Need help with Nut Free Flours & Grains

[BirthKathy]

I'm searching all over on line for nut-safe versions of the following flours and/or whole grains. I wonder if you guys can help me out. Has anyone found nut-safe flours or grains of the following?

kamut
millet
rye
oat (i bought Bob's Red Mill - is it OK?)
barley
buckwheat
amaranth

I found rice and spelt flour, thanks to sbgrace.

Also, is there a corn-free source of xantham gum? And is cream of tartar ever an issue for allergic people? My son is IGE allergic to all nuts, soy, all dairy, sesame and flaxseed. Possibly wheat and corn as well. (mild positives on one company's test and negative on another company's test)

What other supplies might be nice to buy so that I can make baked goods for my son? He eats eggs OK, and tested OK with gluten.

Thanks so much for the help.

[dannic]

I'm not sure if this is an option for you, but I've found it much easier to find whole grains than flours that work for us (and bulk grain is cheaper than flour too).
I bought a grinder/mill and have excellent results with that.

Otherwise, I'm not much help--dd2 is reactive to nuts, but not xcon...

[BirthKathy]

Originally Posted by dannic

I'm not sure if this is an option for you, but I've found it much easier to find whole grains than flours that work for us (and bulk grain is cheaper than flour too).
I bought a grinder/mill and have excellent results with that.

Otherwise, I'm not much help--dd2 is reactive to nuts, but not xcon...

I wondered about grinding my own. I'm willing to do that, too. I hope that my son is not sensitive to cross-contamination, but since most of these foods will be new introductions, I want to go pure for now so that I can be more sure of the reason in case there is a reaction.

[sbgrace]

I've checked on the gluten free grains for nuts and sesame.

millet-- Azure standard sells a nut safe millet flour but it does have cross with other flours. I gave up on millet (unless I come to the point where I can purchase large quantities and mill my own). I'm using teff instead of millet.

oat (i bought Bob's Red Mill - is it OK?) I don't think so. Rob's Red Mill (all of their products in the gluten free anyway) have very heavy nut contamination. Unless they tell you it's run on it's own I'd avoid them all. Quaker old fashioned oats shouldn't have nut or sesame contamination but can have wheat cross via farm fields. I found some gluten free safe oats but didn't write down the company! I know they are out there. I don't know of any oat flours.

buckwheat--Birkett Mills Pocono brand (and probably all their line) from Birkett Mills is nut/sesame/all other cross safe.

Did you find my posts re: oils and such. We had major contamination in those too. I found a safe olive (Bionaturae) and coconut (tropical traditions is the only safe coconut source). To my knowledge McCormick's is the only spice company that cleans for sesame. Caleb was reacting to spice cross.

We don't use xantham or any gum. Guar is legume based and an alternative I believe. I know there is another too but I can't remember what it is.

[BirthKathy]

Thank you Rachelle. How do you deal with recipes that call for gums?

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by BirthKathy

Thank you Rachelle. How do you deal with recipes that call for gums?

We leave it out. But things aren't going to hold together well w/out them. Not an issue with crackers and pancakes in my experience. More of an issue with stuff like muffins (which fall apart easily w/out it) and certainly would be with breads. The gum sort of "glues" stuff like gluten does in recipes. You've listed a lot of gluten containing flours though. If you find safe sources of those you won't need the gums so much if at all I don't think.

I wish I could remember your other option. I know there is one.

What are you doing for protein? Could any be false positives or you've seen symptoms on all? You've got a really tricky set of allergies there.

[BirthKathy]

Originally Posted by sbgrace

We leave it out. But things aren't going to hold together well w/out them. Not an issue with crackers and pancakes in my experience. More of an issue with stuff like muffins (which fall apart easily w/out it) and certainly would be with breads. The gum sort of "glues" stuff like gluten does in recipes. You've listed a lot of gluten containing flours though. If you find safe sources of those you won't need the gums so much if at all I don't think.

Oh, duh. I think I should have realized that! I was looking at rice flour recipes, and they all had gum, but hopefully the gluten flours will work out for us.

What are you doing for protein? Could any be false positives or you've seen symptoms on all? You've got a really tricky set of allergies there.

Thanks for the hug! My son is eating egg yolks, and we're breastfeeding almost exclusively. I'm eating a lot of meat. So far, turkey and salmon passed, and I'm doing chicken all week this week while testing a new block of foods. My son has never ingested any of the IGE allergens directly (that I'm aware of), but I believe that he has reacted to nuts, dairy and sesame when I was eating them. It's been months since I had any, so his recent reactions were caused by intolerances. Most recently, green beans and zucchini. His only symptom now is bad eczema flare-ups on his face.

I'm hoping that the wheat and corn were false positives - that is why I want to try spelt and possibly kamut (if I can find nut safe). I'm hopeful!