With gluten-free diets and the demand for healthier carbohydrate alternatives on the rise, fruit and veggie flour may be the final frontier to making cooking with flour accessible for all. From beets, squash, and broccoli to bananas, apples, and mangos—whether sweet or savory—if you can dry it and pulverize it, you can turn it into flour.

Hearthy Foods is just one of many companies offering a produce-based alternative to wheat flour. Its line includes some flours you would expect—like potato, carrot, and yam—and some that are very unique indeed, like cassava, kale, pumpkin, spinach, kabocha, and split pea.

Baking with these flours requires a keen eye, as they each demand differing procedures, and some must be used in conjunction with other flours.

Also joining in on the fun, Love Beets has launched its own beet powder, which may be used in smoothies, yogurts, sauces, oatmeal, baked goods, or just straight water. Love Beets’ beet powder boasts all the health benefits normally found in beet root: improved heart health, blood pressure, and circulation, and increased stamina, endurance, and energy. In keeping with the spirit of produce flour, the beet powder is made from 100 percent U.S. beets, has zero added sugar, and is non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan.

Glean has also launched a line of all-natural, gluten-free flours and powders, on which we previously reported in our sister publication AndNowUKnow. The line-up includes sweet potato and pumpkin flour and beet powder.

In short, produce flours and powder options abound!

Many of the companies who are branching into this new produce application aim to appeal to health-conscious consumers, offering products that are not only gluten-free, but also fresh, locally-sourced, dairy-free, soy-free, fiber-packed, single-ingredient, and vegan. These flours are a great option when marketing to millennial moms who may need to bake for large groups of people with varied allergies and food-restrictions—try promoting the flours as a bake-sale necessity or as an ideal ingredient for a post-practice treat!

And, to reach those wanting to buy into produce substitutes for the old baking standards, try cross-marketing fruit and veggie flours with fruit substitutes for egg. I don’t know if I’ll go all in on fruit or veggie flour just yet, but I certainly plan to do a blend of apple and wheat flour in all my apple pies this upcoming summer!

SOURCES | Hearthy Foods, Love Beets, and Glean Literature and Websites