August 2015 Meeting Summary

The Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support Group wrapped up the summer months of 2015 with its' tuesday, August 11th meeting from 12-2PM at Prescott Valley Public Library. The group discussed favorite cook books and welcomed three new people to the meeting, which was held on the third floor in the Crystal Room.

The Yavapai County Public Library system has well over 100 titles on Celiac and the Gluten Free Lifestyle, with the majority being cookbooks. The group also discussed the myth of an all purpose gluten free flour. Just as there are different wheat flours for cooking and baking, all purpose, self rising, bread flour and cake flour, there are different gluten free flour blends for different baking needs. Some flour mixes lend themselves to making a pastry or cake best because of their high starch to protein ratio. And some flours lend themselves best for a bread flour, because breads need a higher ratio of protein to a smaller amount of starch.

It is best to pick a commercial flour mix and use the recipes online from that company for that particular flour mix or make your own homemade, which is generally a considerable savings. Companies that offer GF flour mixes have factored in how much liquid and other ingredients are needed to make that recipe a success. If you used a high protein flour blend to make cakes it would not have enough liquid and would end up very dense.

Also the group discussed that lemon juice, instead of using vinegar in a recipe, would yield in a lighter baked good. The lemon juice's chemical reaction to baking soda can be as much as twice the amount of a rise than vinegar. This is especially important if one must cook egg free.

Gimbal's company makes an entire line of gluten free jelly beans, as well as the black licorice Scottie Dogs, made with real licorice root and pure anise. The Prescott area Tractor Supply store was selling the bags 2 for $5.00. One group attendee said she had paid as high as $5.00 per bag before.

Dr. Tom O'Brien recently offered a segment online about gluten in green tea! Whether the gluten was found in the bag or the tea itself was not clear, but studies have proven that there were detectable levels of gluten in several samples.

The next meeting of the Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support will be Tuesday, September 8^th at the Prescott Valley Public Library from 12-2PM. We look forward to seeing you there!

DJ/LC