This is our sweet and loving Baby Oh and he is autistic.

His mommy, daddy, and two older sisters are going to do what ever it takes to guide him to safe shores where he can share his dreams with us and then blast off into his beautiful life.

1 in 94 boys, 1 in 150 children, in the US are autistic.

I hope the docs are wrong but that doesnt matter right now. Baby Oh doesnt talk and he is hard to reach. We are going to fight this and do what it takes to keep him from slipping away.

This is one of the reasons I have not been able to blog as much and it will continue to impact all parts of our lives in the future.

I share this not for sympathy or as an explanation. I think I share this so that I can hide less from it, meet it head on, in all parts of my life.

Melamine is the scourge that was completely optional; it really didn’t have to happen. It’s all about greed and industrial food gone wholly amok.

Melamine poisoning spans animal feeds, pet foods, milk, baby formula, fish, wheat gluten, and now EGGS.

Wheat gluten, eggs and milk are everywhere. If you think you can protect yourself from tainted dairy and egg products from China, think again.

This post is all about melamine: what it is, how it hurts you, how it got in your food.

What exactly is Melamine?

Melamine is an organic compound (learn more) that is a key component in fire retardants and it is also a pesticide (this sets off major flags for me, more later).

It can be combined with formaldehyde to make a plastic compound and a foaming polymeric cleaning product. It is a primary component of a colorant in inks and plastics called Pigment Yellow 150.

A specific type of melamine is added to cement to make it hyper-plastic, flexible, so that it can have more attractive structural qualities.

In the 50s and 60s there was some use of melamine as a fertilizer but it proved to be inefficient as it would crystallize into salts and not be available to plants.

The thing about melamine that made people interested in using it as a fertilizer, the nitrogen aspects (amines), is what brings us closer to the current problem.

Plants need nitrogen to make proteins.

The use of melamine as a NonProteinNitrogen (NPN) in animal feeds was tested back in the 50s but it was shown that the cows didn’t use this sort of nitrogen very well.

Melamine is not that great for helping plants or animals make protein BUT it fools low-cost testing methods into thinking that it IS protein. (tests like Kjeldahl and Dumas tests estimate protein levels by measuring the nitrogen content, so they can be misled by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine. See note at bottom of this post).

Melamine itself is relatively low in toxicity but it becomes quite lethal when made into melamine cyanurate.

IMG pending http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Melamine-cyanuric_acid_chemical_structure_color.png

What the Chinese are putting in food, milk, feed and lord knows what else – Melamine Cyanurate

The kind of melamine implicated in the Chinese scandals is called melamine cyanurate (learn more), a chemical that is commonly used a fire retardant (as with straight melamine). It is considered more toxic than melamine or cyanurate, from which it is made.

When melamine cyanurate is ingested by mammals (those poor dogs and cats in the massive melamine Chinese pet food scandal (learn more)) it hurts the kidneys and throws the animal or person into acute renal failure.

LD50 in rats and mice (ingested):

• 4.1 g/kg – Melamine cyanurate

From USA Today’s article “Poison pet food woes seem to hit cats harder”:

“FDA scientists explained that when melamine and cyanuric acid are absorbed into the bloodstream, they concentrate and interact in the urine-filled renal microtubules (sic), then crystallize and form large numbers of round, yellow crystals, which in turn block and damage the renal cells that line the tubes, causing the kidneys to malfunction.”

Besides renal failure (which is seen in the recent baby formula scandal – something like 94,000 children hospitalized and 4 dead from melamine poisoning Learn More), melamine has been implicated in possibly causing kidney stones, bladder cancer and reproductive organ damage.

For recent information on the scale (94,000!) of impact of the tainted milk scandal read this October 8, 2008 report from Reuters “China milk victims may have reached 94,000”

The government has not updated figures issued on September 21, when it said that 12,892 infants were in hospital, 104 with serious illness, and close to 40,000 others were affected but did not need major treatment.

