The Gluten Free Blog

Kent & Fraser Biscuits

Back in 2011 at the Allergy & Gluten Free show I chatted to the team from Kent & Fraser, makers of artisan wheat free and gluten free cookies, biscuits and shortbreads. They’d only been going a couple of years then and I loved the packaging, and I LOVED the Stilton and Walnut savoury biscuit.

I’m pleased to say Kent & Fraser are still going strong and are now available at Waitrose, Harrods, Selfridges and Ocado as well as independent delicatessens. Last week the gang at Kent and Fraser were kind enough to send us a couple of boxes: Stilton and Walnut (hooray) made with English Stilton, chopped walnuts and fresh herbs. And Chocolate Butter Crunch made with bitter premium dark cocoa. Read the rest of this entry »

Udi’s Gluten Free box of goodies

If you’re an American stranded on this side of the Atlantic or you’re someone who loves American grub, you’ll be pleased to know that Udi’s, the famous, award-winning gluten free brand from the US is now available here in the UK.

There are 19 products in the range, including freshly baked gluten-free bagels in three delicious flavours, soft brown and white sandwich bread, classic white rolls and finger rolls, tasty muffins, toaster pastries, ancient grain crisps, granola, fruity breakfast bars and mince pies.

And we were fortunate, recently, to receive a lovely hamper from the nice people at Udi’s. We didn’t waste any time tucking into the products. Read the rest of this entry »

Just got back from the Allergy & Gluten Free show at London’s Olympia. And as usual it was a packed show full of good ideas and tasty foods.

Kent & Fraser

Our regular favourite brands such as Doves Farm, Hale & Hearty, and Orgran all had stands. But as usual we tried to hunt down some less well-known names and products. We chatted to the lovely Danny at Kent & Fraser who make scrumptious gluten free cookies, biscuits and shortbread, and whose packaging is eye-catching and contemporary. I can highly recommend the award-winning Stilton and walnut biscuits. Imagine these with a wedge of cheese and a glass of red on a warm summer’s night. Mmmm.

We said hello to the Rude Health girls. I’ve never come across this brand before. But it’s available in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s and numerous health food stores across the UK. They do gluten free honey puffed oats, puffed rice and honey rice flakes. In fact, we came away with a whole box of honey rice flakes, so we’ll do a taste test on those next week. Again, great packaging and a quirky website. Check it out.

Continuing to tickle the savoury tastebuds were Amisa’s organic gluten paprika and chilli crackers. These were crispy and flavoursome. Definitely recommended. Amisa is available at health food stores throughout the UK.

M&S chocolate and cherry cake

Good to see M&S have a stand this year. Marks has been rolling out its gluten free brand with its distinctive green packaging for a while now and we’ve already written about their orange and polenta cake and gluten free sandwiches. It was a good opportunity to chat to Helen, M&S’s nutritionist, and I asked her why M&S gluten free products were so expensive. She told us that gluten free products contain lots more ingredients than ‘regular products’ and some of those ingredients such as almond flour, are costly. The gluten free sandwiches had come down in price a bit apparently – so that’s good news.

Whilst I was chatting to Helen I took the opportunity to scoff two bits of M&S gluten free chocolate and cherry cake. Oooh this is a winner. And only £2.99.

We couldn’t leave without having a quick chat to our friends at Genius bread. Julie was on the stand (follow her on Twitter @geniusfoods) and we chatted about the latest addition to the Genius family: the sliced multi-seed loaf, which is available from May 16th 2011 in Tesco. Tasty, springy and substantial. Just what you’d expect from Genius.

Genius multi-seed bread

And last but not least, we have to mention the Warbutons stand which included a sushi-style conveyor belt! Great stuff.

The Allergy and Gluten Free show is at London’s Olympia until Sunday May 8th.

Did you go to the show this year? What did you think of it? Did you discover any new products? Let us know in the comments.

At the Allergy & Gluten Free Show the other week we found quite a few brands we hadn’t come across before including Lazy Day Foods and Steph’s Free From Cakes.

Dr Sally Beattie of Lazy Day Foods

Dr Sally Beattie who is a director at Lazy Day Foods is a professional food scientist, so she knows a thing or two about delicious food. And as a mum with kids who have allergies she knows a thing or two about food intolerances.

We chatted to Sally for a while and tried quite a few of her products – all in the name of research of course – and we can highly recommend the Millionaire’s Shortbread and the Belgian Dark Chocolate Tiffin. Delicious. And both wheat, gluten, dairy and egg free.

All Lazy Day products are handmade in a dedicated gluten free factory in Scotland and are available to order via the website. They’re so beautifully packaged we think they make ideal gifts.

New items to be added to the range soon include celebration cakes and muffins along with a Rustic Savoury Biscuit range flavoured with cracked pepper, mild spices or sweet chilli. We can’t wait for those.

Stephanie Palmer of Steph’s Free From Cakes

Another stand we spent quite a bit of time at was Steph’s Free From Cakes run by the lovely Stephanie Palmer. Steph told us she suffers from a number of food intolerances herself and began baking free from cakes when she couldn’t find anything suitable (or edible) in the shops.

I rather over indulged in Steph’s sweet Lemon Drizzle Cake and some very cute heart shaped Ginger Cookies which were a fabulous combination of crispy, moist and spicy.Steph’s Free From Cakes are all available to buy online and include classics such as Carrot cake and Battenburg cake. (Not forgetting the aforementioned Lemon Drizzle Cake – a personal favourite.)

There’s 10% off your first order – so get ordering now!

We visited the Allergy & Gluten Free Show at Olympia in London this morning. We guessed that Friday morning would be a better time to go than at the weekend but it was getting pretty busy even by the time we left.

There were lots of fantastic products on show and lots and lots of nibbles to try. And of course we had to say hi to our gluten free bread friends, Genius. How could we not after they’d invited us to a fantastic gluten free tea at Claridge’s.

The highlight for me was the product range from Look What We Found. Tasty meals, soups and sauces (I tried the Chilli Con Carne) that can be stored in the cupboard. No need to keep them in the fridge! I have bought a selection of 3 meals and 2 soups so will be doing a complete review of these at a later date.

Also great to see a stand from the guys at Estrella Damm. Their Daura gluten free beer (which tastes great even at 11am!) has won the World Beer Awards ‘World’s Best Gluten Free Beer’ for the last 2 years. And was a Freefrom Food Awards winner in 2010. We wish them luck in retaining their World Beer Awards status in a few months time!

Lastly, I have to mention 9Bar. These delicious mixed seed bars come in a variety of flavours and include hemp. Obviously rebranded from the previous Organic Hemp ‘9 Bar’ and brought right up to date these seed bars really do taste great. For the ‘possible’ reasoning behind the name please refer to the definitions at the Urban Dictionary.

So all in all a fab show and I encourage you to get down there this weekend if at all possible. And expect more posts and reviews on all the products we saw. And tasted!