My Favorite Gluten-Free Condiments

Eating gluten-free can be difficult in today's world of manufactured foods. There are so many items that have hidden sources of gluten, such as white vinegar (made from wheat). This effects things like hotdogs, pickles, mayonnaise, ketchup, and barbecue sauce. Most people are unaware that most soy sauce contains wheat. I have found several brands that I have come to use, both as straight condiments and in my cooking, that are gluten-free. When reading the labels, make sure if it says "white vinegar", that it is "distilled white vinegar", or that the product has a certified gluten-free label on it.  Here are some common brands that I use:

Hellmann's mayonnaise
Burman's mayonnaise (Aldi's)
Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce
Heinz ketchup
Burman's ketchup (Aldi's)
La Choy Soy Sauce
Vlasic pickles
Argo corn starch

Gluten Free Flours

Ever since I started this gluten-free journey, I have been on the lookout for different flours that I could combine to get the best results when it comes to creating that perfect texture similar to what is found in baked goods with wheat-flour and gluten. I decided to make use of some used glass jars I had been collecting for years from garage sales, resell shops and the like, and use them as storage containers for the different flours. Whenever I find a recipe that I want to try, now I have a lot of options to choose from.  I have found all of them either at our Super Walmart, or at a St. Louis chain grocery store Dierburgs, which has a gluten-free and organic section.  Usually I find that by combining fine flours with more course flours, I get a good result. It many cases adding Xanthan gum or Guar gum helps hold the baked items together better. Here is a list of the most common alternative flours that I use, according to their texture:

Fine flours:                     Course flours:

Corn starch                     Teff flour
Potato starch                   Sorghum flour
Tapioco flour                  Brown rice flour
Arrow Root flour            Bean flour (Fava, Garbanzo, Soy)
                                        White rice flour
                                        Amarinth flour
                                        Almond flour
                                        Quinoa flour