But reports from local media across the country compiled by Reuters suggest the number of affected children has risen to nearly 94,000, although most are not in a serious condition.

China Floats in an Ocean of Melamine

China is one nexus in the coming and current collapse of food production (fertilizer, falling acres of non-toxic land, water shortages, etc). They, like the rest of us, MUST find a way to boost soil fertility even though they (nor any other large concern) is going about it in a rational way, only in an industrial, non-sustainable way.

To this end, China has been deliberately pushing to increase it’s melamine production (from coal gasification) in recent years. Coal gasification is used to make urea – the key nitrogen component in plant fertilizers around the world. Urea, being derived from a non-renewable resource that is under massive demand pressures, is becoming more and more expensive. Because of this, many melamine manufacturers and suppliers outside of China have found it too expensive to make locally and so chose to source this from China’s growing surplus of melamine.

Even though melamine is a poor fertilizer, it is also a pesticide, so it “seems” it is attractive still. This may be scary, true, but this may be NEXT WEEK’s scandal as the melamine outbreaks we have been suffering through in recent times is due to something else.

As I mentioned, melamine can be used to dope foods so that they can LOOK protein rich while being very weak knock-offs of the original. Its like a sick pathetic rational extension of the piracy ethic in China, “fake it till you make it” no matter the costs. The same thing happened with the Baxter Heparin scandal, exact same sort of doping only with different chemicals for a different use.

The contaminant has been identified as an “over-sulphated” derivative of chondroitin sulfate, a popular shellfish-derived supplement often used for arthritis. Since this “over-sulphated” variant is not naturally occurring and mimics the properties of heparin,the counterfeit is almost certainly intentional as opposed to an accidental lapse in manufacturing. The heparin was cut from anywhere from 2-60% with a counterfeit substance due to cost effectiveness, and a shortage of suitable pigs in China. (SOURCE)

It’s the Eggs, kids. Its in the eggs, in China. Are we next? Is it already happening to us?

The New York Times reported on 10/26/08 in an article “Tainted Eggs From China Discovered in Hong Kong” by David Barboza:

SHANGHAI — Hong Kong food inspectors have found eggs imported from northeast China to be contaminated with high levels of melamine, the toxic industrial additive at the heart of an adulteration scandal in Chinese milk products.

and

The discovery of contaminated eggs in Hong Kong was announced Saturday by the Center for Food Safety, a Hong Kong government agency, which said the eggs had been imported from a farm in the city of Dalian, in northeastern China. The center reported that the melamine level was almost double the legal limit for food sold in Hong Kong.

The general wisdom is that the melamine gets into the eggs because the chickens are fed feed doped with melamine (by feed producers to fool the farmers or is it farmers who are desperate for any nitrogen in the feed – I am guessing the former).

This phenomenon is called bioaccumulation (learn more) of toxins in eggs and tissues of animals fed a poison (think about how DDTs were making some birds go extinct due to DDT buildup in scavenger birds leading to egg failures). Its also known as Biomagnification (learn more)

An article out of China on two possible sources of melamine in chicken feed (“Melamine Scandal Hits China’s “King of Eggs” October 28, 2008 at Chinastakes.com):

According to Wang, two reasons most probably account for the melamine in eggs. Feed producers may add melamine directly into chicken feed, or the feed may contain overdue milk powder with high level of melamine content. “Either can lead to melamine residue in eggs.

“Many illegal additives, appearing as “new technology,” have brought an unprecedented crisis over quality to China’s feed processing industry,” said an expert of a national research institution to China Business News.

This is why we grow our own chickens for our own eggs and drink milk from our own goats in our backyard

You can learn a whole lot more about the Chinese and US FDA inaction on the problem of toxic eggs from Chinese and potentially US producers by a former emergency programs specialist with the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on DailyKos at this diary “Melamine just reported in eggs…as I warned in 2007” and this diary “The ominous silence about eggs from gluten-fed chickens”

Is there an even larger crisis “we” are not talking about?

