Whole Foods Market

I have been trying to review Whole Foods Bakehouse Frozen Gluten Free Pie Crusts for a while. My original plan was to review these crusts during Thanksgiving. There is a tradition, started by my grandmother, of making pumpkin pies. Though my wife enjoys them, my daughter goes completely mad for these homemade pies. I wanted to make sure that we have some gluten free pie crusts available. Unfortunately, there was none to be had in the Atlanta area at that time. The demand far exceeded the supply. They're available now, so now is the time to do the review.

The first thing that I noticed about these Bakehouse pie crusts was that they looked like any other frozen pie crust on the market. The package contained two 9” crusts to a package. Each one in their own tin pan.

Since the pumpkins were no longer available, I decided on Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pie. I chose a combination of ham, cheddar, and provolone for the filling. Since the quiche required 45 minutes of baking time, I did not par bake the pie crust.

What came out of the oven was firm crust that has remained firm even after it had remained in the refrigerator for a while. It was not a flaky crust, but it was sturdy. I has a extremely buttery taste, and worked well with the savory flavors of the quiche. Personally I would not recommend it for a sweet pie. I don't believe the strong flavor would work well with something like a lemon margarine pie.

I planning to purchase these crusts again. My oldest that has the problem with gluten loved the crust, but hated the quiche. Like millions of parents before me, I why the kids never want to eat what I cook.

P.S. Since gluten free pie crusts were not available during Thanksgiving, we poured the pumpkin pie filling into muffin tins. These mini-pies turned out to be a hit with all of the kids there.

About two months ago, I wrote about a Chicago Tribune article that covered how some allergen safe products had large amounts of that allergen.  The primary example was Wellsire Farms' gluten free chicken bites contained a large amount of gluten.  I then followed it up with a personal story on how Harry's Whole Foods selected which products got the gluten free tag.  

A few days later, the Chicago Tribune did another article about Whole Foods not labeling their products correctly.  I noticed that in both cases, neither Whole Foods or Wellsire Farms was directly responsible.  In both cases, it was a subcontractor that was providing the contaminated ingredients.  Whole Foods response to the error was that it was part of "continual education."

These types of stories make me really nervous.  I've already recommended one gluten containing product that was labeled as being gluten free.  Fortunately the Chicago tribune runs a recalled food database.  Though it will not search for gluten, it will search recalls based on wheat, eggs, nuts, and several other items.  

Hopefully this database will make grocery shopping a little safer. 

A while back, I had reviewed Wellsire Farms Gluten Free Chicken Bites.  An anonymous reader posted a comment that links to an article by the Chicago Tribune about those chicken nuggets containing gluten.  I want to thank that reader for bringing this article to my attention.

Unfortunately, I also have an additional scary story to add.  I was looking at doing a nice write up on the Whole Foods Market because they had started putting green Gluten Free tags on certain products.  It was making shopping more convenient.

When I started putting information together for the article, I found Newman's Own Ranch Dressing and their 365 Tomato Basil Sauce marked with these Gluten Free tags.  Now neither of these products marked their packaging with gluten free, so I asked the store how they choose which products get the tags.  Their answer was they check the ingredient lists.  

That answer does not sit well with me. 

Though I have not contacted Newman's Own directly, I have noticed their website does not contain any allergen information, and they have only certified that the ranch dressing is Kosher.  The bottle has no information about the manufacturing process, so it's not known if the same equipment processes wheat or barley.  

Now Newman's Own Products have done nothing wrong.  But if I were working for Whole Foods Market, I would have contacted them and gotten the manufacturing information before I claimed the product was Gluten Free.