News

Press: (Pioneer Press) Demand spurs bakery to offer gluten-free products

Thursday, August 21, 2008

A Pioneer Press Publication

Demand spurs bakery to offer gluten-free products
By JOANNA BRODER

jbroder@pioneerlocal.com

After Mary Lassila was diagnosed with celiac disease — a disorder where consuming wheat, barley, rye and certain other
grains results in damage to the small intestine —she walked down a grocery store aisle and couldn’t find a single food she
could eat.

Not tomato soup. Not red licorice. Not ketchup, mayonnaise and certain sauces. At the time, all of these products contained
gluten, a protein found in some grains. Those with celiac disease, an autoimmune disease, cannot tolerate gliadin, a subprotein of gluten, said Dr. Noga Askenazi, a pediatric and adult allergist and immunologist with offices in Barrington and Crystal Lake.

If those with celiac disease do consume gliadin, their nutrient absorption is affected, according to the National Digestive
Diseases Information Clearinghouse, NDDIC, a service of the National Institutes of Health. Today, red licorice still contains gluten, but there are gluten-free options for ketchup, mayonnaise and sauces, said Carol Shilson, executive director of the
University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, a nonprofit organization focused on raising awareness about the disease.

But Lassila, a 55-yearold Chicago resident who works in Schaumburg, said it’s still hard to find quality, gluten-free baked
goods. That changed earlier this year when she learned that Deerfields Bakery, with a location at 25 S. Roselle Road in
Schaumburg, had opened a new line of gluten-free treats that includes cookies, brownies and decorated cakes. Deerfields
hopes to launch glutenfree breads in the coming months.

“When I heard about Deerfields I was thrilled to death,” Lassila said recently while sampling gluten-free delectables at
a media event the bakery held to introduce its new gluten-free line of products. For the line, bakers substitute ingredients like
brown rice, coconut, and quinoa flours for wheat flour. The items are packaged to prevent contamination and are also available at the bakery’s other locations in Deerfield and Buffalo Grove.

Lassila has bought Deerfields gluten-free, blueberry cream cheese coffee cake which she described as “fabulous.” It
didn’t have the grainy texture that many other gluten-free products do, she said.

Deerfields president and co-owner Kurt Schmitt said he decided to explore offering gluten-free products two years ago after he got regular requests from customers.

At a fund-raiser for the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center last April, the profound impact that gluten-free baked goods can have on a person with celiac disease hit home as he watched a little girl with the condition holding one of his
gluten-free cookies. “You could just see it in her eyes,” he said. “They were just glowing."