I am just going to throw this out for those of you who have had the tenacity to read to this point. This may be an algebra that will become critically important to the entire world as time passes.

- If we know that melamine has some nominal and sub-par attraction as a fertilizer
— Then it may be being used in China (elsewhere?) as a fertilizer

- If it is known that melamine falls out of solution and accumulates as salts in soils
— Then misguided use of melamine as a fertilizer and pesticide will lead to increasing retained toxin loads in soils across China and the world (3rd world countries?)

- If China has a melamine surplus
— Then China may be channeling that into even more melamine for local and misguided global use as a fertilizer, pesticide, and dope for feed stock (land and water livestocks such as fish farms that under massive pressure to source cheaper and more abundant protein)

- If there is a growing soil toxicity with yearly added melamine
— Then more and more crops will become and maintain dangerous levels of melamine toxicity
It seems to me that this is MUCH more relevant and dangerous than any GMO crop yet this crisis is flying totally under the radar.

To me, that is a global malfeasance on the part of all countries.

In one of those Daily Kos diaries, the comment stream reveals these nuggets:

The FDA, USDA, and the EPA is not our friend in these matters, especially Bush’s FDA, USDA, and EPA. For example, in 1999, the EPA tolerance level for melamine was lowered after a request by Novartis.

Melamine is also a breakdown product of cyromazine (pesticide) which bioaccumulates. It seems that (all?) the testing (ever?) done on cyromazine was done by Ciba-Geigy.

And there is this comment:

A few months ago, the Admin made subtle changes in oversight requirements for regs. If you aren’t familiar with reading this sort of language, you would not see flashing red lights – assuming you stayed awake past the first few lines.
Among the agencies affected was the FDA. Here are a few links to posts on these changes:
The Executive Order’s Effect on Regulation: Science & Technology Hearing;
White House Power Grab by OMB Regulation

Bottom Line(s):

• DeGlobalize/ReLocalize your food, take it back America
• Need I really say it? – EAT LOCALLY, ALWAYS
• Eat NOTHING from China
• Find out if your favorite prepared foods or even your fresh veggies and fruits are sourcing from China, they way well be
• the FDA has grown VERY lax under the Bush administration and is not protecting us from this grave Chinese-related risk
• Melamine contamination (and what else?) should be considered potentially widespread throughout our food system and that of others
• The ubiquity of gluten, dairy, and egg products almost ensures widespread and nonconsensual exposure to these tainted source proteins in prepared foods and infant formulas
• Be vigilant

Resource Pages:

• Melamine – Wiki
• Melamine Cyanurate – Wiki
• 2007 Pet Food Recalls – Wiki
• Chinese Protein Export contamination (wheat gluten)
• Baxter’s Heparin Contamination recalls – Wiki
• Chinese Milk and Infant Formula Melamine scandal – Wiki

About the Kjeldahl and Dumas tests:

Traditionally, food protein is measured by a method developed by Danish brewer Johann Kjeldahl in the late 1800s. In this analytical technique, a strong acid digests a sample, breaking down the organic matter and releasing nitrogen, which is then converted to ammonia. The amount of ammonia indicates how much nitrogen was in the original sample and, hence, the amount of protein. This “proved to be a robust, precise method,” says Julian McClements, a food scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It is attractive because it can be used for a variety of products and protein types. Another, similar nitrogen-based technique, called the Dumas test, is also popular with industry. It relies on burning the sample to release nitrogen. The Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) International, a scientific association that sets standards for analytical methods, lists the Kjeldahl and Dumas techniques as the standard methods for measuring protein in food.
(SOURCE)

To celebrate the summer solstice, I made sunny yellow cornmeal “mush” with blackstrap molasses for breakfast this morning.

We are enjoying an overwhelmingly beautiful bright sunny yet not-to-hot day here in central Massachusetts.

