Warburtons gluten-free wraps

The Warburtons Newburn Bakehouse “Save our wrap” campaign has been doing the rounds on social media for a couple of months but we hadn’t gotten around to going to a Tesco to try out the new wraps. We finally made it this week.

I have to be honest with you and say that the price is a little eye-watering at £3 for a packet of three square wraps. But they taste good and they do something I’ve rarely seen a gluten-free wrap or tortilla do… they don’t crack when you roll them around a filling.

I’m really keen to experiment with them a bit more to see what they’re like as Wahaca-style quesadillas, or thin-crust pizzas.

The wraps are currently available from Tesco and Morrison’s. Have you tried them? What did you think?

 

Is Worthenshaws Freedom gluten-free?

A few months ago I wrote about the exciting launch of Worthenshaws Freedom free-from desserts and claimed that they were suitable for coeliacs. I thought this because their website and labelling state that Freedom is free from gluten and suitable for food allergy sufferers.

However, there is some interesting chatter about Freedom on Coeliac UK’s Facebook page this week that has made me rethink that and want to double-check the facts.

A member has posted a question asking whether Worthenshaws is safe for coeliacs to consume seeing as it is produced in a factory that also handles gluten.

Freedom’s packaging states the following: “recipe free from nuts, soya, dairy, gluten, wheat, egg, added sugar (contains only fruit sugars, artificial colours and flavours.” So, that’s the recipe. But the labelling goes on to say, “ALLERGEN INFORMATION: Produced in a factory that handles nuts, soya, milk, wheat, gluten and egg” so there is the potential for contamination with allergens.

Coeliac UK has responded to the query saying they don’t list Worthenshaws because they haven’t been provided with suitable information but  add that the Worthenshaws website provides information about the risk of contamination.

The Worthenshaws statement, available here, explains that all of the ingredients used in the dessert are gluten-free. However, nuts, gluten, eggs, milk and soya are all handled on the manufacturing site.  Because of this they adopt strict procedures for segregation and handling of all allergens and for cleaning of equipment prior to production to ensure that the risk of cross-contamination is remote.

“Testing has shown that there are no traces of these allergens, to within the current sensitivity of testing at our UKAS accredited laboratory; therefore we believe that these products are safe for the allergen sensitive consumer. The addition of the statement ‘produced in a factory that handles nuts, soya, milk, wheat, gluten and egg’ is intended as information to the consumer so as not to mislead, rather than a warning.”

I’m not entirely sure that means that there are less than 20 parts-per-million of gluten in the dessert but it sounds like that’s what they mean. There are rumours in the Coeliac UK posts that some coeliacs have felt unwell after eating the dessert so if you suffer from coeliacs it would be worth keeping this in mind if you choose to eat the dessert.

I have sent an enquiry to Worthenshaws customer care to see what they say about their gluten-free labelling and will post their response.

Related posts: Dragons Den dairy-free desserts now available

NEW Genius sandwich at Starbucks

It’s a new year so out with the old and in with the new flavours.

From the 6th of January Starbucks will replace their current gluten-free Tuna sandwich with a new Roast Chicken and Pesto sandwich. The new sandwich still features Genius brown bread and will be made with slices of roast chicken, slow roasted tomatoes, baby spinach and pesto mayonnaise.

Genius has been stocking their gluten-free sandwiches in Starbucks cafes for around 8 months now. In that time we have noticed that some smaller Starbucks cafes stopped stocking Genius sandwiches due to poor demand which has been disappointing when we’ve been after a quick and tasty snack. Hopefully the new sandwiches will prove popular and Starbucks will continue their partnership with Genius because other sandwich chains and the supermarkets have been slow to cater for the gluten-free sandwich market.

Related posts: Genius Sandwiches at Starbucks and M&S now stocking gluten-free sandwiches

M&S now stocking gluten-free sandwiches

Marks & Spencer have announced that they are expanding their Made without Wheat range to include fresh sandwiches in over 100 selected Food on the Move stores.

The sandwiches are made with multigrain gluten-free bread and include a choice of British Ham with Crunchy Salad or Free Range Egg Salad flavours.

The fresh sandwich range complements the existing range of bread rolls, loaves, cakes and slices that can be found in the bakery section.

For your nearest store that stocks the new range click here to visit the M&S website.

 

Gluten-Free Treats: Soft Amaretti Biscuits

Happy New Year from Food Dorks!

We were lucky to receive a few gluten-free treats for Christmas including soft Amaretti Virginia biscuits in a beautiful spaghetti tin. Amaretti are Italian almond biscuits with a soft and chewy texture. They are sometimes flavoured with apricot kernels and honey. The biscuits are individually wrapped in colourful wax paper so they look like giant sweets. Amaretti are a new discovery for me and I was very surprised that there are gluten-free biscuits out there that I don’t know about!

I had spent a lot of pre-Christmas weeks daydreaming about Italian Christmas treats (especially panettone) but knowing that I wouldn’t be able to share any with the family since most are made with wheat flour. I had completely overlooked the fact that amaretti are safe for coeliacs.

I found them to have a subtle aniseed aftertaste but thought they were quite nice on their own. I’ve heard that Italians like to dip them in red wine or have them with espresso. Over the new year I heard Genarro Contaldo talking about crunching amaretti biscuits over chocolate desserts and thought that sounded like a great idea. I also remembered one of Nigella’s old trifle recipes included crumbled amaretti and thought I must be on to something so suggested to English Boy that he should crumble a little amaretti over his Worthingshaw’s vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. The result was absolutely delicious (although I’m sure it wouldn’t exactly be approved by an Italian). We’ll be stocking the cupboard with amaretti from now on. If you don’t like your biscuits to be too sweet I recommend amaretti for a gluten-free treat.

