Foodstuffs Stirring things up in a good way

Baking Mixes, Sugars, Flours

Whatever your recipe calls for in the way of sugar, flour or starch… we almost certainly have it. Specialty bread-making flours, organic flours and sugars – if you don’t see it here check the Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free category. Our pancake and muffin mixes are easy to prepare and made of good basic ingredients… just mix, bake and enjoy!

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Category listing in PDF format
New product arrivals
Web-site links for further product information and recipes
Featured products
Special offers and clearances

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Nutritional Info

Check back as we update this section.

Click here to see nutritional information for Spelt flour and Kamut flour.

Neat Links

Kamut.com – look here for wheat-free (but not gluten-free) recipes using Kamut flour and kernels, as well as nutritional and historical info.

A Feast of Yeasts

Most of the yeast we use for baking, brewing or nutrition consists of the same organism: Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Humans have been enjoying the bubbly benefits of yeast for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that we began to better understand it, and thus produce it on a larger scale.

A few customers have come to us in search of cake yeast, but fresh yeast’s incredibly short shelf-life limit it to commercial use. Home bakers are advised to substitute 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry active yeast for one cake (.06 ounces) of fresh yeast.

Dry active yeast is cake yeast that has been dried to give it a longer shelf life; think of it as yeast in hibernation, just waiting for a warm bath to wake up.

Instant yeast is faster acting than dry active yeast, and doesn’t require rehydrating. Bread machine recipes often call for this sort of yeast.

Brewer’s yeast can refer to two things: the live yeast used to make beer, or the by-product of brewing which is no longer alive. The by-product, which has a strong umami flavour, is high in B-vitamins and chromium.

Nutritional yeast, like brewer’s yeast, is deactivated yeast that’s high in B vitamins. It has a nutty, cheesy flavour that’s not quite as strong as that of brewer’s yeast, and it comes flaked or powdered.

Wondering About Xylitol?

Customers have been asking us about a “new” sweetener called xylitol.

In fact, although there’s been recent excitement about this sweetener, xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol that has been known since the late 1800s and has been produced commercially since war-time sugar shortages in Finland made its manufacture from birch trees a practical alternative.

Xylitol occurs naturally in many plants that we eat every day. Sources such as berries, mushrooms and lettuce are more practical for most of us than “industrial” sources such as hardwoods and corncobs. It also occurs naturally in us – our bodies produce xylitol from other foods as a normal part of everyday metabolism.

Xyltiol is easy to use because it looks and tastes like sugar and can be substituted measure for measure. Its advantage lies in its low glycemic index – it is metabolized independently of insulin and does not cause a sharp increase in blood sugar levels. This makes xylitol a sweetener well-suited for sugar-free and diabetic diets.

Also in its favour is a demonstrated ability to reduce, arrest and in some cases even reverse dental decay. Studies are also indicating an anti-bacterial effect that may help to reduce ear infections. Look for xylitol-sweetened candies and chewing gum at Foodstuffs.

Google-search “xylitol” and “xylitol recipes” for further information… and sweeten up!

Sugar Sugar

Sugar cane and sugar beet plants provide us with much of the sugar lining our shelves. First, canes or beets are crushed and flushed with water to extract a syrup, which is 13 to 15% sucrose. The syrup is heated until some of the water evaporates and the sugar begins to crystallize, then is spun in a centrifuge to separate the crystals from the liquid (molasses). The resulting product is raw sugar which is then shipped to sugar refineries for further processing (or to Foodstuffs for you to use in your coffee, tea or baking!)

Turbinado sugar contains about the same amountof sucrose as white sugar. It has been cleaned and dried, and while this cleaning process removes most of the natural molasses, a portion remains, giving “turbinado sugar” its blond colour and distinctive flavour.

White Granulated Sugar is produced by further refining the raw sugar. After being dissolved and centrifuged, then clarified, the sugar is filtered through charcoal to whiten it and to remove any calcium or magnesium salt. Finally, it is crystallized and dried into granules that are pure sucrose (99.9%).

Fruit/Powdered/Instant/Caster Sugar is made by pulverizing white sugar until it becomes a powder. Anti-caking agents may be added to the product to prevent it from forming lumps. It is nutritionally the came as granulated white sugar.

Icing Sugar is pulverized white granulated to which not more than 5% of starch or other anti-caking ingredient is added.

Golden Yellow Sugar is made from selected refinery syrups that provide its characteristic colour, flavour and aroma. This sugar can be used in making fudge and butter tarts where the lighter colour is preferred.

Dark Brown Sugar is made by adding a small amount of molasses to refined white sugar. Sometimes caramel colouring is added instead. Brown sugar is about 96% sucrose.

Demerara Style Sugar is a brown sugar with coarse crystals, and containing up to 15% of the natural molasses. Demerara style sugar offers an alternative to raw sugar for those wishing a moist, dark coloured sugar. Demerara takes its name from a region in Guyana which is renowned for its sugar plantations.

Molasses is a by-product of the sugar refining process and varies in colour and sweetness. Molasses contains minerals and trace elements such as iron, calcium, zinc, copper and chromium. It is used chiefly for its flavour and colour for baked goods. In addition, molasses can be considered as a leavening agent due to its acidity. It reacts with baking soda to relase gas to raise cookie doughs.

There are several grades of molasses. Barbados (Fancy) is a light molasses which remains after the first extraction of sugar crystals, and it is quite sweet. black strap molasses is the liquid left after the third extraction. It is very dark, bitter tasting, and aromatic.