You too have a soft corner for desserts like us, don’t you? With desserts, we always have to cut short due to the high calorie content. For pudding however, there are few curve balls in the scenario. Should we break the bubble now or wait till the article is over?
Well, for starters let’s just say that some pudding is gluten free while others are not. Today we will be sharing some important aspects to understand about the difference between a gluten free and not so gluten free food. We will also be giving out some of our special gluten free pudding recipes.
Basics on gluten substance
Often referred to as one of the seven deadliest sins, gluten is actually something that makes you eat more and what has the ability to make you ‘fat’ in the long run. This content is not necessarily always harmful for your health but a lot of foodies prefer to avoid them in their food.
Gluten is basically a mixture of proteins. You will find them in common food items including wheat, barley, oat, rye to name a few. To understand whether you should be careful about gluten intake, we will be discussing about two terminologies here; cross contamination and gluten sensitivity.
This will help you better assess and understand which pudding to eat or not to eat.
Gluten sensitivity
For a normal body gluten sensitivity is minimal. Still there are adverse ways on how gluten can impact your health. Usually having gluten full meal makes you drowsy and tired. This is what happens when we take too much amount of rice. Hence, rice pudding might not be a good option for a gluten free diet.
Coming to the other side of the spectrum of those who are gluten intolerant, the adverse effects are much more than just feeling drowsy. They feel headache, bloating, stomachache, mood swings, inflammation and much more. Understand that you do not feel all of them at the same time.
Basically, gluten impacts each one of us in a different way. If you are intolerant you will be able to realize that after intake of gluten. If you have confusion about your gluten sensitivity you can consult with your doctor about your diet as well.
Long story short, if you are not that gluten sensitive, you can have gluten full pudding based on your preference. With medium gluten sensitivity, you can take pudding that is labeled as gluten free.
For gluten intolerant people, we would suggest going for homemade pudding only and not even taking pudding that are labeled as gluten free. This is due to the risk of cross-contamination which we will be discussing now.
Cross contamination
To make it simple to you, let’s take an example of a guava. Normally a guava is supposed to be gluten free. However, if bits of pieces of barley fall into it accidentally, this means it is contaminated with a little amount of gluten. This type of contamination is called cross contamination.
Understand in real life, the probability of the above phenomenon occurring is minimalistic. But the normal scenario cross contamination might happen in factories where both gluten free and gluten full products are made.
Therefore, you will find plenty of pudding labeled as gluten free but actually they run under the risk of cross contamination and the sellers cannot guarantee that most of the times.
If you are medium gluten sensitive or not sensitive at all, cross contamination shouldn’t be a problem. But if you are gluten intolerant or suffer from celiac disease, you should stick to homemade puddings only. Readymade puddings might be harmful for your health.
Types of pudding
Now let’s discuss what type of pudding has gluten exclusively and which are not. It gets tricky at times to understand. In fact, pudding is an interesting dish that holds different meanings to people from different region.
There have been debates about calling the dish pudding, custard, yogurt or flan. For your easier understanding, let us break it down to you ingredient wise.
Rice pudding
For gluten free diet, rice puddings are a strict no! Simply as the name suggests, you would easily understand that the core ingredient here is rice. Rice, cereal or grain like substance being the core ingredient should be avoided for gluten intolerant people. Honestly, for desserts we are not that fond of rice puddings.
Creamy pudding
Surprisingly most of the creamy puddings are actually gluten free. If you don’t find dairy or cereal in them, you can figure out that the creamy pudding is probably safe. The cream layer is probably made with a layer of fruits.
We will be discussing some gluten free creamy pudding recipes later in the article.
Yorkshire pudding
With Yorkshire pudding, we would recommend you to be a bit careful; basically for gluten intolerant people. But if you are mildly sensitive to it, you can have them. They are actually quite delicious and possess grains of cereal a bit or two.
Bread pudding
Bread pudding is pretty much similar to rice puddings and should be avoided by all levels of gluten sensitivity.
It possess high amount of gluten depending on the quantity of bread used. This type of pudding contains bits of crispiness and tends to have dairy for adding the flavor.