The garden is soaking up the sun and growing with leaps and bounds, our moods are sunny, and all is right with the world. The only downside to the solstice is that we are now on the other side of curve and the day length will begin to decrease every day until the winter solstice.

Mush is something my mom used to make for us as kids. It is real down-home comfort food and it is an excellent way to use excess grits or polenta (which are the same thing). I love and adore blackstrap molasses so I use this on mush and pancakes.

Cornmeal mush with blackstrap molasses (gluten free too!)

Ingredients:

• grits or polenta – made as per package/recipe (In this post, I describe making grits)
• cooking spray
• bread loaf pan
• foil
• cast iron pan
• oil
• warmed blackstrap molasses or maple syrup

Directions:

Line the bread loaf pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Make your grits or polenta and pour into the lined loaf pan. Cover with extra foil. Allow to cool overnight (or until cold).

Slice and then pan fry until golden brown and warn throughout.

Serve with butter and molasses/syrup.

Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Ginger Sesame Key Lime Shrimp Grits

Technorati Tags: summer solstice, mush, blackstrap, molasses, breakfast, Massachusetts, garden, solstice, comfort, food, grits, polenta, pancake

I am continuing to explore low GI cooking that not only appeals to me but also must pass the very rigorous and often fickle family test. I like to cook with tofu but my 10 year old has decided she doesn’t like it while the rest of the family will eat it happily. When I set out to cook the above wrap for yesterday’s lunch, I was aiming to make tofu in a way that my daughter likes and will eat because she has my body type and needs to develop better eating habits and likes. Previously, I have served her tofu, stir-fried in many different ways, but never as part of a wrap like you see above. Its the tortilla that I think made all the difference. Below, I am going to share my “recipe” for this relatively simple and very low GI lunch and the results of the Family Voting Panel.

Even though you see various recipes posted here that doesn’t mean I am a recipe-following kind of cook. Its a strange dichotomy.. its more like I am a recipe creator because I want to share some of my ideas, not because I like recipes in and of themselves. I love cookbooks, not because of the recipes so much as the photos, the anecdotes and the notes written by the author.

Because I do not do the recipe thing, I don’t go to the store with a list of things to buy. Rather, I go to the store and, within the budget, buy things that I find interesting. This makes the shopping trip last longer but I promise you, I spend less time shopping and cooking than the average Rachel Ray fan spends watching her show on how to cook in the least amount of time (that has always seemed oxymoronic to me).

Sometimes, I come to the checkout with foods that the cashier has never seen someone buy. Thats sort of odd but I guess that the grocery store TRIES to have new and interesting things but probably many people do not deviate from their usual list.

In the most recent trip, I noticed a product I had not seen before (I was also shopping in a store far from my home and a new one at that, Hannafords), La Tortilla Factory low carbo low fat high fiber whole grain tortillas (they also have gluten-free tortillas). I picked these up as an alternative to the white flour ones we tend to buy for quesadillas.

I bought them with some trepidation because when I have bought whole wheat ones previously (different brands, not this one), I have been unhappy as those tortillas had several problems: they can be really dry or dry out very quickly or they can be really excessively gummy in an unpalatable way. I found these La Tortilla Factory tortillas to be hardy, able to retain their moisture during the foil-wrapped warming up process I put them through and also while sitting on the plate. They are not only tasty and a robust product, they are just fantastically good for you. They are high in fiber so that they have only 5 effective carbs on board per tortilla.

There are a variety of ingredients in this wrap that are low GI, are tasty, and will be really good at inducing the “Second Meal Effect.”

Some of them are:

• Soy beans have a VERY low GI – something like 18. As you might imagine, tofu is also very low in the glycemic index, if any carbohydrate at all.
• Chickpea Hummus (with sesame tahini) has a GI of 6!
• Low Carb Low Fat Tortillas (5 effective carbs, not likely specifically tested yet
• Fresh sweet peas have a GI of 3
• The side of grapefruit slices – GI is around 25.

