What's The Scoop On Chocolate Bars?

[elye]

Hey, all,

I just took my eight-year old son in for the blood work for celiac. My daughter I'm gonna tackle in a couple of weeks. I've been talking to him about the way I eat and all the good things I can still have, but I know it's going to be a long, hard fall for him if he's positive. Last night he asked me in desparation, "can I still have a chocolate bar?!" I immediately said, "yes, I'm sure SOME of them are gluten-free". But I never eat them as I am a diabetic so I'm not certain which ones are...anybody done the appropriate research/phonecalls and can fill me in?

[tarnalberry]

While I don't know about the snickers/milkyway/etc. variety, most bar form of pure chocolate is gluten free. always always always read the labels, but most chocolate is cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar, and soy lecithin for the processinging, with milkfat and milk used if it's milk cocolate. I'm a fan of Tropical Source's stuff - it's dairy free as well, and produced on gluten-free lines, but I prefer it because it's a very good chocolate.

[Guest nini]

Hershey's will clearly label if there is gluten in the form of Wheat, Barley, Rye or Oats in their products. Regular Hershey bars are safe.

I also like Tropical Source Chocolate bars, they clearly label GLUTEN FREE right on the package.

Endangered Species Chocolates are also gluten free EXCEPT for the crispy rice one... it has barley malt in it.

[psawyer]

Many are safe, but a lot are not. Plain chocolate is almost always safe, as are bars with nuts in the chocolate (assuming you can eat nuts, a whole different issue).

But, many candy bars contain a lot more than chocolate. Kit Kat and Coffee Crisp, to mention just a couple, have gluten-loaded wafers inside. The Mars Bar and the Malted Milk have barley malt in them. There's a Hershey product with rice crisps inside: same problem, barley malt.

I'm not the expert here, since I too am diabetic and almost never touch these, but I have occasionally used chocolate to respond to hypoglycemia.

[jerseyangel]

Dove milk and dark chocolate bars and 'promises' are gluten-free--and my favorite

[Smunkeemom]

He can have hershey's bars, Mr. Goodbar's, Almond Joys, Mounds, and I believe Snickers, but you will want to check everything out first, just like you would everything else.

My girls enjoy making our own candy, that way we know it's not cross contaminated and stuff, also we like making little chocolate shapes (roses, butterflies, ect.) I am thinking your son might not be interested in that though LOL

wow, and I just found Open Original Shared Link, I don't know how old the info is, but it's a really long list.

[Guest Viola]

M&Ms are gluten free, and I know children love those

[ebrbetty]

I believe the milky way dark are safe too

tropical source are my favorite

[penguin]

Lindt puts malt into almost, if not all of their chocolate. Beware of them. I like the endangered species chocolate.

[junieb]

Plain Milk Chocolate Hershey's Bars in the 1.55 oz size are made on dedicated machinery (ONLY that size). The other sizes share lines. Plain kisses are ok too.

[elye]

What a helpful thread....Thanks so much for all this, guys. My son is quite happy about the M&Ms. I'll keep reading for any more tips...and Smunkeemom, if my daughter tests positive, I'll likely have a baking partner there.

[Smunkeemom]

What a helpful thread....Thanks so much for all this, guys. My son is quite happy about the M&Ms. I'll keep reading for any more tips...and Smunkeemom, if my daughter tests positive, I'll likely have a baking partner there.

lately we have been buying the hersheys chocolate and just melting it in a double boiler and pouring it into the molds, because we are lazy I guess it is kinda fun to have chocolate that is shaped like flowers LOL