CeliacChicks

Uncle Joe's Gluten-Free, Corn-Free Peppermint Candy

Last year a woman sent me an email asking if I knew where to buy Uncle Joe's Mint Balls. Evidently, these imported gluten-free candies are famous and she used to be able to find them at TJ Maxx and Marshall's, but now she only finds them tucked away as part of an expensive Chelsea Market gift basket. (Funny, I always assumed that the specialty food items at discount stores were stale rejects.) I was intrigued, not only because these candies were so good that they motivated someone to search for them, but because they were corn-free in addition to being gluten-free. (I emailed the company to confirm that there are not any hidden corn ingredients and if you are wondering about the slightly "red" color, it is a natural result from the cooked sugar.)

Imagine my surprise, when I found these little guys at the new Friedman's! Vanessa was really excited about them, because they say "gluten-free" right on the cute tin. They look adorable as decoration on the ledge by the community table, and they are for sale.  I was so happy to take home a tin, and although they are not as cheap as a corn laden 7-Eleven candy fix, they are super delicious and extra minty. I fell in love with the antique looking tin and it now has a permanent home on my kitchen shelf. Sorry, but I didn't get to take a picture of the candies before I ate them all. They are round traditional sucker style candy discs, similar to the shape of a butterscotch. It turns out that these candies have been made in the same way since 1898! Oh, and they are also vegan. 

I know most people won't be interested in these since they are spendy, but for the few of you that would really like these I've listed here some places you can buy them. I know how hard corn-free candy is to come by!

NYC
Friedman's
Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Ave
New York, NY 10011
212.929.7100
At $8 a tin, they probably aren't going to re-order them.

Online
Chelsea Market Baskets
3 Tins for $29.00

3 Pack of Bags- This looks like the best deal- for $9.00

Amazon $12.99 a tin

England
Uncle Joe's Emporium
14 Crompton Street (Wigan Town Centre)
Wigan, Lancashire WN1 1YP
Tel: 01942 244807
I'm not sure what they cost in England.

What is your favorite gluten-free and or gluten-free/corn-free candy?

Gluten-Free Shopping in Scarborough, Maine

Here is the latest in our ongoing CeliacChicks Around The World feature. This was sent in by Kat Brooks. Thank you, Kat!

On 9-22-08 I discovered a fantastic store on Route 1 in Scarborough, Maine.  It's called Lois' Natural Marketplace and I felt like a kid in a candy store!  They had loads of gluten free foods - a great variety of manufacturers in all categories.  Quite a lot of it was produced locally by folks with celiac relatives and Lois, the owner, managed to get this huge assortment of foods in one place. 

There is also a sandwich and soup bar, and the chefs there make nearly everything gluten-free.  I got some Greek Chicken Soup and it was so nice to be able to eat something without worrying if the person just told me it was gluten free to brush me off.  Everyone I spoke to was very knowledgeable about celiac disease and they offered to special order anything I couldn't find.  It really was a pleasure to shop there!

The baked goods there are to-die-for! I can't even remember the last time I ate anything with pumpkin in it, which is my absolute favorite, and I was nearing ecstasy with their moist and decadent Pumpkin Chocolate Cake.  Yes, I ate the whole thing!  And this morning I ate the Blueberry-Peach Coffee Cake and that was delicious beyond words as well.  I am looking forward to polishing off my Carrot Cake tomorrow.

Gluten-Free Portland, Oregon: New Cascadia Traditional Bakery

Vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and very tasty chocolate cupcake

New Cascadia Traditional
~the gluten-free artisans~
NW Glisan St. between NW 21st and NW 22nd Ave.
(next to Trader Joe’s and in front of Sammy’s Flowers)
Portland, Oregon

New Hours (effective July 1st, 2008)
Tuesday - Friday 11:00a.m. to 6:00p.m.
Saturday 11:00a.m. to 5:30p.m.
Phone 503.887.4392

Teresa Atkins & Chris Gumke, owners of New Cascadia Traditional

When I found out that Portlandia recently gave birth to a dedicated gluten-free bakery, which just happens to be right down the street from where my good friend lives, I put it at the top of my list of things to check out as soon as I stepped off the tarmac.

Well, I wasn't disappointed! (C'mon New York City- Where is your dedicated gluten-free bakery?!)

Gluten-Free News

NEW YORK
Joans GF Great Bakes products are now being sold at The Health Nuts chain stores. They will be in Great Neck, Bayside, Westbury and the Manhattan store at 1208 2nd Ave. (btw 63 &64 street) Be sure to ask for them at your local health food store so that they will contact Joan and stock them. (If someone can find a link to the other Health Nuts locations, please post it in a comment below.)

Don't forget that the L. Lodico walk for celiac disease is coming up on Sunday, June 1st.

INDIANA
Holiday World and Splashin' Safari amusement parks, located in the town of Santa Claus, Indiana, are now serving gluten-free foods!

EVERYWHERE
Over 7000 of us have voted for gluten-free goodies at Starbucks! The Starbucks idea website now says that this is "Under Review". Yay!

The summer barbecue season is upon us and thank goodness that most barbecued foods are gluten-free. (Minus the buns, of course.)  I just learned something that I thought was worth sharing. Here is a quote from Wikipedia about how using a marinade may reduce carcinogens:

"Some studies have shown that a reaction between creatine in muscle meats and amino acids caused by flame-cooking at high temperatures produces cancer-causing agents known as heterocyclic amines (HCA). New research seems to indicate that marinades may discourage formation of certain HCAs in char-grilled meat.

Immersion in an acid-based marinade for as little as forty minutes resulted in a decrease of 92-99% of heterocyclic amines in recent tests by the American Institute for Cancer Research. More studies are being conducted, but the acidic component in marinades seems to be very effective. Marinating is currently the best known method of discouraging the formation of HCAs."

Anyhow, for what it's worth, enjoy your healthy BBQ!

DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
We have some more fun gluten-free giveaways coming up. I also wanted to mention that I'm going to start putting in your email subject line what geographic area the latest info is for. I know a lot of you don't live in or near New York, so I don't want you to get frustrated due to information that is not relevant to you. At the same time I know there are people that like to read about what is going on in other areas. So, hopefully, if you see in the subject line of your email a state other than your own, you can just delete the email if you aren't interested. I'm getting more and more information all the time for gluten-free happenings all over the place and I'd like to keep you as a subscriber, but at the same time not annoy you. I hope this helps!

Gluten-Free Starbucks Update

When I asked you to vote for gluten-free food at Starbucks the number of votes was around 500. Now almost 6000 people have told Starbucks they would like something gluten-free to nosh on with their coffee. We've got Starbucks attention, now they have asked us to post a comment specifically telling them what kind of gluten-free food we want. They don't necessarily want brand names, but categories like "muffins, cookies, lunch...", whatever you genuinely would buy if they had a gluten-free version available. So now is our chance to tell them exactly what we want! Go ahead, don't be shy.

BE SURE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR EMAIL UPDATES. WE HAVE SOME FUN GLUTEN-FREE GIVEAWAYS COMING UP (LOCAL & NATIONAL)  AND A SECRET CODE FOR THEM WILL BE IN YOUR EMAIL!