Prewett’s extends gluten free biscuit range

Prewett’s, the UK’s leading gluten free biscuit brand, has further extended its range to include Milk Free biscuits, ‘indulgent’ All Butter cookies and individually wrapped chocolate coated biscuit bars.

The brand, owned by Northumbrian Fine Foods (NFF), is expecting to double both its distribution points and its retail sales value with the launch.

“These attractively packaged biscuits have been well received by the market,” says NFF’s Business Director David Wood. “We are confident they will appeal to a broad spectrum of consumers and much of the new range features ‘indulgent’ type ingredients such as Belgian chocolate.

“We have already gained a significant number of listings with multiple retailers and have secured an extension to our contract with distributor RH Amar to supply the new products to the impulse and convenience markets.”

The new offerings, which comprise four varieties of All Butter cookies with finest top-end ingredients, four varieties of Milk Free everyday favourite biscuits and a Chocolate Coated Biscuit bar will allow retailers to broaden their ‘Free From’ consumer base, says Wood.

The milk and gluten free range of biscuits which contains everyday favourites such as Choc Chip and Digestive is targeting the 40% of ‘Free From’ category consumers whom require Milk/Dairy Free products.  These are often purchased by mums for their children.

The All Butter cookies will appeal to those wanting an indulgent snack. The All Butter cookie range is promoted under the ‘Prewett’s Gorgeously Gluten Free’ strapline.

The gluten free chocolate biscuit bar aptly named ‘Chocoful’ is reminiscent to mainstream products such as the iconic Rocky Bar, and according to Wood, will for the first time deliver a tasty and satisfying new option for gluten free consumers seeking a lunch box or handbag snack.

Co-op Launches Prewett’s Triple Chocolate and Jammy Wheels

The Co-op has launched Prewett’s Jammy Wheels into 1000 stores and Triple chocolate cookies into over 500! So hunt them out and enjoy!

It’s Prewett’s Christmas Shortbread Time!

Good news everyone! This year our beloved Christmas Tree Shortbread biscuits are available in both Tescos and Asda so now you can get your gluten-free festive fix!

A Gluten-Free Day Out in London at the Allergy and Free From Show

For the gluten-free or food choice conscious amongst us there was nowhere better to be last weekend than the Allergy and Free From Show in (sunny!) central London. Twice a year retailers and brands alike gather to display and sell their latest products in the Allergy and Free From categories. The October conference takes place in Liverpool but we headed to Kensington Olympia to see what was on offer. There were all sorts of stands, some with trial kitchens, lots of free samples and loads of great flavours. Sainsbury’s had a demonstration kitchen and had chefs throughout the day cooking up delightful gluten-free recipes. Nearly everyone seemed to be selling and it was a great place to pick up a bargain, as well as the latest products.<

With over 200 exhibitors there were lots of great products on offer to try and buy. It wasn’t all just about the food. A dedicated Learning Centre gave talks throughout the day on all sorts of health issues. We sat in on one looking at the differences between allergies and intolerances, and giving tips to help with IBS. It highlighted just how important finding the right kind of support is and why these events are also great community builders.

Whether you want to come to learn, or see what will be joining the supermarket shelves over the next few months it was a great place to meet other consumers and share tips. Coeliac UK and Live Gluten Free were both there leading the way in consumer support and advice.

In all we came away with heavy bags full of gluten-free goodies and had a great day out. So we highly recommend a trip to Liverpool in October!

Kind Choices and Finding the Balance

This week I got to spend a lovely morning with a local gluten-free mum and her daughter chatting kind choices and the gluten impact. Here is her take on finding the balance, you can read more of her adventures over at wakemummymake.wordpress.com

“It was only a matter of time before a friend of mine who works for Prewett’s Gluten Free Biscuit company and I colluded. After a good few oohs and ahhhs, and some scrutiny of the pleasing packaging, we got going on one of my favourite subjects. Gluten.

Really?! Well, nearly. It’s not far behind chatting through the H&M catalogue and speculating on Channel 4’s The Good Wife.

I’m not committed to any specific way of eating, but instead have determined that as a family, we will make kind choices about as much of our food as possible. When I took up marathon training, I upped my carb intake to cope with the mileage, but the piles of pasta left me with bloating and itchy skin, and since then I’ve been a bit sensitive to gluten.

