Gluten Free Flours - A Taste Test

See Update at bottom of page - This was written about 6 years ago. I have since found out i had rancid flours at the time. I have updated my taste preferences with newer flours that exist nowadays too.

Use Code IGI559 for a 5% discount at iherb where you will find most of these flours.

Here are the description of the taste of flours according to my palate. Mine is extremely sensitive, some say I have the taste buds of a child. Yes, i'm fussy. I enjoy bland or mediterranian tastes. So keep these in mind with my descriptions. Flour does go off quicker than you'd imagine, so perhaps my flours weren't the freshest.



I enjoy fresh buckwheat kernals, for example, but the flour isn't as fresh, and definitely has that weird after taste that I hate so much.


I buy them cheaper at an asian or indian grocery store.


The ones I highlighted are my favourite that I would buy again.

All the white ones are starchy in behaviour. They act as a liquid when there's enough water, but when it's thick and given resistance it turns into a solid. Once cooked they all appear clearish, wet and squishy at the bottom and edges, and crunchy, dry, white and powdery in the center and top. I mixed all starchy flours to a pourable consistency and I mixed the others to a moist instant potato mash consistency, so when I stirred the spoon the flour would cave in immediately instead of sticking to the spoon and showing the bottom of the plate. So all were "pourable" to an extent even though the denser ones needed help being pushed out of the bowl.

I now see I may have over cooked them and added far too much starch to the "pourable" mixtures as cooking showed the extent to which how much I needed.


MY SUMMARY - Flours
YUM-bland
Arrowroot
Tapioca Flour
Glutinous Rice Flour
White Rice Powder/Flour
Potato Starch
Samo/Moraiyo


Tolerable but still pretty bad aftertaste
Sorghum Red
Sorghum
Buckwheat
Corn Starch
Corn Flour
Sago Flour
Teff
Soya Flour
Finger Millet


Ew I'll eat it only if i have to and it's hidden by other strong flavours
Green Bean
Chickpea
Amaranth/Rajgaro
Millet


YUCK NEVER AGAIN
Tapioca Starch
Lentil Flour
Water Chestnut/Singhara

Arrowroot Flour

Taste- bland. Not unpleasantness at all, similar to wheat.

Texture- Really chewy and clear with enough water, or crunchy dry on top.

Uses- sweet or savoury, perfect for bread as it imparts no flavour.

Notes- needed more water.

Glutinous Rice Flour

Taste- Bland, like rice with a very slight bitterness? or Sour...something unpleasant. But only very slight, very tolerable.

Texture - SOFT and squidgy- not squishy.

Notes - warped on itself. Undercooked or too much water.

Uses- Savoury or Bread. Maybe sweets.

Sorghum Flour

Taste- Bland, nutty, slight sour, reminiscent of wheat bix.

Texture- slightly dense, crumbly, crackly, heavy-sticks in your mouth.

Notes- ALLERGIC reaction, red sore irritated itch lip, itchy tongue throat and mouth for about 30 minutes.

Uses- Anything i think. Be probably much better for sweets and muffins and things. Bread mix too.

Buckwheat

Taste- Has a tang/zang to it, reminds me of fruit. Sour? Slightly nutty. Ok.

Texture- Dense, holds well

Notes- Purplish colour? Fiberous.

Uses- Fruit loaves or fruit muffin type things. The taste would work well with fruit.

Potato Starch

Taste- Bland

Texture- Hard, calamari-chewy, dense

Notes- starchy (see explanation above)

Uses- Bread, sweet or savoury.

Green Bean Flour

Taste- Beany, pretty gross. Not a fan, in a mix might be ok.

Texture- Falls apart, soft

Notes- Smells nutty/beany

Uses- SAVOURY only

White Rice Powder (Note: Not a flour!)

Taste- Rice like, bland

Texture- Crumbly, soft, falls apart

Notes- Soft, dry centre

Uses- Bread, savoury or sweet.

Chickpea Flour (gram)

Taste- Nutty, SOUR aftertaste, Ew

Texture- Dense, hard

Notes- Smells like Taco, Bubbly top, Needs sugar or Salt

Uses- Savoury

Millet

Taste- Sour, seedish, not nice, ew

Texture- Crumbly

Notes- curled inwards, smells deceptively sweet, grey in colour.

