by Lynn Greene
Cooking and coping with food allergens
If
someone in your family or group of friends has a food allergy,
it can be difficult to cook or bake for them.
A food allergy is an immune-system response to a food
that the body mistakenly believes is harmful. There are
eight foods that account for 90 percent of all the food
allergies: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts such as walnuts
and pecans, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.
Anaphylaxis is a serious whole-body allergic reaction
that occurs infrequently but can be life-threatening. Constriction
of the airways and hives are common symptoms.
Some allergies are easier to deal with than others. Milk
is one of the easier ones to deal with; wheat and soy are
more difficult, primarily because these products are in
so many of our foods. In some cases, like a seafood allergy,
you just need to avoid it altogether since there really
is no viable substitution. For an egg allergy, you’ll want
to make substitutions for what the egg does: in baking,
it helps the product rise, while in meatloaf or salmon
patties, it helps bind the food together.
A wheat allergy can be tricky to identify because it often
is confused with celiac disease, a more-severe allergy.
The difference is that those with celiac disease have an
allergy to gluten; the allergy will never go away. A lifelong
avoidance of gluten is the only remedy. The major grains
that contain gluten are not only wheat, but rye, oats and
barley and so, these grains and their byproducts must be
avoided if you have celiac disease.
A wheat allergy means you have an aversion to wheat protein.
Most children do outgrow this allergy.
Kamut and Spelt are often marketed as safe for wheat-allergic
people, and this may be true for some, but for others,
these grains also create an allergic reaction.
If you have any of these allergies, the first thing you
must be able to do is read labels and know the words that
can warn you of the allergen’s presence. For example, casein,
caseinates, whey and albumin all are milk products.
Find the hidden sources
Milk: Casein is a milk protein and is found in processed
foods and some foods you wouldn’t suspect, like canned
tuna and some meat products, in which it’s used as a
binder.
Eggs: The foam in some milk and coffee drinks can be created
with eggs. Some pastas, especially fresh pasta, include
eggs.
Nuts: Chinese, Mexican and Thai foods often contain peanuts.
Foods sold in bakeries often are in contact with nuts.
Some brands of seeds are processed on equipment shared
with peanuts.
Seafood: Anchovies often are used in salad dressings,
some relishes like Caponata and some brands of Worcestershire
sauce. Surimi, the industry name for the main ingredient
in imitation crab meat, does contain fish.
Soy: Found in baked goods, canned tuna, cereals, crackers,
infant formulas, sauces and soups.
Wheat: Some hot dogs and imitation crab meat contain wheat.
Make substitutions
Milk: Substitute water, fruit juice or soy milk.
Eggs: For each egg, use one of the following substitutions:
- For baking cookies, cakes and muffins, use 1 tsp.
baking powder, 1 Tbsp. liquid and 1 Tbsp. vinegar.
- For breads, use 1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm
water.
- For binding meat products such as meatloaf, use 1 packet
gelatin and 2 Tbsp. warm water for each egg. Do not mix
until ready to use.
Nuts: Substitute sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
Wheat: For baking, look for wheat-free flour for an already
formulated mixture of flours. There are some flours that
are both wheat-free and gluten-free, and these include
Amaranth, Arrowroot, brown rice flour, buckwheat, chick
pea, corn flour, corn meal, millet, potato, Quinoa, sorghum
flour, soya flour, tapioca flour, teff and white rice flour.
A combination of wheat-free flours usually works best.
Each recipe will vary. Because the density of different
flours varies, it will not always be a one-for-one substitution.
For each 1 cup wheat flour, try one of the following:
- 7/8 cup rice flour.
- 5/8 cup potato starch flour.
- 1 cup soy flour plus 1/4 cup potato-starch flour.
- 1 cup corn flour.
Gluten-free flour
Recipe 1: Mix together 2 parts white rice flour, 1/3 part
tapioca flour and 2/3 part potato-starch flour.
Recipe 2: Mix together 3 parts brown rice flour, 3 parts
corn starch, 2 parts soy flour and 1 part masa harina.
Store these flours in a tightly covered container in the
freezer. Substitute equal parts of either mixture for regular
flour.
Gluten-free banana bread
— Courtesy of Celiac Sprue Association
1 cup rice flour
3 eggs
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. gluten-free baking powder
1/2 cup corn oil
3 large or 4 small bananas (mashed)
2 Tsps. water
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional
Mix flours, starch and baking powder. Blend together eggs,
sugar, salt, oil and water. Blend in the mashed bananas.
Stir in the dry ingredients. Add the nuts. Pour into an
8 1/2-inch by 4-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour.
Lynn Greene is senior editor for Community Shoppers Inc., which publishes the Stateline News. Contact her at lgreene@communityshoppers.com. |
