I got a powerful gluten reaction this morning. The only thing I had different yesterday (and again this morning! ) was a pot of curry which I made myself. It contained carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, and a cut-up beef steak which I dipped in buckwheat flour seasoned with curry powder, onion salt, paprika and regular salt and pepper, fried in olive oil, then added to the rest with water and simmered for about an hour. Boy, it's making me hungry again just typing this!
I no longer have the list of ingredients for the curry powder, it was a bulk package I had bought from the San Francisco Herb Company. But I got online just now and checked the ingredients on what they currently offer, and it seems innocuous. INGREDIENTS: Turmeric, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, fennel, onion, black pepper, cloves, garllic, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, lemon grass, cardomon & mace.
Were my symptoms more likely to have come from the buckwheat flour? I also researched it, and it seems like it sometimes does give problems. Any opinions? I hope I don't have to give up my curry. I don't eat it often, but I do like it occasionally.
Hugs,

Hi Lois,

What brand was the buckwheat? Has it been processed in a dedicated facility or a place that also processes wheat? Maybe it's been cc'd?

Or maybe the curry has been cc'd? The San Francisco Herb Company also uses wheat germ in some of their products.

myst

Curry powder typically has gluten in it. It keeps it flowing.

Herbs and spices need to be check individually.

Generally speaking, mixes are assumed to have gluten - curry is a mix. (The black pepper they used for it could have been cut with wheat. Pepper often is.)

Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Lois,

I don't know anything about curry powder, but Kim usually has a lot of information that is accurate.

I, on the other hand, react to meat that was grain fed. So before you chuck the curry powder, you might want to consider that the meat itself might have been the problem. Now I eat grass fed livestock with absolutely no problem.

I am a member of an organic farmers group and they were the ones who suggested that the gluten was passing through the meat. Livestock is fed a grain diet consisting of wheat and soy for the most part beginning 2-5 months before slaughter. As grain definitely affects the arachodonic acid in livestock which is passed on to humans through the meat, it is not a stretch that gluten in feed is passed along as well.

Leslie

Thanks for all of your replies. This staying GF is NOT easy! All of you seem to think the curry powder is the more likely culprit, except for Myst. I don't know what the buckwheat brand was, unfortunately, I tossed the bag after I stored it in one of my containers. I suppose cross-contamination could be a definite problem with either of them, the flour or the spice mix.
Have any of you had problems with buckwheat? The info I found had it on the safe list, but with a caveat, that it might sometimes cause problems for some people. I may give myself a week or so to recover, and then do a test, trying each individualy, and see if I react .
Hugs,

Could it be that you are sensitive to buckwheat itself?
It's related to rhubarb if that helps.
Probably the Curry Mix as it is a mix and they do put something in with the herbs to keep them from sticking although less and less is that wheat derivative, I've seen a lot of rice starch used for this application.
I'd find another way to make your dish, not using this curry mix first and see then if you react again.
Buckwheat in a pure flour should not cause a problem for most folks, it isn't related closely at all to other non-gluten grains.