WITH food allergies on the rise, canny food producers are tailoring a whole new range of products to meet the demand in restricted diets.

Throughout July, some of the top regional Victorian manufacturers of allergy-free food will be showcased at the Taste Provincial Victoria stall at the Prahran Market, a city hub for rural food and beverage products.

    WHAT IS COELIAC DISEASE?
  • Coeliac disease affects about one in 100 Australians. 
  • But 75 per cent remain undiagnosed, meaning about 157,000 Australians have coeliac disease but don't yet know it.
  • The disease is a permanent intestinal intolerance to dietary gluten, found in the likes of wheat, rye and barley.

The stall, a Victorian Government initiative, will showcase the best in regional gluten-free products for sufferers of coeliac disease.

On display will be gluten-free sweet treats from Numurkah's The Flying Muffin and pasta from Kyabram's Casalare Specialty Pasta and much more.

Wendy Scott, from The Flying Muffin, makes 10 muffin varieties, two of which are gluten-free: blueberry and apple, and raspberry and white chocolate.

She has just finished a trial of gluten-free Christmas puddings, which go on sale in July and December.

While the business started three years ago, she says the gluten-free line began as a result of demand.

"All our customers were asking for them and I was reading about how gluten intolerance was on the rise," Wendy says.

"There was a bit of trial and error involved in finding the right flour.A lot made stodgy and heavy muffins. Now we use a soy and rice-based flour and they're light and fluffy."

Casalare owners Barry and Nancy Hewitt say they started making gluten-free pasta in 1990, long before demand for gluten-free products took off.

The couple were making regular pasta out of a cafe at Mirboo North's Grand Ridge Brewery when a customer required a gluten-free variety.

"A customer came into the cafe for a group lunch and bought her own pasta. We cooked it for her but it tasted awful and we thought maybe there's an opportunity for a niche market here," says Barry, who moved to Kyabram in 2005.

He says it took 20 years of trial and error to make a product that tasted great.

"Initially it was very difficult because there wasn't much information out there about it. But we experimented with different formulas. It is a fine line between getting the ingredients and methodology right."

However, their patience paid off and Casalare has grown about 500 per cent in two decades.

Now they make about 60 products, not just pastas, but gluten-free baking products, such as flours, cake and muffin mixes, and crumbs.

Barry says demand for gluten-free products has skyrocketed.

"The global market is apparently growing at 29 per cent per year and is worth $US1.5 billion and is estimated to be worth $US2.6 billion in 2012," he says.

The Flying Muffin, Numurkah, or ph: (03) 5862 3733.

Casalare Specialty Pasta, Kyabram, or ph: (03) 5853 2366.

    CHECKLIST
  • Taste Provincial Victoria, at the Prahran Market, will showcase the best in regional Victorian gluten-free products until the end of July, ph: (03) 9827 5991.