I did not have to try very hard to put these ingredients together. I mostly went with what caught my eye at the store and what I have been craving.

One more note before I get to the recipe, I used tumeric in my tofu stir-fry. Like tofu, I tend to crave tumeric. Not only is it amazing in it’s ability to perk up the color of any food but it is also deserving of your respect on the grounds that it is a potent medicinal agent.

I am going to do a post on tumeric in the future but suffice it to say that tumeric is a very good thing to cook with. Anecdotally, but relevant to my life, I really feel an increased sense of well-being when I eat foods with it. I hope you will give it a try and also come back for the post on tumeric to learn more about this amazing spice.

Ingredients:

• Homemade hummus, made as you desire
• La Tortilla Factory tortillas
• 1 block extra firm organic tofu
• 1/2 small spanish onion, sliced thinly
• 1/8 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon sliced ginger (leave in large chunks, remove at end)
• 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
• pinch of sea salt
• 3 tablespoons organic soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil (add sesame oil if you have it and like it) to saute
• 1/2 C frozen sweet peas
• fresh basil leaves

Directions:

Turn the oven on to 200 F, wrap your tortillas in foil and warm them while you prepare everything else.

Rinse the tofu block and then wrap in paper towels. Put it on a cutting board and put another one on top. Put weights on the upper board to press out excess packing liquid. Watch the boards so that your weights do not fall off and scare the child, cat or dog that is at your feet in the kitchen. After about 20 minutes, unwrap the tofu and slice into cubes, set aside.

Make your hummus the way you prefer it and let it sit in the fridge, covered, while you make the rest of this. I make hummus like this: in a food processor dump in 2 cans organic chickpeas, 3 tablespoons sesame tahini, 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (or both!), pinch of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic. Mix and then add a dribble of water until its the consistency you like it. I also added some basil leaves. Taste for seasoning and then store cold and covered.

In a low-medium heat saute pan add the olive oil, onions, ginger, and tumeric; heat through to begin cooking the onions. Turn up the heat to medium and add the garlic and then the tofu chunks. Saute until the tofu gets some color. Add the frozen peas and then add the soy sauce, allowing it to simmer down to a thicker sauce. Turn off the heat.

Take out one warmed tortilla, spread a layer of hummus, put down a laye of basil leaves, add the tofu stir-fry, wrap up, and enjoy!

I served this with a couple slices of sweet ruby red grapefruit and tangerine iced tea with sugar free ginger ale.

Results of the Family Tasting Panel:

• The 10 year old LIKED it and wanted more, said it tasted like meat
• The Husband said a similar thing and that it was pretty filling
• The 3 year old said “Mommy, can I have some more please?”

Ingredient Information:

• La Tortilla Factory Low Carb, Low Fat tortillas

Sites of Interest:

• Glycemic Index Food List
• La Tortilla Factory

Related Posts:

• Fast Glycemic Facts: The Second Meal Effect
• Pre-Diabetes and low glycemic cooking

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What you see here is 100% organic pasta made from black soybeans, a product of a company called Nutrition Kitchen. I picked up my pack at The Living Earth in Worcester, MA, when I was doing my organic shopping. I got it because I wanted to try something new.

Since it is made from one ingredient, namely black soybeans, it is gluten and wheat free.

I served it to the family for lunch yesterday with some hamburger in Muir Glen organic pasta sauce and basil. You can see below that I serve it in a way that is very different than for photography!

It got two thumbs up (husband and toddler), one “eh” (me), and one thumbs down (older child).

I would say that this pasta is where whole wheat pasta was a few years ago: doesn’t approximate regular semolina pasta in terms of the way it cooks up, texture, or flavor. My main issue was that it had too dominant a flavor, overwhelming the rest of the dish. It is also like whole wheat in that it seems to want more salt to taste “right.” I can not explain that other than to say that is not a good thing. I boiled it in salty water like I do regular pasta. I would not want to add any more!

