Gluten free in Tacoma WA area

While visiting relatives in Tacoma recently we found some great sources for gluten-free goodies:

Corina Bakery & Bistro
510 6th Av
Tacoma WA
253 627-5070
www.corinabakery.com

Without a doubt the best gluten free dessert I've ever had: a tall, raspberry filled cake with butter cream frosting. So rich it took me two nights to finish one piece!

GF Joe's Market
5737 Littlerock Rd. SW Ste. 103
Tumwater WA
360 628-8010


A little store chock full with gluten-free products, some of which I've never seen before. They will soon begin online ordering. Owner Joe has Celiac so he knows his stuff.

Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza
3602 6th Av. Ste 103
Tacoma WA
253 286-5467


Their GF Nutty Chipolte pizza was to die for! "Zesty chipotle pesto is topped with spicy Italian sausage, pepperoni, red onions, tomatoes and cashews." Too, too good! Made me feel normal.

And of course, a home-cooked, GF dinners made by my wonderful daughter-in-law were fabulous, too.

Tide products

I received a letter from Proctor and Gamble Consumer Relations dated July 16, 2009, that states:

"I'm happy to share with you that there is no gluten in any of our Tide products."

Good news!

Natural Food Works Gluten Free Artisan Bakery

On the way back from Sacramento we found a great all-gluten-free bakery:

Natural Food Works
624 4th St
Davis, CA.
Phone: (530) 756-1862
website: www.naturalfoodworks.com

They had baguettes, fresh, warm, wonderful baguettes! And herb sandwich rolls. And chocolate chip cookies. Good chocolate chip cookies! And a host of other baked goods both freshly baked and frozen like carrot cake and pizza dough. I bought a lot. It almost brought tears to my eyes because I was assured that all their baked goods are gluten free and their kitchen is all gluten free, too, so no chance of cross-contamination.

I came home and had toasted baguette with lots of butter and garlic powder. And I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

If you're ever in the vicinity of Davis, CA, go there!

Haagen-Dazs "Five" ice cream

Just got off the phone with Haagen-Dazs about their new “Five” line of ice creams. These ice creams have only five all natural ingredients—and the company verified that they’re gluten free!

I asked the representative about processing. After each ice cream flavor they take the machines apart, wash and sanitize them, and inspect them to make sure they’re clean before they do another run. So no risk of cross-contamination, either.

The customer service rep also told me that most of their ice creams, except ones like cookie dough, ones with granola, etc. are gluten free. I’ve got to say, though, that the “Five” ice creams are delicious, particularly the Passion Fruit which is hard to find on the mainland.

I also suggested that they label their products “gluten free.” The rep told me that she’s received lots of calls about that and said she’d pass my comment on to marketing/advertising.

Really good gf cornbread

OK, I have to admit I had my doubts when a friend gave me a bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread mix. How good could it possibly be considering the horrid gluten-free baked goods I'd had?

But I was wrong, wrong, wrong. This mix made delicious cornbread! I made it in a pie pan instead of the recommended 9"x 9" baking pan and it rose and browned beautifully (though it took about 10 minutes longer to cook than the package said).

The cornbread was tasty, though not terribly sweet like Marie Callender's. It was good alone with butter, or really, really fabulous with butter and a little maple syrup (I didn't have any honey).

And the best part? It hadn't turned into a rock the next day like many GF baked goods do. Just rewarmed it in the microwave and it was just as good as it had been right out of the oven.

It was just soooo very nice to find a baked good that actually tasted "normal!" I'm totally jazzed about this product.

Hall's Cough Drops

“Thank you for your inquiry concerning the presence of allergens in products produced by our company.

Our company complies with all applicable labeling regulations by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies in the U.S. In addition, we have implemented an internal food allergen management policy, pursuant to which we have undertaken the labeling of any known allergens in the following categories: cereals (containing gluten and products of these including wheat, rye, barley, triticale, spelt, kamut, and oats, but not corn, rice, sorghum, or buckwheat)…

All of our Halls products are gluten free.

We appreciate your inquiry and welcome any additional questions you may have regarding any of our products.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations”

Tropicana Juices

After a number of evasive emails, I finally got the following response from the Tropicana folks:

"We can say there is no gluten added to Tropicana/Dole products that are 100% juice. You can easily determine if a Tropicana product is 100% juice by looking for the Nutrition Facts Panel on the package; the percentage of juice is located just above that panel.

Having consulted further with our plant, we are able to say we don't have any gluten-containing ingredients in plants that produce Tropicana Pure Premium Juices. We hope this information is helpful.

Dan
Tropicana Consumer Relations"