Gluten-Free Granola, Crackers, and More!

At the Summer 2009 Fancy Foods Show

If you've been missing a gluten-free trail mix, your wait is over. Mareblu Naturals offers more than a dozen varieties, with names like Blueberry Pomegranate Trailmix, Cashew Coconut Crunch, Dark Chocolate Cashew Crunch, Pistachio Trailmix Crunch, and more. I sampled them at the show, and they're amazingly delicious. Try them. Gluten-Free, 100% vegan, kosher, and free of cholesterol, dairy, peanuts, and trans fat.

Mrs. Crimble's is well known in the UK for a range of gluten-free products, including her yummy "Cheese Bites" biscuits in Original Cheese; Tomato, Olive & Oregano; or Sour Cream & Onion. (The company has also launched Mrs Crimble's Fresh Gluten Free Bread, sold in Sainsbury stores.) Luckily for those of us in the U.S., Mrs. Crimble's Rice and Corn Cakes, Cheese Bites, Savory Crackers, Macaroon cookies are finally going to be sold in stores over here, too.

Finally, gluten-free granola! Grain-Free JK Gourmet is a Canadian company that makes all-natural, preservative-free granola and biscotti using nuts, fruits and vegetables, and high-fiber seeds. Honey is the only added sweetener. Granola flavors include Nuts and Raisins Original, Apple Spice and Raisin, Mission Fig and Apricot, Hazelnut and Date, and Cranberry Cashew. They also sell almond flour, and if you live in certain parts of Canada you can buy muffin loaves from them, too. (They'll ship the granola, biscotti, and flour all over the world.)

Kitchen Table Bakers' Hand Made All Parmesan Gourmet Wafer Crisps come in Aged Parmesan, Rosemary, Garlic, Italian Herb, Jalapeno, Sesame, Flax Seed, and "Everything." Eat them on their own, with a dip or a canape, or with a glass of wine!

Mary's Gone Crackers -- one of my favorite gluten-free snack companies -- was back at the show this year. At last year's show, they won the award for Most Outstanding Gourmet Cracker. This year, they brought their crackers (in my favorite Original Flavor as well as Caraway, Onion, Black Pepper and Herb), their Sticks & Twigs (in Chipotle Tomato, Sea Salt, and Curry,) and their "Gone Crackers Crumbs" (perfect for recipes that call for breadcrumbs).

Falafel Chips™ really do taste like falafel. They come in four flavors: Original, Organic, Spicy, and Sesame. They're made with organic vegetables and herbs, they're healthy and they taste great. Not just Gluten Free... they're also vegan, kosher, low sodium, high protein, high fiber, and free of dairy, nuts, trans fat, cholesterol, and artificial colors and preservatives.

Hippe Chips are potato chips with an unusual texture that are baked, not fried. They come in great flavor -- Haight-Ashbury Jalapeno, Memphis Blues Barbecue, Sea of Love Salt, and Lime is On My Side -- and they're all natural, no trans fat, zero cholesterol, low fat, and kosher.

Nutorious Nut Confections come as whole nuts or as Top-If-Off nut piece toppings. I'm afraid they're too expensive for out-of-the-bag snacking, but the nut piece toppings are ideal for sprinkling onto salads, desserts and entrees. Cha Cha Chipotle, for example, is a sweet-and-spicy blend of walnuts, almonds and pecans. ("Great on salads, best with a cold beer," the company says.) Cherry Vanilla Va-Voom is a blend of walnuts, almonds, pecans and dried cherries in a sweet vanilla confection. ("Try this on pancakes, in a salad or over ice cream.") They have lots of other flavors, too, all made with natural ingredients and no trans fat.