Gluten Free Pasta: Rustichella D'Abruzzo Organic Corn Spaghetti - Product Review #5

Gluten Free Spaghetti

PRODUCT NAME:                             Organic 100% Corn Spaghetti

BRAND:                                            Rustichella D’Abruzzo

COST:                                               $7.75

SIZE:                                                 8.8oz

COST PER OZ:                                  $0.88/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:                NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:                 N/A

ORGANIC:                                         YES

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:                 Istituto Mediterraneo Di Certificazione

VEGAN:                                             Unknown

WHEAT FREE FACILITY:                    NO

LOCATION OF FACILITY:                   Italy

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging. We cannot verify the accuracy of this information. For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.

REVIEW:

We boiled the pasta and tossed it with olive oil, green onions, and a little salt and pepper and served it with Salmon.  If we had not known prior to tasting this pasta, we would never have known it was gluten free.  The cost of this pasta is a little on the higher side, but that is probably because it is imported from Italy.  It gets a perfect score on taste and texture, but basing it on value, it falls a little short.    

Taste: The pasta had great texture and flavor.  The corn in the pasta gave it a lot of flavor.  Usually, pastas are pretty bland tasting because all it is flour and water, but with the addition of corn, which is sweet, a lot of flavor is added. 

Labeling: The labeling is very simple yet attractive.  Combined with a few Italian words I cannot read, this pasta is the real thing…Italian pasta.

Packaging: The Packaging on this is a 2 part package.  The dry noodles are placed in a sealed air-tight bag that is stuffed into a recyclable paperboard box.  A little wasteful in material as it is pretty much double packaging, however with a wonderful taste and texture like this, I guess it can be forgiven.

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product…

RATING:

Texture:                 5             

Taste:                     5

Value:                    2

OVERALL:              4

Reviewed 9/27/10 by CC

Gluten Free Pasta: Tinkyada White Rice Spaghetti - Product Review #4

Gluten Free Pasta: Tinkyada White Rice Spaghett

BRAND:                                     Tinkyada

PRODUCT NAME:                      White Rice Pasta: Spaghetti Style

SOURCE:                                   The Pasta Shop

COST:                                       $4.50

SIZE:                                         16 oz

COST PER OZ:                          $0.28/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:         NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:          N/A

ORGANIC:                                  NO

VEGAN:                                      Unkown

WHEAT FREE FACILITY:            YES

LOCATION OF FACILITY:           Canada

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging. We cannot verify the accuracy of this information. For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.

REVIEW:

Good texture for a rice pasta.  It was firm unlike many other rice noodles we have tested that came out mushy.  This pasta was a little chewy, but not so much that you would notice.  Cooking time was much longer than traditional pastas.  Most pastas cook in 6-8 minutes, this one calls for a 16-17 minute cooking time on the directions. 

Taste: Rice noodles are very good at absorbing flavor.  By themselves, they are bland, but with the right sauce rice noodles can be very tasty.  We served this with green onions and chicken.  It went very well with this pasta. 

Labeling: You will see right away that there is A LOT of writing on the packaging and the writing is in many different directions.  It is a little distracting and looks a lot more complicated than it needs to be.   

Packaging: Non recyclable packaging made of plastic. 

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product..

RATING:

Texture:                4             

Taste:                    3

Value:                    5

OVERALL:              4

Reviewed 10/18/10 by CC

Gluten Free Snacks: Go Raw "PIZZA" Flax Snax - Product Review #3

Gluten Free Go Raw Pizza Flax Snax

PRODUCT NAME:                           “PIZZA” Flax Snax

BRAND:                                           Go Raw

COST:                                              $5.49

SIZE:                                                3 oz (85g) $1.83/oz

COST PER OZ:                                 $1.83/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:               YES

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:                Gluten-Free Certification Organization

ORGANIC:                                        YES

VEGAN:                                            YES

WHEAT FREE FACILITY:                   UNKNOWN

LOCATION OF FACILITY:                  Mountain View, CA

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging. We cannot verify the accuracy of this information. For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.                                              

REVIEW:
Now according to the serving count which is three 1 ¼ “ discs of seeds… You are ingesting a whooping 167 calories!!! + 269mg. of sodium!!!!..I would say if you nibbled these salty discs manufactured  with Celtic salt no less, ”Celtic Sea Salts are a prime condiment that stimulates salivation helps to balance and replenishes all of the body’s electrolytes.” www.healthfree.com/celtic_sea_salt, you would probably, as I did, actually eat 9 discs because I was of course not really paying attention to the process of ingesting these little caloric bombs… so I calculate that I ingested 501 calories + 807 mg of salt.

