When it comes to baking gluten-free goodies, Juvela certainly know what they’re talking about. Yep, you’ve guessed it: I’ve been having fun doing some taste-testing.
Fresh White Bread
Fresh white bread & bolognaise Here’s the bread in a starring role at lunch with bolognaise and salad. Yum!
Soft and fluffy sliced bread take your fancy? Then look no further.
This bread refused to go stale, despite my trying it on a number of consecutive days from the same loaf.
In fact, I had to double-check my calendar on the 5th day when it still tasted just as lovely. You don’t get that with a normal loaf.
Day old bread? Pah! Who’s laughing now?
White Rolls
Juvela rolls
It’s not often you get to enjoy a bread roll when you’re a Coeliac (not unless you’re cheating, anyway). But this one has to be my favourite. Two dunks in the toaster and this part-baked roll tasted so more-ish it wasn’t long before I finished the batch. Just don’t try it if you’re on a diet….unless you’ve got 4 friends who’ll help themselves to the other rolls in the pack. That said, you’ll then hate them all for depriving you of the most tasty white roll you’ve had in years. Best to ditch the diet, that’s what I say.
White Mix
Coffee cupcake A yummy cupcake poses for a photograph before being ravaged by a hungry Coeliac.
I decided the best way to test the white mix was to try a recipe I make frequently and see if there was a difference. So out came eggs, sugar, oil and a pinch of baking powder. Yup! I decide to make a cake. Cupcakes, actually, as that’s the easiest way to eat something and have no-one notice, ha ha.
20 minutes later, a set of delicious-smelling coffee and walnut cakes came out of the oven, and I couldn’t wait for them to cool down. They passed my test with flying colours. Bakers, rejoice! This’ll do nicely as cake flour.
Tagliatelle
Tagliatelle Onions, red peppers & wilted spinach in a cream cheese sauce made the pasta even more delectable!
I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of cooking spaghetti. It never fits properly in the pan and I often end up breaking it in half, which then destroys the enjoyment of sucking a ribbon up from the plate (please excuse the big kid in me). But not so with tagliatelle: a set of handy little nests greeted me when I opened the box, and they easily fitted into a small pan.
Like most gluten-free pasta, this one’s got to be cooked to the exact time, so I set my timer accordingly. Minutes later, my little nests were ready, and they were absolutely delicious.
Pizza Bases
Pizza If you’re wondering about perspective, that’s a dinner plate the pizza’s sitting on. You won’t be disappointed.
It’s been a long time since I had a decent pizza. There’s an awful pizza place round the corner that now boasts a gluten-free kitchen. I’ve eaten their pizzas 3 times now and each time the base is worse than the time before. You’d think I’d learn but it’s difficult when everyone else is ordering pizza. What am I supposed to do?
Well, the answer’s here: have a set of Juvela pizza bases in the cupboard! I decided to go Hawaiian and top mine with ham, pineapple and torn mozzarella. It wasn’t long before I was looking at a plate of crumbs and feeling very satisfied with life.
Cereal Flakes
Juvela cereal The cereal in this pic is dressed with a few slices of banana and some rather shy sultanas.
Remember the days when you could eat Special K and Fruit ‘n’ Fibre? Well this is the closest hybrid you’ll get.
It’s exactly what I needed for breakfast – crunchy and not too sweet.
Sadly, as with the white rolls, the packet ran out before the end of the week.
(No prizes for guessing my belly’s not as flat as it once was.)
Best Before Dates
One of the things that’s really annoying about a lot of gluten-free packaged food is there just isn’t enough time to eat it before it goes stale. Not so with Juvela. The fresh bread arrived with 7 days to go, the white rolls had another 2 months, the pizza bases lasted 4 months, the white mix was fine for another year and the tagliatelle would have seen me through until February 2018! Not bad if there’s only one person who needs gluten-free in the household.
The Verdict
A lot of the products mentioned above are on the prescription list (if you’re lucky enough to have a doctor who’ll prescribe them). So make sure you get these regularly to lift your spirits. For more information on Juvela, click here for their website. Have you tried a gluten-free product lately and loved it? Share your thoughts below![/hilight]