By Dylan Haas
There has been much ado these past few months regarding the health benefits of a gluten-free lifestyle, and hovering just below the surface of any dialogue on such a diet is the relative difficulty of finding healthy, gluten-free foods that are also tasty. This conundrum facing those trying to live a gluten-free life, the sacrificing of flavor for healthy sustenance, is precisely the dilemma the good folks at Sun Flour Mills bakery set out to remedy – and anyone that has tasted any of the Sun Flour Mills baking mixes at home or at the demo counter in the Boise Co-op can attest that Sun Flour Mills foods are exceptionally delectable, regardless of one’s needs for gluten-free living.
Sun Flour Mills was officially started in the Fall of 2009 by Lannae Phillips and Barbie Doherty in order to provide the world with healthy, yet tasty, gluten-free (as well as nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free and soy-free!) alternatives to a variety of common baked goods. Lannae was growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of palatable carbohydrate-type foods available for her and her increasingly allergy sensitive children. Within a span of four years she and her two young children were diagnosed with Celiac and other food allergies that left them all in a constant struggle to find and maintain a healthy diet that wouldn’t lead to continual pain or discomfort in their daily lives.
During this same time period, Barbie, a Nurse Practitioner in a pediatric gastroenterology clinic, had also made the change to wheat-free living, mainly out of a deep understanding of the practical health benefits of a gluten-free diet. Being an avid cook and baker, Barbie made it her personal quest to investigate all wheat-free and dairy-free options available on the market today, testing and tasting and experimenting until she eventually developed a keen taste for combining whole-grain, wheat/dairy/nut-free ingredients to form cookies, cakes and breads that are not only healthy, but are exceptionally tasty. When she introduced her concoctions to her friend Lannae, it was clear that these two needed to figure out some way to “share this with the world!” After winning first prize in a baking contest with an entirely wheat/dairy/nut/egg/soy free cake, the two knew that their Sun Flour Mills products were indeed the delicious alternative for anyone wanting or needing to live by the rigors of an extremely food-sensitive diet.
Currently, Sun Flour Mills provides readily prepared baking mixes for whole-wheat and white breads, chocolate cake, pumpkin cake and sugar cookie mixes, as well as a providing a whole-grain, all-purpose flour that can be used as a direct replacement for standard, wheat-based flours in any given recipe. The Sun Flour Mills baking mixes are not simply refreshingly tasty wheat/dairy/nut/soy/egg-free items, they are made up of whole-grain teff, sweet sourgum and brown rice flours, meaning they are exceptionally nutritious to boot. (Currently Sun Flour Mills is one of only a handful of gluten-free providers on the market that provides strictly whole-grain options).
Sun Flour Mills products can be found down aisle ten at the Boise Co-op. You really should give them a taste, regardless of your dietary needs. You'll be pleasantly surprised by just how tasty they are, we promise!
