So is oatmeal gluten free? Depends on cross-contamination
If there is any controversy in the gluten-free world, it’s oats. After much careful study, scientists have shown that oats do not contain gluten. They think…….. The proteins in oatmeal are structured differently than those in wheat, rye, barley, et al. So why can’t celiacs eat them? The dreaded C word: cross contamination.
Is Oatmeal Gluten Free?
Apparently, if oats are planted in one field, and wheat in the neighboring one, wheat spores can waft over to the oats, glom onto them, and contaminate them with gluten. Worse yet, most oats, or oats products, are produced in plants that also produce wheat products. If the oats roll over machines that have recently touched wheat, you can get sick, depending on how much or little you can tolerate gluten.
Pure oatmeal does not contain gluten. However, most oatmeal brands on the market today are not pure — they contain oats that have been cross-contaminated with a tiny bit of wheat, barley and/or rye. Since those grains do have gluten in them, that cross-contamination makes most oatmeal brands unsafe on the gluten-free diet. Oatmeal is one of my staples. I get the unprocessed, steel cut kind with no added sugar. (If you get the flavored processed stuff you might as well just buy a bunch of Frosted Flakes) I then add stevia, coconut flakes, bananas, strawberries, almonds or pecans to it. I read a lot of the mind-candy tabloid magazines and the stars with ridiculous bodies all seem to eat oatmeal for breakfast…. if it’s working for Scarlett Johansson it can work for me. Not the most scientific way to make my diet decisions.
I also have been cooking with some of the the Healing Gourmet’s, Kelley Herring’s recipes since she is the Editor of Eat to Fight Cancer, Eat to Beat Diabetes, Eat to Lower Cholesterol and Eat to Boost Fertility. At the Healing Gourmet, Kelley Herring gives some great tips, suggestions and recipes on how to cook without gluten and often times without dairy. She’s introduced me to some funky stuff including coconut flour and using black beans in my chocolate cakes….. which I still have yet to make but it’s so weird it has to be yummy!
I made her coconut and blueberry muffins the other week. Mucho, mucho yum yum…. although you need to eat them within a day or two or just freeze them. I freeze a lot of the food I make since we are just two people and like to have some variety later on. In my freezer at any given time you can find home-made chicken stock, raw dairy free ice cream, Indian rice and lentils and I think a few whole fish that a friend of ours caught in the ocean.
It’s possible to grow pure oats, and companies selling certified gluten-free oatmeal are using oats that do not have any gluten cross-contamination. Fortunately, there are a variety of different gluten-free-certified oatmeals on the market:
• Bob’s Red Mill produces three different types of gluten-free oatmeal, including quick-cooking oats, rolled oats and steel-cut oats. Bob’s tests for gluten down to 20 parts per million. Make sure you purchase only gluten-free labeled oatmeal — Bob’s has several that are not gluten-free.
• GF Harvest is a celiac family-owned business in Wyoming. The company grows its own oats and performs extensive testing to make certain its fields remain uncontaminated, including testing the seeds it uses down to 3 parts per million. GF Harvest holds gluten-free certification along with organic and Kosher certifications. Products include organic gluten-free rolled oats and regular gluten-free rolled oats, which you can use to make gluten-free oatmeal.
• Glutenfreeda Foods offers four different types of certified gluten-free oatmeal, including apple cinnamon, maple raisin, banana maple and natural. All contain flax meal in addition to gluten-free oatmeal. Glutenfreeda sells its products online and in some specialty stores.
Gluten Free Oats This is a family with three generations of celiac sufferers. The grandson was diagnosed at age 2 and as a teenager decided he wanted to find/create a source of uncontaminated oats. His oats were the start of their business.
• Holly’s Oatmeal aims for the purest possible oatmeal — the company tests its oats to make sure they contain less than 5 parts per million of gluten. Holly’s makes gluten-free oatmeal in two flavors: plain and cranberry. Since the company also sells non-gluten-free oatmeal, make sure you only purchase products in the blue boxes.
• Montana Gluten-Free works directly with farmers to make certain the oats it sells are not cross-contaminated with gluten. The company offers gluten-free oatmeal in two sizes: 3 lbs. and 7.5 lbs., both of which you can purchase at the Montana Gluten-Free website.
Note that other companies that sell gluten-free products (Arrowhead Mills, among others) also produce oatmeal that’s not certified gluten-free — be very careful to check labels, and assume a product isn’t safe unless it’s specifically marked as gluten-free oatmeal.
Looking for other gluten free things to eat for breakfast? Some of my favorite gluten free recipes for scones, breads and desserts are from Kelley Herring of the Healing Gourmet.Are you a celiac or know someone that is?