By: Hollie Hojek
hhojek@kcautv.com
From the low price of the product to the way it's made, Golden Essence Flour is not your typical gluten free product. Kim Sitzmann is the business manager at Plymouth Oil Company in Merrill, Iowa, a plant that predominately produces corn oil, until now. Starting just over a year ago, the company began producing gluten free flour from dry fractioned corn germ meal.
"Gluten free products are out there yes, but we are the first to break ground if you will on producing the flour from the de-fattened corn gern meal," said Sitzmann.
The germ of the corn is where all the protein can be found, so by using it to make the flour, the gluten free product becomes much more nutritional than other flours on the shelves.
"Historically gluten free basis have been made predominately mostly of starch. You've got your rice flour, your potato starch, your tapioca.Our flour is considerably lower in starch...and extremely higher in protein and fiber," said Sitzmann.
Sitzmann says they're also able to sell their product at a much cheaper cost than most other gluten free products because of the way its made, making it a big hit at the store.
"The product flew off our shelves, so we had to restock," said Deb Saab, co-owner of Sunshine Natural Foods in Le Mars.
And while you can currently only get the Golden Essence flour at Sunshine Natural Foods in Le Mars, Sitzmann says the company is hoping to include the product in things like pastas, breads and cereals sold throughout the country.
