Glutano Gluten-Free Products

Glutano is a British brand that makes a range of gluten-free cookies and crackers. While pricey, even by gluten-free standards (largely because Glutano products are imported) Glutano products are, by and large, very good.

Particularly impressive are Glutano's gluten-free cream filled wafers that exist in both lemon and chocolate flavors. Because of the light, crispy nature of cream wafers anyway, the added crispness that gluten-free status tends to provide is anything but a problem here. Glutano's gluten-free lemon wafers are tart, but not painfully so, and the chocolate gluten-free wafers are mild and creamy.

Glutano also makes Chocolate O's a gluten-free sandwich cookie meant to be a replacement for Oreos. While these gluten-free cookies do taste good and are a suitable replacement for Oreos if you don't remember them that well, they will disappoint anyone who has recently become gluten-free and can remember what they are missing. It's not that Glutano's gluten-free cookies are less tasty than Oreos - rather they are smaller and slightly sweeter and somehow it just doesn't add up to a perfect gluten-free replacement.

Glutano's gluten-free products do not use artificial flavoring, colors of preservatives and are produced largely using maize flour and potato starch. Their products do contain soy and dairy, and because of their processing equipment may be unsuitable for those with sensitivities to nuts, eggs and sesame in addition to gluten.

Not only are Glutano's gluten-free products expensive, but the packages (particularly of the crackers) can be very small. While I continue to find this frustrating, I must say that Glutano's gluten-free products are deceptively rich, and while I often feel I can eat a large quantity of them at once, I quickly become overwhelmed, I think because of the cream filling element. Certainly a package of Glutano gluten-free cookies lasts longer than I would expect.

I would recommend those with celiac disease avoid Glutano products if they've recently had a gluten contamination mishap, as ingesting gluten often causes problems digesting fat. If you've been on a strictly gluten-free diet, Glutano products are great, but if you've been having trouble following the rules of being gluten-free the fat content in their products can aggravate the digestive tract.

Because they are produced abroad, Glutano gluten-free products can be hard to locate in the U.S., although they are available at many, but not all Whole Foods stores. While a Glutano website does exist with significant information on their products and on celiac disease (spelled celiac in England), delivery is not yet available to the United States.