What is gluten?

Gluten is a natural protein occurring in wheat and related types of cereals. This means that it is also contained in any food made with cereals containing gluten.

Types of cereals that contain gluten:

• Wheat
• Rye
• Spelt
• Barley
• Unripe spelt grain
• Oats (unless certified gluten free)
• Small spelt
• Amelcorn
• Kamut
• Triticale

Foods containing gluten include flour, wheat starch, bread crumbs, pasta, muesli and all baked goods, from biscuits to pretzel sticks, to name just a few. Gluten also ends up in many foods during the manufacturing process and through binding agents, however.

While gluten’s nutritional value is only negligible, it offers favourable physiological and technological properties for working with flours. It is what makes flour form a sticky dough when combined with water. Gluten is also responsible for the dough’s elasticity and for it holding together and it lends crunchiness to bread and baked goods.