Hi, my mother, who is 77, has been using carob-soy flour for 30 years as an alternative to wheat flour because of allergies but her long time source has quit producing it. Does anyone know of a source where she could purchase it in bulk? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

-- derek franzen (franzen@coupeville.net), November 19, 2000

Answers

Derek, I've never even heard of carob-soy flour, and I've worked in the natural foods area for a long time. I would guess it's a combination of the 2 items. If you can get me the name of the manufacturer, or a brand name, I'll look into it for you. (She should be able to find out from the place she used to get it from.) I have access to lots of 800#s.

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), November 21, 2000.

Derek, I haven't found combination carob-soy flour, but you might want to try these places for the separate products- www.wheatbin.com in Kansas carries soy flour in bulk, but they ask you to call for availability and prices. Also, www.azurefarm.com carries soy flour, but the only size available is 35 lbs. for $29.00, so that might be too much for her, unless she can split it with friends or neighbors. www.sfherb.com carries carob flour- She can buy it per lb. for $2.05 or in 5 lbs. or more for $1.85 per lb. On a side note, I found a great tip for the use of soy flour that might interest your mom- you can substitute 1 heaping tablespoon of soy flour and 1 tablespooon of water for 1 egg in all baking recipes with no discernible difference in taste/texture. Not only does this lower your cholesterol intake, but it saves you about 10 cents ea. time you use the substitute. I'm an excellent source of weird trivia! : ) Hope this helps!

-- Kristin, in C. ALabama (positivekharma@aol.com), November 25, 2000.

Derek and Others:

We used to buy a carob-soy flour made by WESCO in Seattle, WA. We first bought it from their outlet here in Portland, OR and then from a mom and pop health food store, Rainer Foods, in Auburn, WA. However, WESCO stopped milling it because there wasn't enough profit in it for them and Rainer Foods has stopped dealing in whole grains. So we are up the same proverbial creek as you and many others. Both my wife and daughter are allergic to wheat and while we have been experimenting with other combinations they just havn't found one that works as good with the home bread machines.

I will keep searching for source and if I find one I will post it on this site for you and the other individuals who have wheat allergys. Hopefully, others are searching too. If anyone knows of a clearing house newsgroup, etc. that maintains a source of such suppliers I hope they will post it for the rest of us.

Bob Corlew (rwcorlew-pdx@worldnet.att.net)

-- Robert W. Corlew (rwcorlew-pdx@ worldnet.att.net), January 28, 2001.