A Berry Delicious Gluten Free Day

Yesterday Alex and I celebrated the summer solstice (a little early—we took advantage of the perfect weather) by hiking up to the top of Mt.Wantastiquet. It’s a great mountain just across the Connecticut River from Brattleboro, VT with a carriage trail built in 1891 that switches back and forth to the summit.

It was hot, and we didn’t bring water, so we were thrilled to discover that we were the first to find ripe wild blueberries growing around the boulders on the summit. They were warm and sweet and tasted just like summer.

I always get a thrill when I come upon naturally growing berries. It’s like eating local at its ultimate best. Our scene was right out of Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal, except that our blueberry picking solitude was interrupted not by a bear, but by a Jack Russell terrier and a guy sitting on the summit monument talking for at least fifteen minutes on his cell phone. Welcome to the “connected” world of 2010.

As if that weren’t enough, on our way down, we came upon a young family of four heading up. Alex stopped dead in his tracks, and in his unvarnished directness, accosted them with “Your dog is wearing shoes!” No kidding, their boxer (I think they called her Lily) was wearing what looked like red Mary Janes called Bark’n Boots ($59.95 at Eastern Mountain Sports if you care.) Admittedly, our Golden, Chester, has some sensory issues, but all I could imagine was him rolling in contortions trying to simultaneously chew and scrape those shoes off. Besides which, how can a dog respectably give a squirrel a run wearing shoes with Vibram soles?

A shoe-clad dog is definitely an oddity in Vermont, and between the “bear” and the dog with shoes, we laughed all they way down. Along the railroad tracks in Brattleboro on the banks of the Connecticut River, we found MORE wild berries. This time, they were black raspberries. We picked a nice cup of them and brought them home to make GF raspberry muffins for Father’s Day. So here is my version of wild raspberry gluten free/casein free muffins…enjoy!

Wild Raspberry Gluten Free/Casein Free Muffins

 (makes 20)

2 ½ C GF Mix (1/3 rice flour, 1/3 cornstarch, 1/3 tapioca)
¾ C sugar
¾ C powdered sugar
4 large eggs
½ C non-GMO canola oil
1 C fresh raspberries
¾ C chopped pumpkin seeds (or seeds/nuts of your choice)
2/3C orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

Directions:
Combine all dry ingredients; then add wet ingredients and beat on high for 2 minutes. Fold in raspberries and chopped pumpkins. Ladle into greased cupcake pans ( ¾ full.) Bake at 350 for approx 20 minutes.
Note:  this recipe does not use xanthan gum.

Journey into the World of Gluten-Eaters, Episode Two: Strolling of the Heifers

The celebrity judge from Against The Grain rates a loaf

In a previous post, I commented that it is a good thing to sample our gluten free bread products to gluten-eaters from time to time. Friday night, we were one of the corporate sponsors of the most gluten-eater event of all: a bread baking contest. King Arthur, another fine Vermont company, was one of the sponsors as well. Even though they now have a line of gluten free mixes, this was a major gluten event. Why, you might ask, would a gluten free bread company sponsor an event like this? It was a benefit for Strolling of the Heifers, a local event that raises money and awareness for Vermont farming, educates youth, and works to preserve the livelihoods of farming families. And, we’re very much about supporting local producers. The bread baking contest was only one event of the weekend, which includes, a parade with 100 flowered heifers marching up Main Street, along with every imaginable parade entry. The event is so popular that over the weekend, the population of Brattleboro swells three to four times. Fun is had by all.

Entries await judging

As a sponsor of the event, we were asked if we wanted to be a judge of the bread-baking contest. One of our bakers whose wife is gluten free, but he isn’t, agreed. He also had been a artisan bread baker in Massachusetts before joining Against The Grain, so he was a perfect candidate. When Dan found out that he was billed as a “celebrity” judge, that added even more seriousness to his purpose. He joked that he would find himself saying, “Well, I’m going to ‘go against the grain’ on this one.” But, he reported that all three judges totally agreed on the top entry, as well as second and third place. Lest we think that only gluten free eaters complain about bread, he reported that they had to sample a number of loaves that were awful. And, no, there were not any gluten free entries.

Ruth greets tasters, 1000+ of them

A number of local vendors had tables at the bread baking contest event, including Grafton Cheese, Cabot Cheese, King Arthur, and us. King Arthur even offered samples of gluten free brownies made from their new gluten free brownie mix. Alas, I didn’t get to taste them since we were trapped behind our table and a swell of 1,000+ tasters. It was pretty amazing to me how many townspeople had never heard of us and were thrilled to try our bread, gluten free or not. We also met gluten free people from distant places like Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and across the border in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, who discovered our product that night and vowed to become customers. One of my favorite visitors was a man who stopped by, tasted a piece of sesame bagel, stopped in his tracks, tasted another, then another, and loudly proclaimed, “I don’t care if this bagel is gluten free or not; it is the BEST bagel I’ve ever eaten in my life!” Like I said before, it can be very affirming to journey into the world of gluten eaters—our products are all about great tasting products…products that just happen to be naturally gluten free.

Just What Kind of Person Works in a Wholesale Gluten Free Bakery Anyway?

We're located right near the banks of the Connecticut River in Brattleboro, VT, and Amtrak trundles by twice a day!

Starting our own business from scratch (with zero experience in the food industry) and hiring and developing a staff we can trust has been an amazing experience. Everything we bake is made in small batches with fresh ingredients, and there is a lot of our staff in every bag we sell. (Of course, I’m not referring to their hair or anything like that--joke.) Much thought goes into what we bake, and there is considerable team interaction involved before our products land on the shelves of a retail store or a food service counter. Our products most definitely reflect the personalities behind them.

The only commonality at Against The Grain seems to be that everyone is an intelligent foodie in some way. They are master problem-solvers, and they get giddy when we work on new product development. One could say that everyone’s input is “baked into” the final product. We work really hard, show tremendous respect for what we bake, and even find time to goof around.

Among our staff, we have someone who was an opera composer and is a performing pianist. We have a philosophy major, who is an expert in healing herbs and is currently working on a master’s degree in nutrition. There’s a professional puppeteer, and an ethnomusicologist, who is also a reggae drummer, a glass blower, and has his own radio show. Then there is an environmental ecologist, who is also a fine arts painter. We also have our own mini-version of Donald Trump (well, he’s a lot nicer than “the Donald,”) who has a black belt in Taekwondo and is on his way to becoming a real estate mogul. There’s a comparative religion major, someone with a doctorate in animal behavior, and a single mom who has lived in a kibbutz in Israel and on a Hare Krishna dairy farm. We also employ a young man who attends a local school for autism; he’s a train fanatic and a master storyteller. Chester, the office Golden, scares away salesmen, jumps all over ornery truck drivers, and has been known to chase bankers back to their car.

What do all these people have to do with gluten free bread? They are some of the most creative people you’ll find, and all of us that eat gluten free know that it takes a lot of creativity to make a premium product.