Christmas in… September?

It might surprise some of you but Christmas has already started to creep into the UK’s major retail outlets. You’ll find mince pies, puddings and the ubiquitous Quality Street tins from now until the end of the year.

The major food retailers have been planning their Christmas assault for months and are ready to stock their shelves with Christmas fare.

Selfridges in London aren’t backward in coming forward and launched their Christmas range on August 2 – a staggering 145 days before the big event. Food magazines in the UK have been tasting, testing and photographing their Christmas spreads this week in preparation for their Christmas editions coming out in November.

It will be weeks before mums and dads up and down the country spare a thought for treats and decorations for Halloween and fireworks for Guy Fawkes night, so is it to early to start thinking about Christmas? Is it too early for UK retailers to start using the C-word?

Dragons’ Den dairy-free desserts now available

Young mum Kirsty Henshaw pitched her idea for Worthenshaws dairy-free desserts to the Dragons in July this year and impressed them with her hard work and determination. Just a few months later after some mentoring from Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne, Kirsty is ready to launch her Worthenshaws frozen desserts in the major supermarkets across the UK.

The Worthenshaws Freedom frozen dessert range includes strawberry, vanilla and chocolate flavours and the desserts are suitable for vegetarians, coeliacs* and vegans. The range is free from dairy, sugar, gluten, soya, egg, nuts and artificial flavours and colours so will tick all the right boxes for the majority of people with food allergies.

From this week the range is available in Asda and Sainsbury’s stores. Morrison’s, Asda and Waitrose will follow very soon.

If you’d like to know more about Kirsty’s products there’s plenty of information on the Worthenshaws website. Kirsty is also blogging about her experiences on the website and keeping her fans up to date on the launch on Twitter.

Kirsty is an inspiration and we wish her all the very best.

*Correction 12 January 2011: Please note that Worthenshaws is produced in a factory that handles gluten. For the company statement on allergens please visit their website.

Sainsbury’s Magazine – Gluten-free cover star

This month Sainsbury’s Magazine has relaunched with a more modern and stylish design to make their recipes easier to follow.

The beautiful cover shot features double chocolate fudge cakes decorated with glossy chocolate ganache and sugared violets from Jane Asher. It’s easy to see why this gorgeous image shot by Jonathan Gregson and styled by Kim Morphew was chosen to be the cover star; the cakes look irresistible.

To my surprise and delight this recipe is gluten-free! At first they appear to be rich floury mud cakes that would be off-limits, but upon closer inspection these are in fact flourless chocolate cakes and the coarse, muddy texture comes courtesy of ground almonds in place of flour. This is a fantastic example of a treat that can be served up to a gathering of coeliacs and wheat-eaters without having to announce that it’s gluten-free.

I can’t publish the recipe as it’s not available online but Sainsbury’s mag is a bargain at £1.40 so I recommend that you race out to get a copy for this recipe alone. Better still, do a shop online at sainsburys.co.uk, throw a load of your usual freefrom goodies in the basket and a copy of Sainsbury’s Magazine and have it delivered to your front door.

Well done to Sainsbury’s Magazine for featuring a gluten-free recipe on the cover. Shame you have to flick to page 88 to find out that it’s gluten-free though and a lot of coeliac shoppers will miss this… unless, of course, they are fellow Food Dorks!

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If you’re looking for similar flourless cake recipes I can recommend the flourless chocolate cake recipe in Sweet food by Murdoch books. It’s another lovely, nutty cake based on ground hazelnuts but I substitute ground almonds and it is delicious.

Nigella Lawson’s clementine cake is another foolproof gluten-free recipe and is a perfect Christmas treat. Substituting lemons for clementines in this recipe is not so foolproof – it was an unmitigated disaster and not the syrupy lemon drizzle cake I imagined. Still, both versions fill the house with glorious citrus scents.

For more info on the October issue of Sainsbury’s Magazine click here.

Product recall: Sainsbury’s Freefrom Rich Fruit Cake Slices

Sainsbury’s have issued a product recall for their Sainsbury’s Freefrom Rich Fruit Cake Slices due to accidental contamination with gluten. The affected batch has a best before date of 4 November 2010 and come in 160g packs.

Sainsbury’s will accept returns of these packs at all stores and will issue a full refund.

Marketing Magazine was critical of this mishap, saying “given the nature of the product, the implications could hardly be worse. Despite trumpeting its ‘free from’ status, the contaminated product poses a potentially severe heath risk for any consumer with an intolerance or allergy to wheat or gluten – the very group at which these products are aimed. The damage to the brand’s reputation may take some time to dissipate.”

No other products in Sainsbury’s Freefrom range have been affected.

What do you think? Does this affect your confidence in Sainsbury’s Freefrom products?

Source: Marketing Magazine, 8 September 2010.

Allergy & Gluten-Free Show This Weekend!

The Allergy & Gluten-Free Show is on this weekend at Kensington Olympia. It’s also a perfect BBQ day outside today! Decisions, decisions! Don’t forget that there are free information seminars and demonstrations, cooking classes, heaps of products to sample and a free-from cafe. Details are available from www.allergyshow.co.uk.

Related posts: Allergy & Gluten-Free Show 2010 London