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Dear List Mates,

I have received several inquiries about the arepas that I mentioned in my
blog/book review about the ATK GF cookbook. Here is the bottom line: If we
live in the US it does not appear we can buy gluten free ingredients to
make traditional arepas. The jury is out if you are in Canada. I don't know
about other parts of the world. If you are not interested in arepas or are
satisfied that you can't safely make them, then quit here and skip to
another article.

I thought the ATK cookbook entry on arepas was, perhaps, a little
sneaky:The editors first told us how to make arepas and then cautioned us
to buy only GF arepa masa. It is likely there was a warning on the arapa
masa they obtained in Massachusetts. Here in the US we can only buy Pan
(made by Alimentos Polar, a Venezuelan company) or Goya, which uses
Alimentos Polar as their manufacturer. The consumer-sized bags of aprepa
masa are marked with a warning for both brands. Canadians appear to be able
to purchase arepa masa branded by Quaker; however, I am not certain who the
manufacturer is or what its gluten free status is. Perhaps someone living
in Canada will let us know. Alimentos Polar is said to manufacture Pan in
their Venezuelan plant which also makes conventional pasta.

The Gluten Free Girl website (http://glutenfreegirl.com/2008/04/arepas/ )
alerted that that Pan has a gluten warning. Another site has said that Goya
consumer packages also carry the warning (
http://venezuelancooking.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/la-arepa/ ).

The question you might ask is: can I still make arepas if I don't use arepa
masa? The answer is complex. Traditional arepas are made a certain way. You
can search arepas in Wikipedia to learn of the complex process. Alimentos
Polar simplified the complex process by creating an instant arepa masa.
Short of beating corn (a special type which is higher in starch), cooking
the result, drying it and then grinding it, the answer is no, you can't
make traditional arepas that would be recognized by citizens in Venezuela
or Columbia. However, some populations are making non-traditional arepas
out of non-traditional ingredients and calling them arepas. There is no
reason you can't do the same.

Sometime when I am in the Portuguese quarter of San Jose, CA I'll pick up a
bag of Quaker Milharina, which is a pre-cooked corn product used to make
another dish. Quaker Milharina is marked gluten free. It won't be arepa
masa, but it will be pre-cooked corn. If you decide to try arepas with
Milharina, please let me know your result.

If you live in the SF Bay Area and you frequent a restaurant serving gluten
free arepas, it might make sense for you to dig deeper into what the
ingredients are.

Vic-Sunnyvale, Ca

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