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

Listmates:

Several listmates asked what brand of almond paste I use.  Two
listmates expressed concern about the GF status of almond paste.

I apologize for embedding the brand that I use in my notes at the
bottom of the page.  I use Solo Almond Paste in a can.  Solo is GF.
The ingredients are almonds, sugar, natural flavorings & water.  The
product is GF, as are all of the Solo fruit fillings.   I verified it
again today with Gabe at the quality assurance branch of Sokol &
Company, 5315 Dansher Rd., Countryside, IL 60525 1-800-328-7656.  I
suggested that they include this information on their web site since
this is an product that we can use and all of us are checking
ingredients regularly.  There are a lot of recipes on the web site.
http://www.solofoods.com  The Solo Almond Paste can be purchased from
the company online if you cannot find it in your area.

Another commonly available brand is Odense Almond Paste
(1-800-243-0897 or  http://www.odense.com).  I do not use this
paste--I do get recipes from their web site.  The ingredients are
almonds, sugar and liquid glucose from wheat starch.  This raises the
question of how much wheat is in the final product if the glucose is
derived from wheat starch.

How much gluten is contained in wheat starch has been discussed
regularly on this Listserv.  You can search the archives.  I did find
some information that may be of interest to those who are still
debating the question.  I will post that separately tonight.

If all else fails you can make your own.  I finally did a search on
the Internet and there are a lot of recipes.  I posted three recipes
as a separate post.  I did this so if anyone is searching for
information about almond paste they would be retrievable in the
archives.

Just in case you are getting inspired, the original recipe that was
in my post for Pignoli Cookies I is at
http://cookie.allrecipes.com/az/PignoliCks.asp

Happy baking,

Betsy
Austin, Texas

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