Taste: Reasonable with the salt + organic tomatoes powder, BUT the caloric content + sodium content are not reasonable coupled with the portion size

Labeling: ”Pizza” Flax Snax… since when is a pizza an inch + 1/4 in diameter..???

Packaging: Just about every available space on this package has information on it, which of course I read AFTER I ate 9 seed discs!!!  For all this hoopla about organic + seeds +family owned what happened to the packaging?????? Small, plastic + not recyclable..

Reader’s Reviews: Please share with us your review of this company’s other products + where you purchased the product + how long you have been using this product. Please no review from the family + friends of the company producing the product.

RATING:

Taste:                  2

Texture:              2

Value:                 2

OVERALL:           2

Reviewed 10/23/10 by TD

Gluten Free Brownies: Mariposa Triple Chocolate Truffle Brownie - Product Review #2

Gluten Free Brownies: Mariposa Triple Chocolate Truffle Brownie

PRODUCT NAME:                       Brownie

BRAND:                                      Mariposa

COST:                                        $2.95

SIZE:                                          2.25oz

COST PER OZ:                           $1.31/oz

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:         NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:          N/A

ORGANIC:                                  NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:          N/A

VEGAN:                                      NO

GLUTEN FREE FACILITY:           YES

LOCATION OF FACILITY:           Oakland, CA

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging.  We cannot verify the accuracy of this information.  For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.

REVIEW
When you see a nice big brownie, you don’t usually think gluten free.  That is exactly what we have here.  A Gluten Free  Triple Chocolate Truffle Brownie made by the people at Mariposa.  We had this brownie for dessert today and it was great.  Just look at the picture above.  We loved it so much left that all we have left is the empty package with a few crumbs left over.  If you like light cake-like brownies, this is probably not for you, but if you like a very heavy, rich and thick brownie, this is the brownie for you.  The size of the brownie is about the right size for 1.  It is a 3 inch square about 1 inch thick.  All 3 of us at the studio tried it and we loved it.  If I hadn’t known better, I wouldn’t have noticed that it was gluten free.

For those of you that are allergic to dairy, eggs or nuts, we regret to say it, but this brownie contains dairy and eggs and may have traces of nuts so this is not a product for you.  It looks like the factory that makes these brownies also have a walnut version, which is probably why this product clearly states on the package that it is “NOT SUITABLE FORE PEOPLE WITH NUT ALLERGIES”.  If you want more information about these guys, they have a website: www.mariposabaking.com.

We really liked this brownie and we give it a perfect 4.  Rody even went as far as giving it a 6 even though 5 is our max so you get an idea of how good this brownie is.


RATING:
Texture:        5
Taste:            5
Value:           3
OVERALL:     4.3

Reviewed by CC

Gluten Free Sauces: San J Organic Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce - Product Review #1

Gluten Free Soy Sauce

You probably wouldn’t have guessed it, but most soy sauces actually have gluten in them.  We do a lot of Asian style cooking here in our studio and when we started cooking gluten free, we missed our salty friend.  When we discovered this Gluten Free Soy Sauce, we were thrilled to say the least.

At first, we were afraid that gluten free soy sauce might taste different, but in fact we actually like it better.  Pour a little you will see right away that this soy sauce, although it looks very dark, actually has a very light consistency.  We were originally using Pearl River brand soy sauce, which was very dark and thick.  It overpowered the food, making a lot of it salty.  This soy sauce has a much nicer flavor it is light and slightly sweet.  This soy sauce gets a 5 in our books.

• Brand: San J
• Name: Organic Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce
• Price: $7.15
• Rating: 5

Reviewed by CC

Ready for Lunch: an introduction to Gluten Free

Welcome to the Gluten Free Reviewer!  This is the place where we will be reviewing all of the gluten free products we taste test everyday for lunch.  All products will get a rating on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest.  The criteria on which they will be graded is taste, texture, and price.   

So the question is… What is a gluten free product and why would it be important to me?  A gluten free product is a product that is produced without the use gluten, which is wheat, rye, barley, or any of their relatives.  Many people actually have allergies to gluten and it ranges in intensity from mild to extreme.  Celiacs are on the extreme end of the spectrum and consumption of gluten can be fatal in some cases. 

The next question is…How did reviewing gluten free products get in our heads?  It all started when one of the guys in our studio realized that he had an allergy to gluten.  He had sinus infections all his life and it was all due to his allergy to gluten.  From there, we set out to eat gluten free lunches everyday.  We are now in the beginning phases of opening up a gluten free retail business in San Francisco. We use our daily lunches as a way to taste test different products to see how they stack up to their glutenous counterparts.  

Written by CC