This Quiz is Gluten Free

Answer: Almond flour is made from blanched almonds, almond meal is made from unpeeled ones

Almond meal is coarser and has larger grains than almond flour, and is made from unpeeled almonds, so bits of almond skin get in the mix as well. The almonds used in almond flour are blanched first - scalded in boiling water - and then peeled. They can be used interchangeably in some recipes, though not always. Almond flour can be made at home by whizzing blanched almonds in a food processor, and gives a nutty taste to the finished product. One disadvantage is that baked goods made with almond flour may be flatter and denser.

Answer: Central and South America

Players of a certain age might remember arrowroot biscuits, and you can still buy them in some places (although they may contain wheat as well, so beware). Arrowroot is a starch from the plant Maranta arundinacea, native to Central and South America; it is also cultivated in Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Japan and India, some African countries (Gabon, Réunion and Equatorial Guinea) and the Pacific Islands. Arrowroot can also be used as a thickener, and can be mixed with other flours such as almond for breads and cakes.

Answer: Chickpea

Farinata, known as socca in Nice and cade in Toulon, is a pancake made from chickpea flour (specifically, garbanzo bean flour), olive oil and water. It is also eaten in some South American countries and Algeria, as a result of French colonial rule. In Tuscany, it is stuffed into focaccia, and it is a sandwich filling in Livorno. Chickpea flour is also a staple in the Middle East, Myanmar and the Indian subcontinent; it is used to make falafel, and poppadoms, bhajis, pakoras, and other Indian snacks.

Answer: Tapioca flour is made from liquid from the root, cassava flour is made by grating the root

Cassava, also known as yucca and manioc, is a tough starchy plant that grows in tropical countries, and can be used as a potato substitute. It is mainly consumed in South and Central America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia. Tapioca is used to make the balls in bubble tea, and tapioca flour is made from the starchy liquid extracted from cassava tubers; cassava flour, however, is made by grating and drying the root of the plant. One of the more low-calorie flours in this quiz, cassava flour is highly similar to plain flour. Tapioca flour is also used as a thickener.

Answer: Yellow rice

Yellow rice is a dish made from rice coloured with saffron and/or turmeric, but it isn't an actual rice species, whereas red, black and brown rice all are, and they can all be used for flours. Black rice turns dark purple when cooked. Red rice gets its colour from its anthocyanin content and is similar to brown rice when its hull is removed. All three types of rice are eaten with their bran and germ layers intact, giving them a chewier taste than white rice. Brown rice flour has a nutty flavour and is often used to make noodles. Rice flours can also be used as thickeners because they make it harder for liquids to separate.

Answer: No

Tiger nut is not a nut, it is actually a sedge-type plant that grows in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and southern Europe, and is an invasive species in the Americas. It gets its name from the hard, stripy tubers for which it is cultivated.

In Spain, it is used to make a milky drink called horchata, and a similar drink in Nigeria called kunu. Tiger nut flour is used as a thickener, flavouring agent in ice cream and is also used in beer and jam production. It has a sweet and nutty taste, so if you're baking with it, you won't need as much sugar.

It also has a coarser texture than regular flour.

Answer: Yes

Yes, coconut can be used to make flour as well as the shredded coconut flakes you find in macaroons, Bounty bars and Lamingtons (for the Aussies among us). Like shredded and desiccated coconut, coconut flour is made from dried coconut meat and lends a slight coconutty flavour to the finished product.

It absorbs more water than almond flour; some cooking blogs suggest adding more egg to a recipe to counter this. The main difference between coconut flour and desiccated coconut is that desiccated coconut still contains coconut oil, while coconut flour does not.

Answer: Sorghum

One of the world's oldest grains, sorghum is the fifth most important cereal crop in the world, next to rice, wheat, maize and barley. While the grain of the plant is consumed by humans, the rest of the plant is used to make animal feed and in ethanol production; its leaves can also be used for dyes.

It can be eaten raw when young, but must be ground into flour when it matures. It is a heavy, dense flour, so a little goes a long way; it can also be mixed with other gluten-free flours.

Answer: No

Don't be fooled by the name - buckwheat isn't wheat! It's actually a pseudocereal, a plant that is not a cereal but has a high starch content. It is a popular grain of choice in eastern Europe, especially the former USSR, Japan and western Asia. It has a crumbly texture and works well in breads, both with yeast and quick bread, and pancakes, and can be combined with other flour types.

A word of warning, however - as with many other flours in this quiz, some variants of buckwheat can be potentially cross-contaminated with foods containing gluten, due to being rotated with wheat crops or contact during transportation, so always check the label to make sure it's certified gluten-free.

Answer: Injera

All the answers are flatbreads, but injera is the only one from the Horn of Africa (bammy is Jamaican, lefse is Norwegian and qutab is Azerbaijani). It can be made with other flours, but it is traditionally made with teff flour, which gives it a spongy texture. Teff is a low-yield, labour-intensive crop with small seeds, and is expensive to produce, but is a major source of income for Ethiopian farmers; in 2006, the Ethiopian government banned the export of raw teff as they feared it would potentially cause domestic shortages, after witnessing the same thing happening with quinoa in South America.

Teff flour comes in various colours, with darker types having an earthier taste. It is high in protein and fibre. The types used to make injera are commonly white, red or mixed. As with the medieval British trencher, injera is used as a plate; various curries and vegetables are placed on it and pieces of the bread are used to scoop them up. The bread also soaks up the juices of the foods on it.