In 1998, Tim was diagnosed with not only celiac disease but also a wheat allergy. 

As a result, the need for reading ingredient labels carefully and watching what we ate, as a family, became particularly important. 

As we read many of the ingredients, we found a number we could not pronounce let alone know what they were.  After doing some research we found that these were ingredients we did not need nor want in our food!  This required a huge change in the eating habits not only for Tim but for the entire family too.  At the time this was prior to the idea or need to be gluten free was mainstream, so there was not much in the marketplace.  We were also told at the time that eating gluten free meant your food would be bland and tasteless. 

This presented a challenge to create a blend that was pure ingredients, be gluten free, no fillers, no extra stuff we could not pronounce and above all add flavor without masking the taste of the food.

Tim’s Black Market Dry Rub was the first blend and through many requests and much encouragement from friends and family; Etienne’s Blends was born.