By Ray Rogers
When her son was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, Gabriella Sarlo’s doctor put the family on an elimination diet—and she suddenly found herself scrutinizing every ingredient in their kitchen. What she couldn’t find was a pancake mix that was organic, free of the nine major allergens, grain-free, and gluten-free, and still tasted like the real thing. “Everything felt like a compromise,” she says. “I realized that if I was searching this hard for something that didn’t exist, there had to be countless other families doing the same thing.” She wasn’t setting out to build a food company. “I was simply trying to help my son,” she says. “Luv & Yum grew organically from that need.”
Getting there took longer than she expected. “There were months of trial and error, and more failed batches than I could count,” she says. Grain-free baking doesn’t behave like traditional baking—swap one ingredient and the whole recipe falls apart. The breakthrough was a careful balance of organic apple cider vinegar powder and baking soda, which gave the pancakes their fluffiness without relying on gums or artificial ingredients. The moment of truth came when it got an instinctive “yum” out of her kids. “When I finally made a pancake that looked and tasted great, I knew I had something special,” she says.
Luv & Yum currently comes in two varieties—Original and Protein, offering a morning boost of 6 grams of protein per serving—with a tagline that sums up the philosophy: Made with love, packed with yum! As the brand starts to fill retail shelves, Sarlo is developing new flavors and eyeing other baking essentials next. “Our goal is to prove that easy-to-make breakfasts do not need to sacrifice on health, taste or trust,” she says.
And in her own house, pancakes have become an anytime food: “Sometimes we have them for lunch—we even make them for dessert at night.” It’s not just for breakfast anymore. luvandyum.com
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