I think we will stick to the much improved whole wheat pastas they have now. I am not a pasta lover by any stretch of the imagination but the whole wheat pasta these days is so rich in an appealing flavor that I look forward to making it.

Resources of Interest:

• Black Soybean pasta from Nutrition Kitchen
• Muir Glen organic pasta sauce

Related Posts:

• Local Foods: Auntie Cathies Bakery – Gluten-free to order
• Gluten Free Woodchuck Amber Draft Cider

Technorati Tags: organic, pasta, black soybean, Nutrition Kitchen, The Living Earth, Worcester, gluten, wheat, Muir Glen organic pasta sauce, whole wheat pasta

(Xanthan Gum. Chemical model graphic used with permission from Dr. Martin Chaplin of the London South Bank University, London, UK)

Molecular Gastronomy plays with established food identities to challenge the semiotics of food. It explores the use of chemicals and processes previously the domain of high-throughput industrial food producers and food scientists to deliver non-intuitive gastronomic experiences.

Our expectation than an egg yolk contains egg is flipped and inverted when one bites into one of Ferran Adrià‘s encapsulated broths, extractions, or infusions. Instead of egg yolk, when one bites down and pops the membrane, mango essence may bloom onto your palate. Food hack for food play.

A lot of the “food hack” aspects of Molecular Gastronomy flows from the transformative effects of a few certain ingredients, or reagents as we would call them in the lab.

One key reagent is Xanthan Gum.

So, what is this xantham gum you speak of?

Xanthan gum (shown at top) is a polysaccharide, meaning that it is a large molecule composed of several saccharides or sugars linked together. The size and shape of this molecule dictates how it interacts with it’s environment, chemical and physical. Xanthan gum has several interesting qualities that makes it very useful in the mega-food industry and also in molecular gastronomy.

Some of those qualities are:

it thickens

it stabilizes

it emulsifies

it helps with the creation of foams

it retards or controls the formation of ice crystals

In particular, the one characteristic of xanthan gum that makes it so valuable is something called pseudoplasticity or thixotrophy.

Believe it or not, you have experienced thixotrophy. Yes, you have, I promise.

When you start to shake a bottle of ketchup, the goo inside pretty much stays put (while your fries are cooling into an unappealing mass of transfats). As you whack on it, it begins to experience something call sheer. The molecules in the ketchup are whipped past one another (shear) and the ketchup and the xanthan gum, and other similarly reacting chemical species, dynamically and temporarily liquefies. Once it shoots out onto your plate or fries or whatever needs ketchup, it is no longer experiencing sheer and returns to its thicker more viscous state. If it were not for this thixotropic behavior, we would need to buy ketchup in jars like peanut butter and use a knife.

You can see experiments on thixotrophy by NASA at their NASAexplores site.

In the industrial setting, it is desirable to have and maintain thickness (viscosity) during production, storage, and shipping, while also delivering a product that is not TOO heavy in the mouth. I think that what they mean is, to put a less than fine point on this, that its thick without being snotty.

It is often mixed with guar gum because they work synergistically to boost the thixotrophic qualities of food or liquids.

So where does this artificial stuff come from anyways?

Well, its actually the by-product of a bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris. In the 1950′s, the USDA ran a large project to scan for organisms that produced interesting biopolymers. One of those biopolymers that they found was xanthan gum.

What sorts of foods have xanthan gum in it?

(Borrowed from ADM)

How is it used in Molecular Gastronomy?

Xanthan gum is added to “your favorite food/liquid” to change it into a gel, thick paste, gloopy mix, or foam. If your are whipping up carrot clouds, you may want to pitch in some xanthan gum to stabilize the loft of the foam. If you want that mango puree to be more viscous when you make it into mango-yolks, add some xanthan gum and, voila, its thick and stabilized.

How is it used in Gluten-Free baking?

