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FEATURED PRODUCT OF THE MONTH:
Brazilian Cheese Bread: Versatile, delicious and gluten-free! By Vanessa Maltin NFCA Director of Outreach & Programming Have you been dreaming of gluten-free bread that is soft, fluffy and flavorful? Have you searched in grocery store after grocery store for bread to make sandwiches on or to use as buns at a summer BBQ? After more than three years of serious bread detective work, I’ve found a bread that tastes better than any bread I’ve ever eaten and actually makes a gluten-free sandwich that does not fall apart! What’s it called??? Brazilian Cheese Bread….  The story of the birth of the Brazilian Cheese Bread Company demonstrates owner Yara Oliveria’s passion for her product. Yara moved to the United States with her two daughters, Manuella and Isis Andrade in the late 1980s. Her track record as an entrepreneur began when she opened the Rainbow Tot’s Day Care in Mill Valley, California. Yara’s day care was the most well known in town – her kids loved spending time with her and she adored her job. Having an in-home business allowed her to raise her own daughters with the time and attention that they deserved. Yara loved to cook for her kids and she soon became famous for her cheese breads. As soon as her kids were old enough, they would have the small delicious cheese bread balls in their little mouths. Although her cheese breads were based on the traditional Brazilian cheese breads that can be found in any supermarket or bakery in Brazil, Yara’s cheese breads had a flavor that even Brazilians couldn’t put into words. Yara began to freeze her cheese breads and gift them to her friends and clients when she started receiving calls on the weekends from her clients asking if they could stop by and grab some cheese breads. People just couldn’t get enough of them! When Yara’s two daughters moved away from home for college, and after 12 years of business in child care, Yara passed the day care to her sister and decided that she wanted to place cheese breads in the hands of every American. The Bay Area Farmer’s Markets were the first to see the Brazilian Cheese Bread Company in action. At first the booth was empty, “Brazilian cheese breads, what’s that?” they would say as they walked by with confused looks on their faces. Some were hesitant to have a taste because of the wheat-free, gluten-free nature of the cheese breads. Others would ask, “How did you make them gluten free?” In fact, the traditional Brazilian Cheese Bread recipe is gluten-free, since it is made with tapioca flour. As more and more passersby tried the cheese breads and loved them, the cheese breads became more popular and soon supermarkets wanted to start selling Brazilian Cheese Breads. The cheese breads have become an essential food in the diets of those with celiac disease, diabetes (the cheese breads have no sugar) and low-carb dieters (only 1-2 grams of carb per serving). Today, the Brazilian Cheese Breads are now being sold in many supermarkets in the San Francisco Bay Area and are also sold online by Harmony Healthy Foods. Although it is convenient to buy the cheese breads at supermarkets, many people wait for the farmer’s markets so that they can see Yara. You can hear Yara from across the farmer’s market as she tells people about her cheese breads. “The cheese breads are made with cheese, tapioca flour and lots and lots of love,” she always tells people. And if you ever try to share a sample with your friend or spouse you will definitely hear “Take another…these cheese breads are unsharable! Unsharably delicious!” Her vigor and energy put smiles on the faces of those who meet her. Yara is excited and that she is helping to make the lives of those living with Celiac Disease more tolerable and even enjoyable. Yara is inspired by her costumers with Celiac Disease who always tell her about the new products that they have created with the Brazilian Cheese Breads. Some flatten out the balls into pizza dough, others sprinkle sugar and cinnamon to make cinnamon rolls. The possibilities are endless and the results are always unsharably delicious! My first experience with Yara’s Brazilian Cheese Bread is one that I will never forget. I was at my boyfriend’s house with his four roommates (non are gluten-free). Usually they snicker at my gluten-free food or make some excuse for why they shouldn’t try it. For dinner, I made myself and Eric gluten-free baked ziti and as a side dish cooked up several Brazilian Cheese Bread balls that were flavored with fresh garlic. The scent flowed throughout the house and before I knew it, the four boys were in the kitchen waiting for me to take the bread out of the oven….needless to say, I only got one piece that night because the boys devoured it! The next day I went to a tailgating party before a DC United soccer game. I was eager to test my cheese bread out as more than a side dish, so I put a package of the plain bread into the cooler. The package instructions say to cook the bread in the oven, but I decided to get creative and attempt to make them on the grill. The bread turned out delicious and toasty and made the perfect hamburger bun! What a great day…to go to a tailgate party and actually be able to eat a burger with a DELICIOUS bun! This bread is amazing and you have to try it!!! Visit the Brazilian Cheese Bread Company at www.braziliancheesebreadco.com |
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