Meadowsweet customers have voted, and the results are in for our first-ever gluten-free bread contest!  As part of our Gluten-Free day celebration,  Meadowsweet Market asked our customers to taste and vote for their favorite gluten-free breads.  We had such a large amount of samples for people to try that we divided the contest into categories. The categories were determined by type of flours used in the breads. In the Brown-Rice-flour category, our freezer section breads proved to be the most popular. The Kinnikinnick brand edged out Food for Life to take the prize as most tasty Brown-Rice-flour bread, according to our customers. The frozen Kinnikinnick bread was also the clear winner in the Tapioca-flour category, receiving over twice as many votes as the Ener-G brand varieties. The White-Rice-flour category was the largest, with the Cause You’re Special bread mix being voted the winner.

Thanks to all who voted!

Meadowsweet Market would like to extend a big Thank-You to all of our wonderful customers and vendors who made our very first gluten-free day celebration such a success. Everyone had a lot of fun and it was so nice to be able to give away all those samples, door prizes, and goodies! Everyone really appreciated being able to try new things, and the best part was that so many people got to meet and share information and experiences.

A special Thank-You goes out to Carol W, a Meadowsweet customer who maintains a strictly gluten-free kitchen for her husband, who has severe allergies. Carol baked gluten-free cookies, two cakes, and brownies using ingredients and baking mixes from Meadowsweet Market/Juniper Foods. Everything tasted delicious and we really appreciated Carol sharing her baking talent with us.

If you missed Gluten-Free Day, be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter, to receive information on all of our upcoming events and sales.

Here at Juniperfoods.com, we are pleased to offer a wide variety of foods that fit your healthy, allergen free lifestyle. If you are considering going dairy free, please visit http://www.godairyfree.org/. They cater to milk allergies, lactose intolerance, vegan living, and gluten-free diets with a wealth of health information and useful tools. We found a lot of intresting information presented in a fun personable way. Find recipes, share stories and investigate all things dairy free at godairyfree.org!

There are many reasons why people choose a dairy free diet. Dairy Products are one of the 8 most common allergens in the US. True milk allergy is a reaction to the proteins casein and whey in milk. Allergic reactions include hives, swelling of the lips and face, gastrointestinal distress, and eczema.

Even more common is Lactose Intolerance, an inability to digest milk sugars due to a deficiency in the enzyme lactase. Between 30 and 50 million people (that’s more than 1 in 10) in the US are lactose intolerant. Symptoms are all gastrointestinal and include diarrhea, gas and bloating. Taking a supplement of the lactase enzyme helps some people digest dairy products more easily.

Lactose Intolerance is a common side effect of Celiac disease. People who are newly diagnosed with Celiac are often instructed to avoid dairy products until the villi of the small intestines has healed. For costumers dealing with multiple food allergies, Juniper Foods website allows you to filter grocery items for multiple allergens, just click on ALL the ingredients you want to avoid on the right hand side of your screen.

Chronic intestinal conditions such as Chron’s disease and IBS can also cause lactose intolerance. Other people avoid dairy voluntarily as part of a vegan lifestyle, or to help alleviate the upper respiratory symptoms of seasonal allergies. If you are contemplating dairy alternative products, visit our new product review category of our blog for insightful product reviews. Then let us know what you think!

The round ritz-style Glutino Crackers are very popular with our customers. Sometimes they are in short supply as they are made in Italy, and then have to be imported to the U.S. A mom was having trouble locating them for her daughter until she found them on our website. This was her e-mail reply after receiving her shipment:

Patty, Thank you so very much! We received [the shipment] of the [Glutino] crackers today and she got to have her Peanut Butter & Jelly on them and then later she had a buttered cracker We will DEFINITELY be ordering with you again. You have been wonderful! Thanks a ton. She had been asking for them everyday with the limited diet that she eats it was breaking our hearts. Suzee~