Kokova Magazine

If you are searching for a gluten-free cereal that is low in sugar and salt, then Tobia Teff may just have the answer...

Ounce for ounce, teff, the smallest grain in the world, supplies more fibre rich bran and nutritious germ than any other grain!

It also packs a high mineral content that boasts 17 times the calcium of whole wheat or barley and has an extremely high iron content and is also rich in Vitamin B, with a very low calorie count.

In any grain the nutrients are concentrated in the germ and bran. With teff the germ and bran make up the bulk of the grain and because it is too small to hull, its nutrients are abundant and stay intact.

Tobia Teff supplies only teff products, they do not supply any other flour, this avoids any cross contamination issues.

As always, at YST we are keen to explore the free-from market so we taste tested products from the Tobia Teff range.

Teffios - Extruded Teff pellets

A healthy supplement in the form of flakes or pellets. Excellent for breakfast, on its own or as a mix with fruit or muesli, Tobia Teff Breakfast Cereals are a delicious way to start your Gluten Free day (this product contains small amounts of sugar and rice). RRP £3.20 for 300g

At first glance this bag of cereal seems quite small for the price tag. The pellets are completely plain, with no added fuss or fancy and have no particular smell. Once we poured a serving into a bowl we instantly saw just how far a small packet can go and Tobia Teff can certainly pack a large amount of this cereal into a little bag.

To start with we tested the pellets dry and found they resembled a cross between a rice krispie and a sugar puff - without any of the sugar.

We decided to add some soya milk and fresh berries to the dish for a healthy breakfast. The pellets were exactly what we expected; they held up well in the soya milk without going soggy and gave us a good breakfast to start the day.

We decided to experiment further and, since they resembles Rice Krispies, and endeavoured to make some Teff Crispies of our own.

The results?

Perfect!

A fantastic snack and a great low-sugar alternative to some of the ready-made bars already available.

Teffzer - Puffed Teff

Suitable for products such as muesili bars; also ideal as a breakfast cereal mix. RRP £3.20 for 300g

When we received this bag of cereal we were at a loss to start with as to what use it would be because the grain is exceptionally tiny. Needless to say that also meant we had a whole lot of puffed teff to use in the 300g bag!

We soon put out thinking caps on and found many uses for this little gem of gluten and sugar free grain by adding it to some fruit and yoghurt as a topping. It gives the mix a crunchy, textured feel and adds some extra calcium into the diet for those on a dairy free regime. We simply used a soya dessert instead of dairy based yoghurt.

Since we had so much product from the single bag we shared this with the chef from the The Brickmakers, who is keen to broaden their free-from menu.

He came up with a delicious combination of spices, which he mixed into the puffed teff and used it to coat a pork loin steak. After frying it off we were presented with what looked like a peppered steak and tasted like heaven! The crunchy teff coating held the flavouring from the spices and stayed coated to the pork loin to give it a delightful texture and taste.

Definitely one to experiment with.

Tobia White Teff Flour

Gluten & Sugar Free Wholegrain Baking Flour RRP £4.45 for 1kg.

With the flour our local chef, John Whitelock, cooked up a variety of samples to test.

Starting with a basic pancake mix using the Teff flour, John added in a mixture of herbs to create an ideal batter mix for fish, vegetable and meats. The result were perfect for both the batter and the pancakes - scoring 10/10 from John.

Next on the list was Tortillas - (something we have found hard to find gluten and dairy free) and the recipe required the mixture to be left to ferment overnight - a point John confirmed as necessary.

He also gave us a good tip: to mix in the flour in stages and get as much air into the batter as possible using an electric mixer, to ensure great results. The tortillas were fabulous and again the flour scored 10/10 on this recipe.

We left John with enough flour to try a cake recipe and hope to be enjoying a soy, corn, dairy, egg and nut-free sticky-toffee pudding soon...

For more information visit www.tobiateff.co.uk