Is Pudding Gluten Free?

You are at the store and are on the search for the perfect brand of pudding to buy that you can eat without fear of having to deal with an upset stomach afterward. You have scoured the store and you now have two options in your hands.

Well, technically speaking, the pudding in your hands should be gluten-free, but a quick check on the ingredients will help to clear things up much faster and it is a lot easier than gambling and finding out the hard way.

Is pudding gluten-free? Essentially speaking, if your pudding is a thick, sweet dessert that seems similar to custard in its structure then it is almost certainly free of gluten.

If it just so happens to be made from bread (like the type of pudding known as bread pudding), additionally, if it looks like bread or it has any cereal grains as an ingredient then it is almost certainly not free of gluten.

So, what we are saying, in essence, is that ideally, the safest and probably wisest thing for one to do in such a case is to take a quick look at the list of ingredients on the packaging of the pudding.

You could also choose to ask someone who knows about the dish for some assistance and guidance in deciding on which pudding to go with before making your purchase.

What Is Gluten?

Maybe you are like me and you often hear the term gluten being spoken about but you are not quite 100% sure what that is in the first place.

Well, do not worry, we are here to help each other out. Essentially, this thing gluten can be described as a type of plant protein that is generally found in grains such as wheat, rye, and barley. Plants use it in the natural process of storing resources for later use.

However, due to a process that is known as cross contamination, gluten may find its way into pudding. In the case of pudding, for instance, it may happen when the factory that produces the pudding also handles products with gluten in them.

Typically, what happens is that if the equipment used to make pudding with gluten is used to make the gluten free ones then some small amount of gluten may be introduced to the gluten-free pudding.

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Can Eating Pudding with Gluten Make You Sick?

The short answer is that gluten like every other ingredient has different impacts on different people’s bodies. These can range from mild to severe symptoms or effects which is what draws the line between Celiac disease and gluten intolerance.

As such, factually speaking, if you eat pudding that has traces of gluten in it you may experience symptoms like diarrhea, weight loss, mouth ulcers, and seizures.

But this is only if you have Celiac disease. And, since it is typically the more severe reaction, it can lead to the damaging of the lining of the small intestines thus making it a rather serious disease.

Gluten sensitivity on the other hand will just present as mild discomfort to a person who consumes pudding with gluten in it. Its symptoms include stomach aches or cramps, nausea, and constipation.

If at all you suspect you have any of the above ailments, you should see a doctor as soon as possible for a diagnosis and a plan on how to manage the said disease or disorder in the most effective way.

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What Is Pudding?

Technically speaking, there is no one fits all definitions when it comes to pudding. Take for instance in the United States of America, pudding usually refers to a form of sweet, thick dessert that is often made of eggs, gelatine, and various other thickening agents. You will notice that they are almost never made with any grains.

Now, in many other parts of the world, the word pudding can be used to refer to a wide variety of other dishes. These include things like Yorkshire pudding which is a British dish. This one is somewhere in between a pancake and a muffin.

We also have black pudding which just so happens to be a mix of blood and oats or barley. While some other substances referred to as “puddings” do not contain gluten, these two examples certainly do.

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Types of Pudding

Have you ever sat down and asked yourself just about how many different types of pudding there are in the world today?

In case you did not know, there are over fifty types of pudding in the world in this day and age. In this article, we are going to be discussing not all of them but just a few of them.

To kick us off is rice pudding which is simple, light, and sweet. Obviously, the key ingredient is rice, any rice really. While some recipes call for baking the rice mixture, others just simply require the rice to be cooked normally and then left to simmer in the dairy mixture.
Next is bread pudding which is typically baked and is made up of bread, sugar, eggs, milk, or cream as an alternative and flavor if you like.
Diplomat pudding which is a cold one that is prepared in a mold of sorts. Once the mixture is prepared, it is usually placed in the refrigerator then later removed from the mold and is coated with either a sauce made out of fruit or custard cream, depending on your preference.
Betty pudding or brown betty. When it comes to preparation, this one is made by baking layers of sugared and spiced fruit with buttered up bread crumbs and usually served with a choice of either lemon sauce or whipped cream to compliment the flavor.
Blancmange pudding which is pronounced as “bluh-mahnzh”. This one is commonly made using milk or cream as a substitute, sugar that has been thickened using rice flour, some gelatin, and sometimes corn starch as an alternative to gelatin. It is cooked however when it comes to serving it is usually set in a mold and served cold.
The hasty pudding which just so happens to be perhaps the most versatile of the bunch. It is made by simply taking some grains or cornmeal mush that is then cooked in milk or water and can be sweetened by anything from molasses to honey.
Yorkshire pudding which is yet again a baked pudding that is prepared from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is also quite versatile and can be served in several different ways including as a first course with onion gravy and as a main course with beef. It can be described almost as a cross between a popover and a souffle. This specialty pudding naturally gets its name from the northern county of Yorkshire in England.

How to Make Gluten Free Pudding at Home

Straight to the point, here is how you can make your very own cup or plate of gluten free pudding at the comfort of your own home and kitchen:

In a large enough cooking pot or a saucepan, mix in just a bit of sugar, corn starch, or gelatin and salt.
Stir the mixture and add in milk or water as you go.
Bring the mixture to a boil and continue stirring the mixture while it is on medium heat or until it becomes thick.
Continue stirring it on the heat for a further two to three minutes.
Add in a bit of vanilla, chocolate, or any other flavor of your choosing and turn off the heat as you continue to stir the mixture.
Take the mixture off of the heat and pour it into glasses or molds that you have rinsed in some cold water.
Let the mixture cool until it is firm. This can be done in the refrigerator.
When serving you can choose to either unmold or proceed to serve it while still in the mold.

Pudding Fun Facts

The word pudding is believed to have originated or come from the French word “boudin” which itself originally came from the Latin word “botellus”. Now, “botellus” means small sausage and was used to refer to encased meats as were commonly used in medieval European puddings.
I am sure we have all heard the proverb “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, well, that proverb dates all the way back to the 17th century.
Americans celebrate National Chocolate Pudding day on the 26th day of June and further celebrate National Butterscotch Pudding day on the 19th day of September every year.
The emergence of this confection known as pudding was some time in the middle of the 19th century when Alfred Bird who was an English chemist developed an egg-free custard powder that made it relatively easy to produce a pudding that had just the perfect consistency to it.

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