Ep 164 A New Take on Gluten Free Snacking

A Conversation with Julie Bednarski RD, of Healthy Crunch

Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

This episode is a conversation with someone changing the landscape of not only gluten free snacking, but snacking in general by providing new healthy options in some unexpected flavours.  Julie Bednarski is a Registered Dietitian as well as a trained chef.  Her vision for healthy snacks has brought us an entire product line from the company she founded called Healthy Crunch.  Her goal to produce safe snacks that are not only gluten free, but top allergen free, means that Healthy Crunch needed to develop their own flavourings from real ingredients.  This may not sound special, but in the food industry it is most common to produce a product, then prepare it with a variety of different commercial flavourings to fill the product line.  Healthy Crunch uses read fruits, vegetables and other foods to create the natural flavourings for it’s unique foods including seed butters, coconut chips, trail mixes and instant lattes, with certifications including gluten free, vegan, paleo, keto, kosher and school approved. You can find Healthy Crunch online at https://healthycrunch.com

Sue’s Websites and Social Media

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast

Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts

Whenever I come across a food company that tries to be all things to all people, I am skeptical.

When I was operating my gluten free bakery, customers would come in and ask if a certain product could be made without (blank).  At first, I took this as a challenge, but soon realized that by omitting an ingredient from a gluten free recipe, the entire formulation changed.  Sometimes I was able to substitute, as in the case of milk, with a soy or nut milk.  My chocolate cake and the frosting that accompanied it were best made with soy milk, no odd flavour or aftertaste, and by doing this, I then had a dairy free vegan dessert to offer.  This was not normally the case.  For the most part I was asked if I could make some of my regular products without rice flour, or almond flour, or milk chocolate chips.  In a home kitchen, this challenge can often lead to a new wonderful creation.  Wonderful or not in your home kitchen, you are likely to eat the results, as gluten free ingredients are expensive. 

At a bakery, some experimentation for new formats or flavourings works well, but creating a new product with a different formula for one customer was a gamble.  Gluten free formulations are very particular and don’t adapt well to re-working.  I accepted that to make the best “something” gluten free, I couldn’t also make it vegan, or free from dairy, or refined sugar, or nuts – at least I couldn’t afford the experimentation in my small bakery.

Years ago gluten free breads were advertised to meet a host of dietary restrictions, and the product suffered in the process.  Things are better now, we have new flours, new processes, new alternatives for overly-processed ingredients, and a new marketplace landscape. 

What I find innovative in the approach Julie has used at Healthy Crunch is – she started her business to formulate foods and product lines that met a variety of dietary restrictions from the beginning.  Her knowledge as a dietitian and her experience as a chef were just what was needed to re-think both the ingredients and flavours of innovative snack choices.  Having used my home recipes to start a small bakery, I can applaud the effort and expertise that it takes to produce foods that meet all of Julie’s expectations and those of her customers.  Great job Julie!

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