I got to digging into the differences between heirloom and modern wheat, and it became quickly apparent that the current crops of hybridised dwarf-wheat, and subsequently heaving shelves of refined flour based products just ‘aint natures way. We don’t seem to be designed to deal with the additional, adjusted amounts of gluten proteins that we are now presented with.

It seems kindest to ourselves then, to steer clear of the sticky stuff. And I’m definitely the better and more balanced for it.

Balance is my buzz word, and while I’d rather eat healthier, naturally gluten free alternatives than stock up on the supermarket ranges, biscuits are an exception. Surely everyone has a sweet spot sometimes? (I’ve got Anna from Frozen singing in my head… I wanna stuff some chocolate in my faaaaaaaccccee!) And when it does come calling, I’d rather have a treat on hand that won’t go against my grain, so to speak.

Enter my friend and a box of Prewett’s Gluten Free biscuits to work our way through. Well, someone’s got to right?! The littlest lady in residence got into the oaty box straight away, while I went for some fantastically layered Chocolate Bourbons.

With a pleasingly round take on the classic, it’s got posh poured all over it, thanks to the thick, velvety chocolate covering. Once bitten, it packs a good crunch with a tell-tale trail of crumbs, and the creamy filling has a satisfying spread to finish with.

The Chocolate Digestive biscuits are a great gluten free alternative too. The round wavy biscuits actually stay together a lot better than the originals, so the smoothness of the chocolate becomes a stronger part of the over-all taste. I’d happily keep these in the cupboard (or at least try too) for anyone, gluten-free or not, and would much rather swap them in for the usual run-of-the-flour-mill kids biscuits.

Every so often, a bourbon or two is truly being kind to yourself.”

When a pizza is all you need!

The first of our challengers’ attempts to go gluten-free for awareness week. I have to confess I’ve always found the thought of cooking gluten-free intimidating! Working for Prewett’s means I know my way around the biscuits but actually cooking something for dinner I knew would require more thought than normal. Although it’s not very sophisticated to admit it my favourite food is actually pizza! So I wanted to see if I could make something similar, this simple recipe is a perfect replacement.

I used gluten-free wraps, spread them with some handily gluten-free tomato pesto and topped with grated cheddar cheese, tomato, mushrooms and spinach. Lightly grilled in the oven until the cheese has melted and the wrap is crispy around the edges. A perfect light snack, hitting my pizza need but keeping it gluten-free friendly!

How are you getting on with the GF challenge? We’re getting into the spirit in the office, there’s a cheesecake in the staff fridge I can’t wait to hear more about…

Give Gluten-Free a Go for Awareness Week!

This week is Awareness Week for Coeliac UK and it is an opportunity for everyone who eats gluten-free to tell the world more about it.

Whether you eat gluten-free for health or lifestyle reasons we want to know how you go about it. It’s not always easy to track down the gluten-free options and as part of doing our bit to raise awareness we are challenging our staff here at Prewett’s and our followers online to cook a gluten-free meal.

It can be your favourite recipe or a first time attempt at cooking gluten-free, bake your dish and then nominate a friend to do it too!

Monkey Munch wins the Day at the Newcastle Gluten-Free Fair!

Saturday 26th April saw a bunch of enthusiastic NFF’ers head over to Castle Gate in Newcastle for the annual Gluten-Free Fair. The event had well over 1000 people through the doors and had stands from local gluten-free manufacturers with everything from honey to curry!

“We wanted to come here and support Coeliac UK today because of the great work they do pioneering awareness for coeliacs and making their lives easier by navigating the world of GF products” said David Wood Commercial Director for Northumbrian Fine Foods proudly handing over £150 raised on the stand to Coeliac NorthEast.

Always keen for new ideas and an opportunity to get the public involved, the NFF team ran a competition to design a new gluten-free cookie. After a busy day on the stand and fierce competition from lots of great drawings, the competition for the best new gluten-free cookie was won by Hannah from Gateshead, with ‘Monkey Munch’. To say congratulations the team at Prewett’s will bake her personal design and send it to her to munch!

Check out our facebook page for the runner’s up and more pictures from the day!