Avoiding Cross-Contamination: Home Cooking is Your Best Bet

     If you’ve recently been diagnosed with celiac disease, it is likely you’re still adapting to a gluten-free lifestyle. It may seem overwhelming at first to a celiac patient to begin the gluten-free road to recovery, as there are many challenges to face in adjusting to your new gluten-free diet. One of these challenges is avoiding gluten that can get in your food through cross-contamination. Although cross-contamination is an issue in the home, celiac people adopt home cooking for their gluten-free diet.

     This takes the uncertainty out, as you’ll have much more control over the ingredients and the food preparation. I recommend using fresh foods and foods that are minimally processed in a gluten-free environment.

     Starches can be useful in frying and baking, such as cornstarch, potato starch and tapioca starch, as they have been processed to remove the protein. There may still be a small amount of residual protein, most of which would be from, for example, the corn, potato or tapioca used to make the starch, but not from contaminating wheat. Wheat starch is not safe, however. You can find a cookbook that uses starches only to get some recipe ideas. Also Chebe Bread is an excellent line of bread mixes made with tapioca starch. If you have the time, consider milling your own flour. This will allow you to inspect and wash the whole grains, which significantly cuts down your chance of contamination in flours.

Tina Turbin

From our home to yours, Tina Turbin
If you have any questions or suggestions just email me at info (at) GlutenFreeHelp.info.

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I'm a cookbook-collecting, recipe-developing paleo junkie, and I live in the kitchen. I'm hooked on farmers' markets, traveling, eating healthy, and hiking until my legs scream at me. There's nothing better than hanging out with family and good friends. I have fun and sleeping is just plain boring. Read more About Tina Turbin.


2 thoughts on “Avoiding Cross-Contamination: Home Cooking is Your Best Bet

  1. I was diagnosed with celiac disease but honestly the food labeled
    gluten free taste really bad. Its getting hard for me to eat that food
    when I am/was a person that really loves all kinds of food. I feel that the foods that are gluten free lack flavor, and taste like pure UGH wheat or something terrible- lacking flavor, at least the pasta did. Any pointers? Thanks Tina Victoria

    1. I understand your frustration about the pastas and the lack of TRUE flavor in the GF foods. You are not the only one who feels this way.

      Getting familiar with a few basic recipes from a good site or good GF cook-book will help you go far BUT in the meantime please try some of the better GF companies I HONESTLY review on my site. That is what I do the reviews. ONLY the ones I can thrust forward from my herat, are promoted liberally on my site. I can name Contes (pastas, gnocchi and sauces) and Depumas (ravilis) as some top of the line gf pasta companies. When is comes to bakeries and such, there are many on my site. Take a browse and you shall see.

      Please be sure to addrss your dietary needs with an appropriate person and be sure and ask about the need for your vegetables, fruits, good oils and proteins in the diet. Too many new to the Gf diet, launch full throttle into the many cookies, pastries and cakes (carbs) available, and this can be far to much for the body to maintain health and heal.

      Again, address this with someone who WELL is trained to help celiacs. Victoria, please let me know if I can refer you to someone or if you have further questions.

      Sincerely, Tina

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