Wheat Alternative for the Wheat Allergic: Sweet Potato Flour

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Food Allergies , Gadgets and Tools Against Allergies on January 29, 2007

Agricultural Research Service chemists have developed a rice- and sweet potato flour pancakes that are acceptable and safe for those with celiac disease (gluten intolerance) and wheat allergies. Not only did they find a suitable substitute for wheat flour, the new formulation turned out to be even healthier in terms of their antioxidant content, with 56 percent more beta carotene than traditional wheat-based pancakes!

Shih and Daigle, whose findings were published in the Journal of Food Quality, experimented with different amounts of sweet potato flour. Then they scrutinized the pancakes' textural and nutritional properties. They evaluated the cakes' hardness, cohesiveness, springiness and chewiness-attributes that figure greatly when it comes to flipping, and noshing on, the perfectly textured flapjack.

Great! I just wonder how superior this formulation is to gluten-free pancakes mixes already available in the market. Or if one can achieve comparable beta-carotene by making your pancakes yourself using sweet potato flour.