Perk!er Gluten Free

Since I have a soft spot for a bright, bold and engaging packaging, it was no surprise that at this year’s Allergy show I was immediately drawn to the Perk!er Foods stand.

Sadly, on this occasion everyone else must’ve felt the same way and the Perk!er stand was crammed full of people on each of the three times I circled it attempting to speak to the owners to check on the nut situation with Perk!er’s products. It took a lot of willpower to resist my usual elbow manoeuvre honed over years of travel on Russian trains, trams and buses to push to the front. Instead, I could only look on at the exciting looking Brownie cake pops displayed with the colourful packaging.

A few weeks later whilst arranging a gluten free meet up I got chatting to Ann, the founder of Perk!er and I finally managed to ask whether their products contain nuts. This is the nut warning:

“WARNING ON NUTS: None of the PERK!ER products contain nuts as a specific ingredient, but some of the ingredients we use in the BREAD & TREATS do have a warning “may contain traces of nuts”. The porridges do not have a nut warning on them. We produce our gluten free food in a nut free kitchen”

For those with nut allergies, I must leave it up to you to decide whether these products are suitable for you. I would NOT eat anything which contained the nuts I’m allergic to. But I’m still figuring out what I think about “may contain traces of nuts” warnings such as those which appear on the Perk!er breads/sweet treats (but not porridge). However, this is my personal view and each person must make their own decisions with their health.

Ann very kindly sent me a box of Perk!er gluten free products to sample. I’ve been trying to find a breakfast ‘cereal’ which is gluten free, oat free, AND nut free and which can be eaten with yoghurt, but not milk. I would also like something which has some form of nutritional value, which rules out the crisped riced type breakfast cereals. A product which fits these criteria is actually quite difficult to find but I’m sure I’m not alone in needing something similar.

Perk!er offer both (gluten free) oat based and also oat free porridge in 3 flavours; Berry; Apple, Raisin and Cinnamon, and; Gingerbread. I’m not keen on gingerbread so I was sent samples of berry and apple, raisin and cinnamon flavours. The oat free porridge is made with organic millet and buckwheat flakes.

On the first morning, I stirred the oat free porridge into my yoghurt. I wasn’t that keen on the texture because it was a bit gritty for me. I think the Greek yogurt I eat doesn’t contain much moisture to absorb the grains and for them to expand. Other yoghurts and – I’m sure – milk or water would give a different result when mixed with the porridge. The next day I sprinkled the porridge on top and this was a winner. The texture was no longer gritty and I could properly taste the flavours in the porridge mix. The oat free porridge pack costs £3 for a 270g pack which the website says this gives 6 servings. I weighed the sample packs before I ate them so I know I was eating approximately 20g in a serving. This means a pack would last me 13 breakfasts and I feel this is good value.

I also got to try a seeded loaf. Sadly, the Royal Mail let us down and the parcel arrived a few days later than it was supposed to have been delivered so the bread was a little past its best since Perk!er do not use any preservatives in their products to prolong their life. However, I did love the shape of this bread. The taste and texture of the centre part of the seeded loaf which was still really soft was delicious.

The chocolate treats. What I really like about the Perk!er products is that the look of the very cool packaging and the quality of the products make them into genuine treats.

The Rocky Road was particularly good with its fluffy pink marshmallow chunks but I very much enjoyed all of the chocolate treats. Well, except one that is. The cake pop of the type I’d seen at the Allergy show. It was pinched by naughty Mr D before I got to try it. Which just goes to show that the Perk!er products are not just for Coeliacs/gluten intolerants.

Details
Online sales: Only the two versions of porridge (oat and oat free) in the three different flavours are currently available for online purchase from PerK!er direct by clicking here.
In person: Perk!er are selling their full range at trade shows throughout the UK. For more details, check their facebook page for details.
Also: Going to the Coeliac UK AGM on 30th June? Perk!er will have their full range available to purchase from a stand there.

Disclaimer: I was kindly sent the Perk!er products above to try but this is my honest review. In fact, I liked the oat free porridge so much that I ordered (and paid for with my own money) 3 packs of the oat free porridge after sampling it.