Safe and Unsafe Ingredients

Family Allergens and Favorite ingredients:

Over the years, my family has discovered several ingredients that cause digestive problems.  Because of their suffering, now I have an ongoing list of safe and unsafe ingredients.  The following ingredients are proven safe for my family.  Sometimes, when I do my grocery shopping, I’ll encounter an ingredient of which I am unsure, so I call my daughter who is really in tune with this.  Having to read the ingredients means that my grocery shopping trip will take longer for me than for others, but having a family that doesn’t suffer is worth it.

Note on reading the ingredients:  Always read the ingredients because a manufacturer may change their recipe, without warning, to something that is not safe for my family.

A “safe” ingredient means that it is free of

• Gluten – when we make bread, we substitute either brown rice, white rice, sweet white rice, almond flour, potato flour, cashew flour, or some combination
• Dairy – we substitute either soy milk or almond milk
• Corn – when substituting for corn starch, we use either potato starch or tapioca starch
• Apple – we usually substitute pears
• Eggs – there are a variety of egg substitutes that you can make on line, depending on the dish you want to make.
• Peanuts – we substitute cashews, pecans, etc.
• Xantham gum
• Pea protein
• I hope I won’t need to add to this list

A partial list of reaction-causing ingredients:

• Maltodextrin
• Some types of vinegar (regular white vinegar is often made from corn products)
• Anything with wheat (including “this product may be produced in a factory that may process whet, dairy,” etc.
• Salt.  Yes, salt!  According to my daughter, whom I trust on this, some (or most) iodized salt uses a corn product that keeps the crystals from sticking together.
• There are medications that use corn products as capsules or a shell. You should check with your pharmacist, especially if they tell you that the manufacturer has changed.

Our Ingredients and Trusted Brands:

• Milk – Silk soy milk or Almond Breeze
• Butter sticks – Miyoko’s
• Chicken stock – 2 kinds:  Kirkland (Costco) and Pacific Organic
• Mushroom broth – 2 kinds:  Kirkland (Costco) and Pacific Organic
• Beef stock – 2 kinds:  Kirkland (Costco) and Pacific Organic
• Maple syrup – the local Wisconsin stuff
• Honey – the local Wisconsin stuff
• Spices – McCormick
• Sea salt
• San-J Gluten-free tamari soy sauce.  There are others, but, since this works for us, we haven’t bothered to try other brands.  I know Kikkoman has a gluten-free soy sauce.
• Most of Bob’s Red Mill products.  For making bread, we use a mixture of flours:  white rice, sweet white rice, brown rice, potato, tapioca, almond. Thanks, Bob!
• Instead of cornstarch, we use potato starch or tapioca starch, depending on what we’re making.  Tapioca starch makes the end product a little gooey.
• Organic coconut sugar
• Organic powdered sugar
• Tinkyada pasta

By no means is this a complete list.  I will endeavor to update it when I find new information.  Until then, please enjoy the recipes.  Bon appétit!