December 21, 2010

Wishing You A Food Allergy-Friendly Christmas!


Christmas can be one of the most difficult times to remain happy, healthy and food allergy free. Between all of the visiting, baking and christmas parties your chances of getting the wrong foods by mistake increase ten-fold...and that's not even mentioning the huge temptations that dance like sugar plum fairies before your eyes! But it doesn't have to be like that. With a little bit of time and clever shopping you can have your cake and eat it too!
As always, with a little bit of care and imagination most recipes can be altered and substituted to suit your food allergy needs. And now, with help from the ever increasing dairy free products we can have the cream topping too! The cream pictured above is 'Soyatoo! Soya Whip'. It is the bees knees when it comes to cream substitutes. Also available is "Soyatoo! Rice Whip' and 'Ecomil Cuisine Chef Almond' single cream substitute and "Provamel Soya alternative to Single Cream". They are all different and serve different purposes but each one is a dairy free cream substitute which will make your christmas a holly jolly food allergy free day!

Bonus Note: to add some more tasty christmas cheer, also pictured above is Dunnes Stores' own brand '6 Deep Filled Mince Pies". These christmas pies are dairy free, egg free and soya free although there is a ' May contain traces' warning for seeds, nuts, milk, egg and soya.

Soyatoo! Soy Whip
Really the best cream substitute on the market. Also, one of the only whipped cream substitutes available. It has a brilliant texture and a nice level of sweetness, mimicking sweetened whipped cream. Perfect on top of strawberries, pies, crépes or irish coffee. Available in 'Down To Earth' and some 'Nourish' locations. For usage tips see http://www.veganbaking.net/vegan-baking-articles/product-reviews/soyatoo-rice-and-soy-whip.html
- dairy free
- egg free
- vegetarian
- vegan
- wheat free
- gluten free

Soyatoo! Rice Whip
Also available from Soyatoo! is 'Rice Whip' which is a soya free alternative to their 'Soy Whip'product. It is a bit lighter and is sweet despite being sugar free (the rice makes it naturally sweet). I like it quite a lot and especially appreciate the soya free option but its soya containing cousin is the closest to the real thing. The biggest problem with Rice Whip is the scarcity of suppliers in Dublin! To date I have only been able to locate it in 'Restore' Health Food Store on Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2 and have been trying to get my hands on some for the last week but to no avail - thus: please accept my apologies for the lack of nutritional details. For usage tips see: http://www.veganbaking.net/vegan-baking-articles/product-reviews/soyatoo-rice-and-soy-whip.html
- dairy free
- soya free
- egg free
- corn free
- sugar free
- wheat free
- gluten free
- vegetarian
- vegan

Provamel Soya alternative to Single Cream
This product is the most widely available dairy cream substitute and is available in most health food stores. It isn't made for whipping but has a nice thick consistency with makes it ideal for pouring. It is most suitable for cooking and drizzling over the christmas pudding. It also has a handy screw top for better storage.
- dairy free
- egg free
- vegetarian
- vegan
- sugar free
- corn free

Ecomil Cuisine Chef Almond
Similar to the Provamel alternative to single cream but thinner in consistency and sweeter from the agave syrup. I am not a huge fan of this product as it has a strange after-taste (possibly due to the almonds) but it is a valuable substitute for wheat and dairy free diets. Not suitable for whipping, better used for cooking and drizzling. Available in 'Down to Earth'.
- dairy free
- wheat free
- gluten free
- soya free
- egg free
- vegetarian
- vegan
- sugar free
- corn free



PRODUCT INFORMATION

Soyatoo! Soy Whip
Ingredients: Soy drink (water, soybeans) (74%), coconut fat (5%), palm butter (5%), sugar-beet syrup, corn maltodextrin, tartaic acid, thickener: seaweed extracts, sea salt, natural vanilla extract, propellant: nitrous oxide
Nutritional Information per 100g:
Energy 576kJ/139kcal
Protein 1.2g
Carbohydrates 9.4g
Fat 10.7g
of which saturated fatty acids 10.0g
Cholestrol 0mg

Soyatoo! Rice Whip
Ingredients: Organic rice milk (water, organic rice syrup, organic rice starch, organic rice flour), coconut oil, organic maltodextrin from rice, tartaric acid, thickeners: carageenan & gum arabic, sea salt, propellant: nitrous oxide
Nutritional Information: unavailable at this time

Provamel Soya Alternative to Single Cream
Ingredients: Water, organic sunflower oil (15%), hulled organic soya beans, (6%), organic heat syrup, emulsifier: soya lecithin, stabilisers: xanthan gum, guar gum and carrageen, sea salt, natural flavouring, anti-oxidant: natural tocopherol
Nutritional Information per 100g:
Energy 190kJ/784kcal
Protein 3.1g
Carbohydrates 3.8g
of which sugars 3.1g
Fat 17.9g
of which saturates 2.3g
mono-unsaturates 4.2g
polysaturates 11.4g
cholestrol nil
Fibre 0.7g
Sodium 0.06g
equivalent as salt 0.15g

Ecomil Cuisine Chef Almond
Ingredients: Water, almond oil, almond (7%), agave syrup, emulsifier: sunflower lecithin, stabilisers: xanthan gum, arabic gum, sea salt, natural almond flavouring
Nutritional Information:
Engery 335kJ/81kcal
Protein 0.6g
Carbohydrates 1.7g
of which sugars 0.9g
Fat 8.0g
of which saturated 0.8g
Cholesterol 0mg
Fibre 2.7g
Sodium 0.05g

Dunnes 6 Deep Filled Mince Pies
Ingredients: Pastry - Wheat Flour, Vegetable Shortening (Palm & Rapeseed Oils), Vegetable Margarine (Palm & Rapeseed Oils, Water, Salt, Emulsifier (Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acid), Sugar, Water, Dextrose, Salt. Mincemeat - Sultanas, Sugar, Bramley Apple Pure é, Glucose Syrup, Dextrose, Mixed Peel (Orange Peel, Lemon Peel, Glucose Fructose Syrup, Sugar, Preservative (Sulphur Dioxide), Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Water, Sunflower Oil, Modified Maize Starch, Mixed Spice (Coriander, Cassia, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Caraway, Clove), Acidity Regulator (Acetic Acid), Malt Extract, Orange Oil, Dusting - Sugar.
Nutritional Information per 100g:
Energy 1635kJ/394kcal
Protein 4.4g
Carbohydrate 62.4g
of which sugars 38.6g
Fat 13.2g
of which saturates 4.8g
Fibre 1.3g
Sodium 0.08g
Salt equivalent 0.2g


AND FINALLY HAVE A VERY VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY AND I'LL BE BACK IN THE NEW YEAR TO CONTINUE HELPING YOU GET THE MOST FROM YOUR FOOD ALLERGY LIFE IN DUBLIN :) X X X X

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