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

Hi all,

I am still getting replies to this question, and I wanted to clarify.

It seems that heat does not, despite many people thinking that it
should, change gluten in a way that will keep us from being affected
(whether we know it or not).  The explanation I received was that heat
may change the structure of the protein, but not the sequence in the
peptide, gliadin, which is what actually what causes the reaction. (And
for those of you non-scientific types out there, peptides are really,
really small and fairly indestructible).

So, beware of thinking that only big crumbs have gluten, or that heated,
burned, charred, or washed crumbs are ok.  The gluten needs to be GONE.

A few people have also reminded that cross-contamination in the form of
handling, etc. is more of a problem than anything like dishwashing in
restaurants. (But I am still going to eye my dishes for caked on bits of
crud)

There have also been a few reminders that we must always be careful, and
not judge ingestion of gluten on reactions or lack thereof.

Thanks to all: my mother-in-law has stopped bleaching everything in her
kitchen before I come over, my girlfriend only ran her dishwasher once
and then just rinsed off my plates.   Mostly, I will just bring my food
myself and enjoy the peaceful-ness of knowing that I won't get sick.
And be very excited when I move into my own house and have other people
over to eat my yummy meals.

Take care,

Emily

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *