This GlutenFreeZone is for you who have coeliacs as friends and would like to bake or cook for them a bit when they pop in for a cup of coffee or tea. I just tell the basics here what all who serve for coeliacs should know. If you want to know more ask it from your friends; they are only happy to tell.
Coeliac disease is incurable life-long disease which can be under a good control & care ONLY by following a strict gluten free diet (every minute, every hour, every day, every night, from a day to another, no exceptions can be done, each false bite causes damages into bowels).
Coeliac disease is not an allergy. It can not be helped out by any medication; only by gluten free diet. The reaction is always bad; it happens deep inside the body despite every coeliac doesn't really feel it. When I need to explain it to the school kids who ask about it I often say it is like I would drink acid if I eat gluten. Of course it is not the same but like with the acid at the end something very important disappears from my bowels and that makes me sick.
You can find gluten in whey, rye and barley. Oats doesn't include gluten in itself BUT oats grow on the same fields, is transported in the same trucks and is processed in the same factories with whey, rye and barley. That's why it gets contaminated with the gluten. There are special labels for gluten free oats. It means every single grain of oat has came out to the shop via special supervised process where it has not been connected to source of gluten at any point.
Gluten free labeled food is much more expensive than the normal food with gluten. There may be moments you would like to serve something for your friend but need to follow a strict budget at the shop and end up having nothing. Coeliacs are often served nothing so they are happy even for something small but safe. Low budget options can be (depending on the season and area) vegetables and fruits. If you would like to serve something sweet; spend a proper time by the ice cream department to read the ingredient lists. Ice creams contain gluten or traces of it quite often, but seek something with pack of liters without waffle, biscuits or crumbs. It is usually cost effective choice too. You can buy just a pack of boring vanilla ice cream and serve it with a home made berry jam. If you are not sure is your jam gluten free I can tell it usually is. When making the jam you need to be very hygienic and work only with berries, sugar and water. Just think a bit how you always do it to be sure.
When buying gluten free products in EU area the products that may include or include gluten or traces of it should have a note about it. If you are not sure about it, choose a world wide trade marks: they often follow these rules very strict. If you find English, German or some Scandinavian language in the ingredient list you can be 100% sure of its safety if there is no mention about gluten itself, whey, oats, rye or barley in any form despite it is not labelled as gluten free. Also if you see bolded allergy info and find no mention about these ingredients you can be sure about its safety.
If your friend is a regular visitor in your home the most cost effective thing is to do it yourself. You need to buy a bit more on the first time but then you can store the ingredients in the safe way in a safe place (closed plastic bags for example) and keep the extras in the freezer waiting for the next time.
Here in MyBlog I share some MyOwnGlutenFreeRecipes. They are quite easy and have proper info about the ingredients I use. You can find them by viewing the web version of my blog, seeing the labels on right (scroll down) and choosing "recipes". Click it and it shows you all MyGlutenFreeRecipes. When you see ConversionCharts site you can find some help for measuring your baking.
When you cook for coeliacs you can use your normal kitchen ware as long as they are free from gluten. It means they are washed well and really clean. It means wooden kitchen ware are not always safe. Don't bake or cook anything at the same time with gluten free (the dust of grain spreads around). If you are making something with gluten too, make the gluten free first and then store it in the safe place on gluten free zone in your house (can be done also by covering it).
When you cook for coeliacs every ingredient must be gluten free. You need to watch out the cross contamination. This means you can not use the same butter you use for spreading the butter for your normal bread (buy new one for the gluten free baking and then use it later in the normal way). Gluten gets into the butter by the knife that touches your bread and then ends up to your gluten free baking via the butter. All the surfaces, levels, chopping boards etc. must be clean. Even a bread crumb cause the damage. You can not use the same toaster or waffle iron you use for normal baking (unless they are washable with removable irons). Just look inside to notice how much crumbs there still is inside even you clean it regular.
There are two different types of gluten free diets. There are the gluten free diet and naturally gluten free diet.
Gluten free diet includes small amounts of gluten. According to the latest medical researches there can be a certain tiny amount of gluten which doesn't cause damages for coeliacs. In EU area if the product that has the source of gluten included it must be labelled as gluten free if it is safe for coeliacs.
Naturally gluten free diet means a diet without any source of gluten. It has no whey, oats, rye or barley in any form. It is suitable also for person who have serious allergies for these grains. All MyRecipes are naturally gluten free. Naturally gluten free products don't need to have gluten free labels sold on EU area BUT again, they need to announce it if the product has traces of gluten or whey.
If you don't know which is the right one choose the naturally gluten free option. It is not more expensive. It just needs a bit more detective work at the shop.
Don't use the normal breadcrumbs for baking trays, cake molds etc. Instead of expensive almond and coconut crumbs you can use just butter.
Serve everything that is and must stay gluten free S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E!
If you suggest your friend to see the packs of it what you bought or used she / he is only happy. If it all was not safe at the end and can not be eaten don't be sad; your friend will love you even more because you tried and were honest and cared about the heath.
PS. Gluten free diet is not good for a weight loosing purposes. Why it may seem so is that when you trying to follow it you end up eating less those things that make you to gain weight because you can find gluten also from the products that include extra calories (cakes, muffins, white bread, pizza, pasta etc.). Coeliacs are not always small, thin & slim people. If they are they usually have more serious / difficult coeliac disease than usually. If you suspect you have a coeliac disease see the doctor at first before starting the gluten free diet! Gluten free diet is not easy to arrange. You need to meet also a nutritionist / dietitian!!!