Jell-O pudding
When it comes to gluten free puddings, our safe bet is on Jell-O-pudding. Usually, the ingredients used for this type of pudding do not contain gluten substance. With medium level of gluten sensitivity, Jell-O pudding shouldn’t be a problem.
It melts right into your mouth and has amazing texture. One problem is there though. That is the preservatives or artificial flavoring might contain little amount of gluten. Hence, you will not see Jell-O pudding labeled as gluten free. But if you do not possess severe celiac disease, you can intake Jell-O pudding without worrying much.
Instant pudding
Brands from United States or Europe usually produce instant puddings that are gluten free. With Asian products however, they tend to add sugars and preservatives more due to the sweet tooth palate of Asian consumers.
The easy way is to look through the brand and ingredients before purchasing the pudding.
Savory pudding
This type of pudding usually contains gluten. Since we are talking about desserts more, we won’t go through the details much. All we can say is that carefully check the ingredients before eating savory pudding.
Flavorful specialized pudding
These types of pudding are our favorite healthy desserts. They are mostly made from fruits. Cashew nut pudding, lemon pudding and banana pudding are some of our favorite specialized gluten free puddings. We will include the recipes later on so that you can enjoy them at home. Specialized flavor puddings are usually made gluten free to suit to the taste and needs of the masses.
How can you differentiate?
The labels
Usually the brands do not want to label their products as 100% gluten free. The reason being the added preservatives or colors possesses small amounts of gluten. Also, they run the risk of cross contamination.
But if you manage to find pudding that are labeled as gluten free, we would say that you are safe to consume that. That’s because, the makers have to go through a lot of legal obligations before they can label their product as such.
The ingredients
Avoid the ingredients yeast, wheat, rye, barley, flour and malt. These are usually the key gluten ingredients used in the pudding. Cornstarch, fruits and Jell-O are gluten free substances and safe for consumption.
The brands
If you are gluten intolerant, the wisest decision for you would be to stick to a particular brand only that markets itself as gluten free product. In that way, it becomes easier for you to purchase regularly.
What to do in restaurants?
When you are ordering a pudding in restaurant, simply ask for the detailed ingredients. Usually, the menu talks about the core ingredients only. Ask specifically about flour, rye, yeast and other gluten substance.
Gluten free homemade pudding recipes for you
Time for some gluten free treats for you. Now that you realize the safest option to eat pudding is to go with homemade puddings, we can help you out with some exclusive and delicious gluten free pudding recipes.
Vanilla and cashew nut pudding
This is a delicious and appetizing gluten free pudding type requiring only some ingredients. The key ingredients are cornstarch, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add roasted cashew nuts over the top for garnishing. We love this recipe so much that we often use it both for appetizer and desserts! You will find the detailed description of Vanilla and cashew nut pudding recipe here.
Lemon pudding
For unique taste in desserts, you could always give lemon pudding a try. With lemon extract being the core ingredient, all you need are egg yolk, sugar and cornstarch. You can place them in small cups and refrigerate them for future consumption.
If you are a dessert lover, we recommend making several cups of them at one go and store them in the fridge. After a delicious meal, you can always enjoy this zesty and flavorful lemon pudding. Check out the detailed lemon pudding from here.
Banana split pudding
We would be a little biased with banana split pudding. When it comes to fruity desserts, bananas are our favorite. Don’t mind us if we keep talking on and on about how delicious this gluten free dessert is.
This recipe is suitable for grand party desserts. On birthdays as well, banana split pudding are a delight. You can try this banana split pudding recipe at home but you can always improvise with the ingredients.
Chocolate avocado pudding
Don’t be taken aback with the combination of avocado and chocolate. It is actually quite a flavorful combination if you manage to mix them right. After relentless efforts of mixing and matching, we finally found a good chocolate avocado pudding recipe.
Try this gluten free pudding recipe at home and see if it matches with your palate. Since the matter is subjective, we cannot guarantee that you would love it. But we can assure you that if you are an avocado lover, you will definitely like this pudding.
Final Verdict
The moral of the story is that all puddings are not gluten free but there are considerable types of pudding are completely or partially gluten free. If you are on a gluten free diet and craving for some good desserts, pudding is something that should definitely be on your list.
