Almond flour is safe alternative for gluten-free diners

Colleen Sherratt may have been one of the first Utahns diagnosed with celiac disease, the condition in which the body can’t process gluten.

That was in the late 1950s, and once the then 28-year-old figured out why she had lost 20 pounds and felt sick to her stomach, she had few alternatives to eating wheat, which contains the problematic protein.

"I didn’t bake anything, cookies, cakes, breads," the now 83-year-old recalls.

Today, gluten-free products are everywhere. And baking delicious cookies and cakes is not a problem — thanks in part to Sherratt’s family business.

Her husband, Lowell, is the president of Honeyville Grain, with corporate headquarters in Brigham City. In addition to processing and selling loads of wheat flour, it also sells gluten-free flours including soy, rice, corn, potato and almond flour (also known as almond meal).

It’s the almond flour that Honeyville is becoming known for in the gluten-free world. The company has been selling it for about seven years, but business started booming recently as the diet restriction moved beyond just those with celiac disease and less-extreme gluten sensitivities to the mainstream.

Chris Ondatje, vice president of Honeyville’s e-commerce division, says almond flour is the company’s Number 1 online seller. They’ve sold about 400,000 pounds of it in the last year, a 100 percent increase from a year ago.

"Sales growth remains hot," Ondatje wrote in an email. "It’s so sought after that we’re constantly fighting to stay ahead of the demand curve."

Big business ? Gluten-free food is an estimated $4 billion to $6 billion food industry, and projected to keep expanding, according to the market research company Mintel. The growth is attributed to trendiness — a perception among shoppers that they’ll lose weight without gluten — and the improved taste of gluten-free products.

And as more Americans experiment with a grain-free diet — another trend highlighted by The Hartman Group, a Washington-based research and consulting firm— they’re seeking nut meals.

Almond flour, which is finely ground almonds, is healthier than the other wheat-alternatives, says Diane Bell, owner of the Taylorsville shop Against the Grain, which sells gluten-free baking mixes and baked goods. "White rice and brown rice flour has one gram of fiber. Big whoopie," she says.

But one serving of almond flour has 6 grams of protein, compared to 3 grams in wheat flour. It also has fewer carbohydrates but more fiber and healthy unsaturated fats, which protect the heart. Almonds are also cholesterol free and pack the antioxidant Vitamin E.

"Everybody in the general population can benefit from it," Bell said of using gluten-free flours. "We try to teach people to alter and vary [the grains they eat] so you don’t become sensitive to any other products."

Best for baking ? Almond flour is best suited to sweets: cookies, cakes, muffins and pancakes, says Lisa Barker education and outreach coordinator at Honeyville. The company occasionally offers gluten-free cooking classes at its four retail stores, including ones in Salt Lake City and Brigham City.

Barker’s family isn’t gluten-free, but she says she cooks with almond flour every week or so.

"It adds a delicacy," she said recently while making cookies in Honeyville’s Salt Lake City demonstration kitchen. "The [gluten-free] muffins used to be these ugly little things. Now you can make these pretty muffins that have flavor and texture and beauty to them."

The food won’t taste the same as if it were made with wheat flour. But the almond pancakes taste nutty and the chocolate chip cookies were moist and dense.