Get Behind Me Gluten

On Saturday 5 August, I spent a food-filled day at the Sydney Gluten Free Expo which you can read about here! In amongst the large companies and Sydney-based stores, I was extremely happy and proud to see Canberra represented by the fabulous Deeks Health Foods!

I spent a bit of time at the Deeks stand, trying samples and having a brief chat with the Deeks sales representative, Ingrid. She was friendly and informative, and when I told her about GBMG, she gave me a fruit log and banana bread to take home! My first ever blog freebies!

When Ingrid gave me the fruit log and banana bread, I was happy, surprised and a little worried. Happy because who doesn’t love free food? Surprised because it was so unexpected, and worried because I knew I’d have to review the loaves honestly!

Deeks make a whole range of sweet and savoury loaves. Until the expo, I didn’t know that Deeks made sweet loaves at all, though I’d eaten the savoury loaves before. You can buy the savoury loaves at a number of supermarkets and they’re used in some Canberra restaurants as their gluten free bread option. They’re always quite strongly flavoured so I find you need to complement them up with the right filling or accompaniment otherwise the taste can be a bit weird.

The Deeks breads are handmade, containing no grains or gluten. The main flour ingredient is quinoa but they contain unique mixes of flours made from nuts, legumes and seeds. According to the website, this makes them highly nutritious, and high in fibre and protein.

Fruit Log

I was given the fruit log on 5 August, and I kept it stored in the fridge as per it’s directions, and we ate the whole thing over four days. The best before date was 10 August which was a little short but I’d say between a family of four you’d polish it off pretty quickly without any problems! We got about 10 slices from the loaf.

The loaf itself was a lovely colour, dark brown with little specs of darker fruit interspersed. It had some crystallised sugar on top which was quite nice to look at too.

 

I tried the fruit log fresh to start with. It was a little dry so we bunged it into the microwave to freshen it up a little. It contained a lot of fruit, particularly sultanas but there were a few pieces of very sweet and delicious apricot. Once it was heated it was nicer to eat, softer and chewier.

We had the next slices toasted, which was even better. The smell of fruit toast wafting through the house is always mouth-watering and the crunch from the toasting was a satisfying contrast to the chewy, fruity centre.

It’s worth mentioning though that when toasting the fruit log, the crystallised sugar became scoldingly hot and I burnt my fingers a few times on slices fresh out of the toaster. This was obviously down to my own greediness – I could’ve waited for it to cool but it smelt so good!

The taste was also pretty good. The bread wasn’t too sweet but it had little sugary pops of fruit. There were plenty of sultanas and apricot in each slice and it was very satisfying.

Banana bread

I received the banana bread with the fruit log. The best before date was 12 August so we had a bit more time to eat this while it was at its best.

Again, the colour was lovely. It was a nice dark brown on the outside and only a little paler inside. The texture on the outside of the loaf was a little sticky, like all banana breads, but inside was firm and you could see the little strands of the banana.

We went straight to toasting this loaf, although I’d recommend keeping an eye on it when it’s in the toaster. There is a window of time where the bread is perfectly toasted – either side of this sweet toasting spot leaves you with either lukewarm bread or slightly burnt edges on scalding bread!

The flavour and texture of the banana bread were very good. It had a nice, almost creamy flavour, and the banana was nice and strong. There were even a few chunks of banana in each slice. Banana bread can sometimes be too sweet however this one was just right for me and I found it very enjoyable. It also had a nice soft texture and wasn’t greasy like a lot of other banana breads.

The Deeks sweet loaves were very nice and I’ll definitely buy them in the future. I liked that both the fruit log and banana bread had pieces of fruit in them and that they weren’t too sweet. You’ll want to toast them for the best experience.

I’m planning a trip down to the Deeks shop in Pearce soon to try and review some more of the products.