Paper Palate

The Hartford Courant reports last week that a rising number of people with Celiac disease - a condition that is aggrevated by wheat products - is giving rise to an increase in gluten-free products in major retailers.

In mainstream grocery stores, restaurants, airlines, bookstores and cooking classes, gluten-free is fast becoming the rule rather than the exception. And it’s all because of a little marketing maxim called demand.

“The market is booming, and there are more choices because of the numbers of people with celiac disease,” says Annalise G. Roberts, who recently wrote a cookbook titled “Gluten-Free Baking Classics” (Surrey, $16.95)

“I can go in my local Shop-Rite and find many of the flours I use to bake, gluten-free soy sauce, a lot of the things I need for my diet and cooking,” says Roberts, who was diagnosed with the disease four years ago. “People with celiac are starting to speak out. They want to be able to easily buy what they need to follow their diets and retailers are starting to listen. And the smart retailers are listening.”

This is good news for the approximately 1 in 120 people in the United States who have this condition. Even restaurants, hotels and airlines are catching on to the trend, so there are more options in more places.

The article includes two recipes: one for chocolate chip cookies and one for pizza dough.

Now a note on gluten free cooking … When my son was an infant and starting to eat solids, he was put on a gluten-free diet due to the mass of allergies I have. Well, I hated that he couldn’t have bitter biscuits and zwieback and such so I decided to make some, substituting the prohbited ingredients with appropriate gluten free alternatives.

Well, baking is a science for sure, and you really need to know your substitutes.

My zwieback biscuits came out rock hard with gooey centers (EWWWW!). I knew they were inappropriate for the baby when I nearly chipped a tooth trying one of the dry and disgusting things.

Anyway, my dogs got ahold of one and went hog wild - apparently they are like really good dog biscuits.

My point? You are better off following a recipe intended to be gluten free then experimenting … because this is chemistry.

And if you are in the market for a gluten free cookbook, Shauna James - the girl behind the Gluten-Free Girl blog - recently signed a book deal with Wiley & Sons. No word on when it’ll be hitting the bookstores, but it’s worth a look when it does.