Well after the big London adventure, it’s time to get Gluten Free by the Sea back on Topic: Helping the gluten free folk of Plymouth find great gluten free food. Sometimes you need to look really hard to find gluten free food, and sometimes you find it where you least expect it. This was the case recently when I stumbled upon a Tweet from Plymouth Greengrocer, which mentioned the words “gluten free pasty”. This soon had my attention! Being a Plymouth boy, the humble pasty was the thing I had missed most since my coeliac diagnosis, so I was eager to pay a visit.
Plymouth Greengrocer can be found situated in a marquee in the Chaplins car park, Plympton. The business is run by Julie and Mark, who have a great passion for both gluten free food and supporting local businesses. Mark himself suffers from Dermatitis herpetiformis, a skin condition linked to coeliac disease, so must follow a strict gluten free diet.
There is a freezer full of gluten free products from Baked to Taste of Honiton, Clive’s Pies of Buckfastleigh and also Floris foods from London. I have been really impressed with the Baked to Taste products. I have tried pasties, Devon steak pies, chicken and ham pies, chicken balti pies and sausage rolls. All have been excellent, and the pastry and quality of the meat particularly impressive. If you prefer a vegetarian choice there are cheese and onion pasties as well as quiches from Baked to Taste, and the pies from Clive’s are packed full of flavour. There is also pastry available if you prefer to make your own snacks at home. Floris provide some Italian treats such as tiramisu, lasagne, pizza and pizza bases. The tiramisu was very impressive.
Also on offer were a range of gluten free cakes from both Clive’s and Mrs Crimbles, gluten free crisps from Devon company Burts, some nice looking sauces from a company called Leon’s and pasta from Orgran. The majority of these products were things that I had not seen in supermarkets before. Also offered are items which are naturally gluten free including of course fresh fruit and vegetables. A range of other local products such as the increasingly popular Janner Jam are also stocked.
Excitingly, Julie and Mark are also launching their own brand of home made gluten free products from their new Plymouth Kitchen. Scones and carrot cake were available this week, and scotch eggs will be available this weekend. I wish them every success with this new venture. Free delivery is also offered in Plymouth, and look out for new websites for both Plymouth Greengrocer and Plymouth Kitchen launching soon. If you are based in Plymouth I highly recommend you pay a visit.
UPDATE 01/09/12: I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of gluten free scotch eggs to try yesterday. I tried a curried one and a regular one and both were delicious, and I’ll be buying again in future. I also picked up a Clive’s Lemon Lush cake which was very good too, though they are quite expensive for the size – though I think we are all used to this when it comes to gluten free cake. Also news that from next week Plymouth Greengrocer will be stocking Pom Bear crisps, which have quite the cult following amongst the coeliac Twitter community!
UPDATE: 02/06/13: PLEASE NOTE THAT PLYMOUTH GREENGROCER HAVE NOW MOVED OUT OF CHAPLINS. THEY ARE CURRENTLY SELLING ONLINE AT WWW.PLYMOUTHGREENGROCER.CO.UK WITH PLYMOUTH ONLY DELIVERY. THEY WILL ALSO BE ATTENDING MORE MARKETS. FULL UPDATE TO FOLLOW ASAP
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