Uses- i don't think i want to cook with this based on the taste, but i've cooked sweet things in the past and it worked yummy tasting

Corn Starch

Taste- Weird, bland, slightly oceanic but tolerable

Texture- Crumbly, hard

Notes- I think i didn't have enough water, starchy

Uses- savoury or sweet, better in sweet because of the blandness and sugar would hide the slight weird taste

Tapioca Flour

Taste- PLEASANT! Bland, tastes like nothing. I LOVE IT!

Texture- Squidgy, tough, chewy gel

Notes- Smells sweet, starchy

Uses- savoury or sweet, especially sweet, or breads!

Tapioca Starch

Taste- A mouthful of millipedes marinated in ocean water in a metallic bowl. Truely. NASTY!!!! EW!

Texture- dense squidgy

Notes- I threw it in the bin. Smells like ocean marinated millipedes

Uses- NEVER AGAIN!

Sago Flour

Taste- Bland, hint of sweet and bitter/sour. Weird, ok.

Texture- VERY Dense, chewy, slightly squidge to it, starch like also.

Notes- None.

Uses- Sweets only, perhaps in bread...

Corn Flour (meal ?)

Taste- YUMO! but with a sour after taste, nutty also

Texture- VERY Crumbly, dense with some squidge

Notes- yellow

Uses- sweet or savoury, sweets would probably work better as it is sweeter, but corn seems to match better with savoury. Tacos...

Left to right, top row first: Teff, Red Sorghum, Lentil Flour, Soya Flour, Water Chestnut, Samo, Finger Millet, Amaranth

Teff

Taste- Wheatbix-ish. Bad aftertaste but tolerable

Texture- EXTREMELY Fiberous.

Notes- Looks exactly like finger millet (ragi), i MAY have accidentally subbed it, though i'm pretty sure i did not. Absorbs a LOT of water, smells EW!

Uses- Probably not a savoury item but would make great health bread, and the dark colour would work in healthy(er) chocolate recipes.

Red Sorghum (Jowar) 

Taste- Wheatbix-ish, subtle, slightly sour. Nice

Texture- Similar to wholemeal. Squidgy

Notes- Red in colour

Uses- Bread would be good

Lentil Flour (due to this behaving too much like wheat, i got my boyfriend to test it for me.) 

Taste- very bad. ( I was glad i wasn't losing a valuable taste!)

Texture- Freakishly like glutenified wheat

Notes- It rose!! Smells like lentils, duh. Stringy but not starchy.

Uses- Savoury

Soya Flour

Taste- Subtle, mildly sweet, not too beany.Tolerable.

Texture- Airy/light

Uses- Anything

Water Chestnut /Singhara

Taste- Staleish, unpleasant, bitter after taste. EW!

Texture- Not very starch like

Uses- nothing it's gross...

Samo/Moraiyo (quite certain it is gluten free but if i find out my tummy hates it I'll let you know.)

Taste- Bland. Taste like my uncle's house. Weird, but i can't explain it. It's not a bad taste though slightly sour. Very tolerable. 

Texture-Pasty

Notes- extremely dry , smells oaty and like my uncles house.

Uses- Any

Finger Millet

Taste- Sour, tolerable but not very pleasant.

Texture- Fiberous

Notes- Dry top

Amaranth/Rajgaro (I put just a few tablespoons in a blueberry recipe and it tasted AWEFUL so perhaps i do not like this one?) 

Taste- Wheatbix-ish with a sour aftertaste. Akin to sunflowers or sesame

Notes- smells nutty and sweet.

Texture- Gooey

Uses- Any




UPDATED SUMMARY - Flours
YUM-bland
Arrowroot 
Tapioca Flour /starch (NOT rancid)
Glutinous Rice Flour 
White Rice Powder/Flour 
Potato Starch 
Samo/Moraiyo
Corn Starch 
Corn Flour 

Sago Flour 

Nice with "Healthful flavour"
Sorghum 
Buckwheat 
Teff 
Soya Flour 
Chickpea Flour
Finger Millet - allergic
Millet - Allergic

Ew I'll eat it only if i have to and it's hidden by other strong flavours
Green Bean 

YUCK NEVER AGAIN
Lentil Flour 

Water Chestnut/Singhara
RANCID FLOURS
Amaranth/Rajgaro - this is disgusting or it is always rancid when i buy it, health shop, indian grocery. Whereever. BUT the puffed amaranth at the shop is quite nice so i'm torn.