First of all it is important to remember that many foods are naturally gluten free including all fresh meat, fish, vegetables and fruit, rice, potatoes, herbs and spices, legumes (beans, chickpeas, lentils) and polenta.  This means that you can create numerous dishes based on these foods that taste great and are already gluten free. 

Then there are a number of products that are direct substitutes for foods that normally contain gluten (wheat, barley, rye or oats) such as gluten free pasta, cereals, sauces and confectionary.  For example, soy sauce naturally contains barley, but soy sauce based on tamari is gluten free.  This gluten free product be used a direct swap for soy sauce in a recipe.

Finally there are the foods which may need a mix of ingredients to replace foods with gluten.  These are typically foods based on wheat flour where often a mix of gluten free flours is needed to replace the wheat.  Gluten is a binding agent in cooking and therefore, without this agent, different ingredients are required.  Fortunately, there are many products available these days that do this substitution for you.  There are a number gluten free sweet and savoury biscuits, a range of packet mixes for cakes, muffins, pizza bases, bread and pancakes. The mixes use a variety of gluten free flours to make them taste good and most closely resemble the wheat based original.  You can also buy ready made gluten free plain or self-raising flour (such as FG Roberts or Casalare) that can often be substituted for normal flour in many recipes. 

Enjoy cooking gluten free! If you have a recipe that you have created and want to share with the world, please send to us and we’ll publish them in one of our newsletters.