Oxford resident Renee Jackson has been helping relatives navigate the ins and outs of gluten-free diet requirements for decades — and now she’s broadening her reach at a new Seymour business.
Jackson is the owner of Freckled Frosting, a gluten-free bakery that opened last September. The specialty bakery is located at 225 West St.
“My husband had a lot of health issues and has Celiac’s Disease,” Jackson said. “Early on, I came to the point where I got really angry looking for help, and of course gluten-free food.”
Throughout the whole process of her husband’s illness, Jackson said, the doctors were not helpful and didn’t share enough information with them on the disease. She said most of what she learned was though her own research.
Celiac’s Disease is gluten intolerance, and people who have the disease can’t consume wheat products. In some cases, Jackson said many people who have Celiac’s also could have an allergy to dairy, nuts or soy.
Within Freckled Frosting, Jackson has a variety of different items that are also free of those ingredients, such as cupcakes, breads, cookies, muffins, whoopie pies and pizza dough.
With helping her husband live as healthy as he could, Jackson said this wasn’t her first encounter in caring for a loved one that needed a gluten-free diet.
When she was younger Jackson said, “I’ll never forget when my brother came home and said, ‘I can’t have gluten anymore.’ Since then I was curious and started baking, testing a lot of stuff out.”
For 12 years, she took care of her husband and it wasn’t until his most recent surgery where he was able to get back on his feet and feel good again, she said.
After that, Jackson said she had a “well, what now?” type of moment. She was so used to taking care of someone and she wanted to help others fighting the disease and make those people knowledgeable as well.
“You can come in and get treats, then if you have questions, I can help,” Jackson said. “I won’t know all the answers for everything, but I will help find a solution.”
Her workers are educated in knowing the facts about a gluten-free diet and if she isn’t physically at the store, she said she knows her customers will still be getting the same service.
“I try to do as much as I can to put (customers’) minds at ease. It’s daunting and I know what it’s like to live with someone who has it,” Jackson said.
She said she got into baking when she was 12 years old, crediting her Polish grandmother.
“I would just sit there and watch in awe of how her hands moved so fast with such rhythm and motion. I wanted to do that,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the hardest thing about owning a specialty bakery is finding the right ingredients to buy from companies that she can trust. When Jackson couldn’t find a trusted gluten-free rice milk from an outside source, she decided to make her own, and whips up a new batch every week.
“It’s a daylong process to make the rice milk,” Jackson said.
“I wanted to do something with meaning and purpose,” Jackson said. “What matters the most to me is getting my products to the people, and the people who need it.”
In the future, Jackson hopes to expand to reach another goal of hers: delivery for customers who aren’t able to get to the store, but want her products.
Jackson has always had a love for artistic expression and baking was always what she did on the side, but now she can’t imagine doing anything else.
“The planets must have aligned with fate at my door,” Jackson said, “and being here makes me feel good.”
Freckled Frosting is open Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is closed Monday and Tuesday. For more information call 203 – 828-6587 or visit the store’s Facebook page.
