Pea-flour is
25 June 1999
Pea-flour is
gluten-free
PEAS look set to find a valuable use in gluten-free diets, reckons Cebeco Seed Innovations Ray Starling. One Norfolk bakers cakes made with pea flour are going down well with coeliac consumers.
"Weve given them to a few such people who have to have gluten-free diets and they seem to get on quite well with them," says Max Knight, of Knights Bakery, Downham Market.
He is experimenting with sponge, shortbread, scone and other recipes to meet the needs of coeliacs. So far the pea-flour is proving a lot easier to use than other gluten-free flours.
"It can be used almost like ordinary flour. The special flours weve tried in the past were like baking with wallpaper paste," he says.
Flavours have to be chosen carefully to avoid accentuating the pea taste. "Coconut goes well, and the chocolate sponges are very good. But some soda bread was a total failure."
Over 35,000 people are registered with the Coeliac Society, so the market for Mr Knights cakes could be quite large, he reckons. However, the price of the pea flour is about triple that of ordinary flour so it is unlikely to be used in conventional baking, he adds.
White peas such as Baccara or Croma are used to make the flour. "There is a small market for split peas with these types, but the rest go for animal feed," says Mr Starling. "Where this flour market goes remains to be seen." *