Einkorn Flour is not Stinky

Congratulations to this week’s finalist, Amy Pankenier! Amy is one step closer to joining us in Tuscany and enjoying the Culinary Getaway of a lifetime.

My 7-year-old son looks, acts and smells like you would expect. He hates taking showers or baths. I struggle to get him to clean the dirt shovels he has for fingernails. And he will wear the same clothes over and over again unless I tell him to change. And he never, ever wears matching socks. But he used to stink. Really, really badly. The kind of forever lingering, what the heck did he just eat, my appetite is now totally gone kind of smell. And it happened a lot. Sometimes six times a day. And usually for a solid day or two after having just one bite of anything with gluten in it. Gluten blew up his system. There were embarrassing accidents. Awkward moments at friends and relatives homes. And of course, the clean up.

He’s been living gluten free since his pre-school teacher convinced me to take gluten out of his diet. At the age of 3, Jackson was developmentally behind the other kids. He had trouble focusing and was having severe mood swings. He always had rosy cheeks, a runny nose and was super stinky. All the time. It’s amazing to look back at pictures and realize now what was going on. At the time I foolishly thought it was possibly autism.

Imagine my surprise when his teacher told me before we did any testing we should try taking gluten out of his diet for one week and see what happened. I was super skeptical. With reluctance I decided to give it a shot. What was dinner going to look like without mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets?

Life Changing Discovery #1

And then we made an amazing discovery. Within that first week I got my son back. He was more focused, happier, the mood swings were gone, his cheeks cleared up, his nose dried up… and he stopped smelling. We were absolutely stunned. I couldn’t imagine any food could have that much impact on the body and mind of a child. Yet there it was. And from that point on, it was easy to go gluten free because it was so worth it. And when gluten did accidentally make it into a meal, we would always know it. Right away, that smell would return. Jackson got used to most gluten free products… but when it came to homemade cookies and cakes we were falling flat. I’m not a great baker and we live at a high altitude. The combination of poor skills, gluten free flour and the altitude left many of our gluten free baking attempts uneaten.

Life Changing Discovery #2

Our next life-changing discovery happened completely by accident. We had cooked some GF pasta for Jackson and splurged on some high end Italian imported pasta for us. Somehow the bowls got switched and the next thing we knew he had eaten several bites of the wrong pasta. We waited for the stink. And it never came. His tummy didn’t hurt. His mood didn’t change. So we started looking into what could be happening… how could he be OK eating this Italian pasta? What was the difference?

And that’s when we discovered Einkorn flour. We ordered some online and decided to test Jackson on it. Our first batch of chocolate chip cookies were so, so delicious. And when Jackson ate one, we collectively as a family held our breath. But there was no smell. My son, who has struggled with gluten his entire life… can eat Einkorn flour! Amazing. Which is why we say not only is Einkorn flour not stinky… it’s brought the joy of baking back to our family.

Thank you!