UPDATE 22/09/2014: Sad to report that Traditional Puddings has now ceased trading. Thanks to Tina for all her hard work and great puddings over the last couple of years, these puddings will be sorely missed. Another reminder that we really need to support our small local businesses else we will lose them.
Hi folks and apologies for the lack of posts on Gluten Free by the Sea in the last few weeks. It’s been a very busy time for me personally, busy at work after the company I work for was sold and some disasters around the house to name but a few things. A day off from work today has given me a chance to catch up on some blogging (after a second exploding radiator/flood in seven days this morning!).
I recently received an email from Tina Hurford who runs a small company called Traditional Puddings. They are based out of Tavistock Pannier Market and offer a range of hand made luxury puddings. Whilst the core range of products contains gluten, Tradtional Puddings make gluten free puddings to order. Tina has a coeliac mother and daughter so an experienced gluten free baker, well versed in dealing with cross contamination.
Tina very kindly offered to send me one of her puddings to sample, and let me choose from the options on her website. There is an amazing sounding list of flavours to choose from: Ultimate Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce, Vanilla Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce, Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Sauce, Zingy Lemon Pudding, Sticky Stem Ginger with Ginger Sauce, Coffee and Walnut Pudding With Dark Chocolate Sauce or Almond Pudding With Cherry Brandy Sauce.
I choose the Vanilla Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and was really excited to try it. When it arrived the package contained two very ample puddings, and a generous serving of butterscotch sauce. I removed the lid and popped the foil tray in the oven for 10 minutes as per the instructions. It came out of the oven smelling delicious and I have to say I was really impressed. The sponge pudding was extremely light, I could really taste the vanilla and the butterscotch sauce was really tasty. The puddings are big enough that the package states serves 2-4, but if someone wanted to pinch half of one of mine they’d have to fight me for it!
To be honest, this kind of pudding is right up my street. A warm pudding in a toffee or butterscotch sauce would definitely be something I would have chosen in my pre-coeliac days. In gluten free terms I’ve not really come across anything like this before, bar a couple of (bad) supermarket offerings. Currently the packaging is labelled “no gluten containing ingredients”, but Tina is currently going through testing so she can start officially labelling the products gluten free (UPDATE: Testing successful and gluten free status has been granted). She hopes to expand to other stockists when this is confirmed, and I hope a Plymouth based one can be found. In the mean time, if you get chance to pick up a pudding at Tavistock Pannier Market I can highly recommend it, and Tina will do local deliveries within a reasonable distance too. You can contact Tina at traditionalpuddings@hotmail.co.uk for more info.
Puddings cost £4.25 for two, but taking into account the size and quality I would say it’s definitely worth that cost as a treat. It’s good to see another local producer doing good things in the gluten free world.
Update: 22/02/2012: Good news for those of you gluten free and living in Plymouth, Traditional Puddings are now stocked by Plymouth Greengrocer. I tried the lemon pudding last week and it was delicious too, looking forward to working my way through the rest of the flavours now they are more readily available to me!
Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea
Gluten Free By The Sea 
Looks so good! Lucky you! :o)