Market wraps up

A local producer of gluten-free goods is ahead of most major retailers, says a Thunder Bay couple.

Gail and John Hogan said it’s difficult to find gluten-free products at most major wholesalers. Doctors diagnosed their daughter Sherry, who is now 45, with gluten intolerance two years ago.

Since then they have kept an eye out for gluten-free products and they said there’s no better place to go for what they need then at the Thunder Bay Country Market. Gail said they often shop at Karen Romito’s Gluten Free Harvest whenever they come to the country market.

"This is an excellent market," Gail said. "Other stores have a very, very limited amount of gluten-free foods. We mostly buy cereal in the United States but Romito sells breads and pastries."

Without the foods provided by Romito, Gail said they would have travel across the border all the time to get their gluten-free goods.

Romito, who started her part-time business three years ago, said she made a promise to her 18-year-old son, Joshua, to continue to make his favourite foods from Pogos to brownie bites. Doctors diagnosed Joshua with Celiac Disease when he was about nine years old.

Joshua, who knew other children with the same disease, told his mother that it was the end of eating good tasting food. Romito said she would continue to make his favourites and had to learn to cook all over again.

"It took a good year for me to come up with the recipe for my flour mix that worked for everything," Romito said. "It was not easy at all. I used to cook and bake all the time with regular wheat flour. I had to pretty much throw out all the flour and relearn how to cook. It’s completely different."

An administrative assistant at Lakehead University’s electrical engineering program, Romito said supplies are difficult and expensive to come by in Thunder Bay and often asks friends to pick up some of her ingredients when they travel to Toronto.

Xanathan Gum, a substitute ingredient for wheat gluten, can cost $45 for one kilogram in Thunder Bay compared to $10 in Toronto from the same company, she said.

She didn’t realize how much her business had affected people’s lives until she became involved with the country market, she said.

"I was a bit shocked," she said. "I guess I look at it as something I do for my family so maybe you don’t appreciate what you’re doing as much when it’s something you do all the time."

Romito and more than 40 other venders wrapped up for the holiday season on Saturday. Jenny Groenheide, chair of the Thunder Bay Country Market, said the market made an economic impact of $4.5 million towards the city this year.

"The market this year has been great," Groenheide said. "It is the last one before Christmas. We decided to close for only three weeks. The customers are the reason why we wanted to come back that quickly. It’s nice to have a break but it’s also nice to get back to work."

The market reopens on Jan. 15.