<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Dear List Mates,

I wanted to share taste testing of three gluten-free products that my
Everloving brought back from Albertsons today. But first, about my
Everloving. She is what we Marketeers call an innovator. You know the
product adoption lifecycle curve: Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late
Majority and .... well, Never-Adopters. She is to the left of Early
Adopters - An Innovator. Marketers never try to market to innovators
because they can't be trusted, marketwise. If it is new, they will try
it ... once!

So, I am now the proud owner of Amaranth Snackers - French Onion
flavor (Nu-World Anaranth, Inc.), Casabe Rainforest Crackers - Wild
Onion flavor (Fortitude Brands), and Cookies - Orange and Cinnamon,
also by Fortitude. All claim to be gluten free. The Casabe Rainforest
Crackers also claim: Its high fiber content and enzymes and [sic]
Gluten Free attributes make Casabe the ideal Cracker [their
capitalization, not mine].

The French Onion Amaranth Snackers are nearly 1" in diameter and are a
slightly curled disk - not totally round. They have a strong, somewhat
unappetizing smell, but they taste pretty good - salty and onion-ish.
I'll possibly finish the box, but it is unlikely they will be
purchased again. I'm sure a number of the list mates have tried this
cracker and probably like it. This was the best of the lot.

The Rainforest Crackers, product of the Dominican Republic,  are made
by Alimentos Fortuna, SA from fresh organic cassava pulp, natural
onion, hot and sweet peppers. They are most likely 1/16" thick, dried
circular slices of cassava, complete with natural plant fibers still
intact. They are crisp-dried and somewhat reconstitute in your mouth.
Good thing trash pickup is tomorrow.

The last offering was "Cookies" Orange and Cinnamon. In the bag, they
smell like coconut macaroons.  Although the ingredients are very
normal for a gluten-free cookie - even for a wheat-based cookie, the
taste is certainly not. The after-taste lingers badly, and it took a
whole handful of corn chips to chase the after taste away. The two
Fortitude products will keep one another company while waiting for the
trash man tomorrow.

My Everloving also tried these and more-or-less agrees. She doesn't
have to eat celiac-friendly foods but generally does to keep me
company. Of course,  List Mates are free to disagree.  (Our problem is
that we cook a lot of our own goodies and aren't afraid to adapt and
experiment.  This allows us to be critical of store-bought products. 
We don't feel superior to those who haven't the time or interest in
baking, just lucky that we enjoy these activities.)

I look forward to your feedback.

Vic from Sunnyvale, CA

By the way, check out the following blog: http://celiac.wordpress.com/
. Steve Ridder, the author, has decided to enroll in the clinical
trial of the Alba Therapeutics drug which is said to let him resume
eating gluten again.

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *