, except what's needed to make them delicious and satisfying:

St Amour Madeleines come in Lemon-Vanilla, White chocolate Dipped Lemon-Vanilla, Almond-Orange and Dark Chocolate Dipped Almond-Orange. This is my favorite gluten-free product to date ... I stumbled across them in Whole Foods as I was grumpily reading the ingredient lists on the gluten-free cookies – and couldn't stay grumpy after reading the simple ingredients on this package. Already hooked on the Lemon-Vanilla, I was disappointed when they were sold out the other day and got the White Chocolate Dipped Lemon-Vanilla, expecting them to be too sweet for my not very sweet, sweet tooth – but they were just right; rich and sinful with a decadent white chocolate finish to these perfect cookies.(Please note: they do contain eggs!)

My second find – Edward & Sons Brown Rice Snaps are available in Tamari Seaweed, Tamari Sesame, Onion Garlic, Unsalted Sesame and Unsalted Plain - in Unsalted Sesame flavor they are a versatile little cracker that should be an allergy friendly pantry staple. Perfect for dips, spreads, pates, they can be savory or sweet and are tummy-soothingly satisfying all by themselves (although of course choose a different flavor if you are allergic to sesame!)

by Danielle Margulies

Rice Chex is now gluten free and allergy friendly, containing only whole grain rice, sugar, salt, molasses, vitamin E and BHT preservatives - and General Mills have included several gluten free recipes on their website. It's great when large corporations pay attention to people's changing needs and more and more food manufacturers are becoming aware of the fact that food allergies are all too common.

In Europe most supermarkets, not just health food stores, now have entire aisles dedicated to gluten and wheat free or dairy free products. In Britain,Sainsbury's, a leading supermarket chain has their own "freefrom" label with over 75 products, including ready-to-eat meals that are allergy friendly – and even information on the site about the family owned company that makes the meals.

Waitrose.com, (a lesser known UK supermarket chain) also has some fabulous recipes and lots of great information on food allergies.

With other European countries leading supermarket's carrying their own brands of allergy friendly products and the word "gluten" recognized as an international word, US supermarkets need to get up to speed in terms of carrying more allergy friendly products and providing consumers with the information they need.

Of course there are lots of fantastic products available in the US and the internet is a great resource if your local stores are somewhat lacking.Glutino has a wealth of information and products available on line in the US and Canada and make gluten free, Cheerio style cereals in Honey Nut and Apple n' Cinnamon flavors. (Please note; these cereals contain corn and may contain traces of nuts, soy and dairy).