Product Review: Natural Sea Dairy-free Wheat-free Clam Chowder

I love dairy. When I was trying to figure out what my health problems stemmed from I was mortally afraid that it would be wheat or dairy, or both. I was actually relieved that it was just wheat. While there are grains galore that you can use to make muffins or scones, there is really no substitute for dairy. However, when I went off wheat I became temporarily lactose intolerant. This is common for people recovering from gastrointestinal disorders, including celiac sprue.

It was in this period of secondary lactose intolerance that I discovered a dairy-free New England style clam chowder. It was only later, after reading virtually every clam chowder label out there, that I realized that this is one of the few canned clam chowders in existence that is also gluten-free. The only other one I've found is Progresso brand, but that one has MSG (which is possibly not safe for celiacs - can anyone give me a definitive answer on this?)
Down to the nitty-gritty: I really like this soup. Imagine my surprise when I didn't really miss the cream. The soup is not creamy in the sense of having a dairy substitute. However, it does have a very thick and full potato base, like a smooth potato leek soup. The clams are not over-cooked, so if you heat the soup slowly you get a good texture out of them. The consistency is thick and chunky, and I mean that in a good way. The soup is definitely well-seasoned and hearty. I found this soup at New Season's.

My quibbles: this product contains soy. I wanted to share it with a gluten-free, casein-free friend, but he is allergic to soy. Why, oh why would you make a product specifically for people with food allergies and then add another one of the top eight allergens? It also contains corn starch, which a lot of gluten-intolerant people can't handle, but perhaps that can't be helped.

Have you tried Natural Sea DF WF Clam chowder? What did you think? Do you have a favorite GF clam chowder? Where do you find it? Please comment below!

Comments

Linda said…
Thanks for the review, I'm going to keep my eye out for it.

MSG is gluten free. Go to www.glutenfreeliving.com and click on ingredients.
April 4, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gluten-free Sourdough Discard Bread

Image
You’ve made your gluten free sourdough starter . What now?   The discard, or unused portion of the starter can be repurposed in a number of ways.  It’s the part of the starter that you don’t need to refresh or to use to leaven bread. You can throw it out, or you can use it to replace some of the flour and water in other recipes.  It adds a great texture and flavor to recipes, and it’s particularly useful for gluten free recipes. There’s something about gf grains that benefits immensely from the fermentation process. They become more flexible, more workable, and much tastier. In this bread recipe the sourdough starter lends the bread strength, flexibility, and flavor. Want a sandwich loaf recipe? Check out my  Yeasted Sourdough Sandwich Bread . Why is it not a regular sourdough bread?  This bread is considered a discard bread, or sometimes called a hybrid loaf, because it contains sourdough but it's leavened with commercial yeast. What does it taste like?   Depending on the ingredie
Read more

Mild Country White Sourdough Bread

Image
I gave up on producing a showy loaf a long time ago.  I always rolled my eyes a little when I saw photos online of perfect bloom or wide-open crumb.  "The mustard is going to just fall right through," I would think to my self disapprovingly, shaking my head a little. It turns out, I was just jealous. After a decade of gluten-free bread baking and recipe development, and through a collaboration with some other bakers, I've come up with a gf sourdough bread recipe that produces an open crumb, a large bloom, and sometimes, if I'm lucky, an ear.   The bread has a very mild, pleasant sourdough flavor and is very light in color. The crumb is very open but not too delicate.  It has a chewiness to the texture that I associate with a good sourdough bread.  The crust gets a nice browning and it toasts up nicely. And I don't mind the mustard falling through as much as I thought I would. Many thanks to Michael Hollesen who came up with the original version of this recipe.  We
Read more

Homemade Classic White Sandwich Bread

Image
I've been baking since before I met my husband ten years ago.  He eats gluten but appreciates my baking efforts and gives me feedback on texture compared to gluten products, which he consumes regularly on his lunch break at work in the form of sandwiches.  I'm a photographer too but he graces the wall of his office with blown-up cell phone shots of half-eaten sandwiches and burritos from his favorite shops.  He likes my baked goods, sure, but who can blame him for going for gluten? This last few weeks as I was testing this recipe, however, something shifted.  I finally heard these words: "you can make me this every weekend for the rest of my life."   I know my husband likes a bread I made when he immediately plans what sandwich to make from it.  Well, he's done that for every test loaf I've made for this bread.  A few days ago, in fact, he ate a breakfast sandwich with this bread, got catered burgers for lunch at work, then came home and requested a steak sand
Read more