If you have ever made your own bread, you would appreciate the magic that wheat gluten brings to the party. It is what gives the stretch to the dough and is that which allows bubbles to form in the bread as gases are produced by the yeast. Without gluten, the gases are not trapped into gluten surrounded bubbles, and the bread is flat and, well, not really bread-like at all. Obviously, gluten-free means you do not have gluten. Xanthan gum replaces gluten by providing the viscosity to the batter to trap the gases, forming the airy texture you want in bread.

This has been a quickie introduction to xanthan gum. There are some fun links through out this post that you might want to explore.

Molecular Gastronomy sites of interest:

• Food Hacking main site
• Food Hacking Wiki

Sources for Ingredients:

• Xanthan Gum, 4 oz.
• Guar Gum, 8 oz.

Related Posts:

• Molecular Gastronomy 101: Biology Basics – Part 1
• Molecular Gastronomy 101: Part 2 – The Nose and receptors

As you know from reading some of my previous posts (here), I live in a super tiny village called Wales in central Massachusetts USA. We do not live the fast life here; we enjoy the quiet and solitude of the woods.

One of the things I like about the people who live in this region is that they often find ways to build small businesses that keep them IN the region. I have commuted for YEARS to Boston (4 hours a day) and I now put a premium on working close to or in the home.

Today, I would like to introduce you to one such resident of Wales, Cathie Albrecht (shown at top). She opened Auntie Cathie’s Bakery two years ago, and she is intensely dedicated to giving her customers what they desire. One outcome of this philosophy is that she is finding ways to make just about everything she offers in her bakery all natural sugar-free, wheat-free, and gluten-free. (Note: She ships to anywhere in the continental US.)

This means that Auntie Cathies makes gluten-free:

• breads
• cakes
• cookies
• Moon pies
• pastries
• pies
• pizza dough
• wedding cakes
• and just about anything else you could imagine.

On a recent day, Cathie allowed me to take some photos of her bakery, herself, her employees, and her delicious food.

If you would like to visit our quaint New England town of Wales and this bakery specifically, click here for a map and directions. If you would like to mail-order bakery items or some of their handmade all natural soaps and other toiletries, give the bakery a call at 413-245-6235.

Auntie Cathie’s Bakery

17 Main Street (Route 19)
Wales, Massachusetts 01081-9777
cathie@auntiecathies.com

Auntie Cathie’s Web Site

Copyright © 2007 Nika Boyce All Rights Reserved

Technorati Tags: Massachusetts, USA, small business, Boston, Cathie Albrecht, , Auntie Cathie’s Bakery, sugar-free, wheat-free, gluten-free, ships, gluten, bread, cake, cookie, Moon pie, pastries, pie, pizza, dough, wedding, cake, delicious, New England, Wales, bakery, handmade, natural, soap, toiletries

I was visiting our local liquor store, Yankee Spirits (FAR more than just a liquor store.. if you ever even come NEAR Sturbridge you need to stop in for a huge selection of wine, spirits, and beer, just HUGE), and saw this store-printed sign saying “Gluten Free ciders” and it mentioned Woodchuck Draft Ciders. I had to get it and try it.

It is an effervescent, light and refreshing cider. Its definitely a nice change from other mealtime alcohol options. If you are interested in exploring gluten free alcoholic drinks, definitely give this a try.

I was struck by the fact that I never thought about gluten being an ingredient of a beer or drink. It seems that gluten is an ingredient in many things you would never suspect. There are many resources on the web for consciousness raising around gluten as a widespread ingredient, I could not list them all. I think I will hold off on expounding on gluten in this post because I want to focus on this product. I will save gluten as an ingredient for another day. If you would like to find blogs on the topic of gluten free eating try this google search.

I can recommend a few blogs like this really quick:

Nutty Meat Fruit 

Gluten-Free Girl

I am gluten free

Gluten free by the Bay

Technorati Tags: Yankee Spirits, wine, spirits, beer, Gluten Free ciders, Woodchuck Draft Ciders, alcohol, gluten free, alcoholic, gluten, ingredient