10/21/2026
I am an exclusively gluten and nut free baker.
I get asked sometimes, “can you make it not-gluten free? Can you just add a few almonds?
The short answer?
No.
The really long answer?
When someone has a food allergy, their body attacks itself after consuming the molecular proteins found in the food. These proteins are the basic building blocks of the food, they often cannot simply be “washed away.”
When someone has a food allergy, there’s varying degrees to that allergen. Little Timmy is allergic to peanuts and it can kill him, but Johnny just gets a stomach ache.
It’s a whole other ball game when it comes to people with Celiac’s disease - an autoimmune disorder triggered by the ingestion of gluten.
Flour and the dust from nuts sit in the air and attaches to everything - the walls, the cabinets, the utensils you didn’t event touch. It’s like glitter. It gets literally everywhere and after you thought you cleaned it all, there’s some more glitter.
Simply washing the bowl doesn’t remove 100% of the allergens previously in the bowl. This has been proven countless of times with allergen testing on supposedly clean equipment. This is why food packaging has to say if the product has been made in a facility that processes peanuts/tree nuts/dairy/gluten etc.
It’s often not actually clean because you washed it and ran it through the dishwasher.
If a baker claims to do both gluten-filled and gluten-free, they need separate baking equipment - mixers, bowls, measuring cups, spatulas, and on. They should be deep cleaning their kitchen after each bake, keeping the allergen-filled and allergen-free baking on separate days.
If a baker isn’t doing this - they should label on their packaging that peanuts/tree nuts/gluten/dairy/soy - whatever allergen - is found in the kitchen and there may be cross contamination.
I have life threatening food allergies. Transparency is important. Protection and safe baking is important. Someone’s life may quite literally be on the line just because they decided to try your brownie.
Bakers - I am passionate about safe baking. Feel free to reach out.
Consumers - ask so many questions, desire transparency.
