When a recipe calls for rice flour or glutinous rice flour (note: glutinous rice flour does NOT contain gluten), I always reach for Erawan rice flours.
I use both Erawan’s regular rice flour, which has a red label, and Erawan’s glutinous rice flour, which has a blue label. Erawan products are available in some Asian markets. In Los Angeles’s wonderful San Gabriel Valley, you can find them at Shun Fat Supermarket in Monterey Park and at Hawaii Supermarket (crazy parking lot!) in San Gabriel. Look for the three elephants on the label. (Will post a photo soon.)
Rice flour in Asia is processed somewhat differently than rice flour in the U.S. For example, Asian-style rice flour is made by soaking the rice first before grinding it. American-style rice flour is ground up without the soaking process, which I find results in a slightly grittier product.
In a pinch, I sometimes use American-style rice flour (e.g. Koda Farms glutinous rice flour and Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free White (and Brown) Rice Flour) when cooking, but I prefer Erawan’s Asian-style rice flour for its finer texture, lower cost, and ready availability (in the San Gabriel Valley as well as on Saipan).
Erawan labels their rice flours as gluten-free. I have not contacted the company to get confirmation; however, I’ve cooked with Erawan extensively, and to date, my son has not had any allergic reactions (and he’s very sensitive to allergen contamination). YMMV, of course. As far as I can tell, Erawan’s main focus is on rice products. They are a reputable brand. In my opinion, they are the top brand in the rice flour category.
I do exercise caution when shopping for bags of rice flour (or any flour, for that matter.) For some reason, gluten-free flours are often placed side by side (or completely surrounded) by gluten-containing flours. Flour gets airborne so easily, so I do my best to avoid buying gluten-free flour packages that have unidentified flour dust on the packages if they are displayed next to gluten-containing flours.
Category: Ingredients Tags:
