Chocoholics There Is Hope

[brendygirl]

Lindt used to be a favorite for me (maybe cuz I'm Swiss?) but now it's a no-no.

I love Cadbury fruit and nut bars. mmmmmm

And I've gotten newly addicted to Skor bars. mmmmmm

And I've read Toblerone is gluten-free, so I can't wait to have that soon!

[Viola 1]

I can tolerate dairy, so will eat any of it, dark, light, milk, and even crap chocolate (Hershey's) I must be very plebeian...... However I have never like the taste of Ghirardelli that much.

OMG - - I used to eat heaps of Lindt Lindor - - seems to me I read that it's NOT gluten-free....

No offense taken. Hershsey's chocolate is really not good quality chocolate, but somehow, it is a flavor of childhood (for me, anyway) and I still like it. ACtually I melt the bars in the microwave and eat them with a spoon.............YUM!!!!!!! and then lick the plate.

BTW I just discovered some Truffles at Trader Joe's, I will get the name (French Truffles? in a little carton) and I love them. I am not sure of all ingredients - they may have dairy.....

OMG - - all this chocolate talk - - and all I have in the house is M&M's.

I melt the chocolate in the micro too and pour it over fresh strawberries

[DingoGirl]

I melt the chocolate in the micro too and pour it over fresh strawberries

oh dear, Shirley, now thanks to you I'll have to stop at the store on my way home tomorrow

[wacky~jackie]

Re Nestle's semi-sweet morsels -- It is my understanding that Nestles continues to disclose all gluten, and if there are natural flavors in the product, the words wheat, rye, barley or oats will appear on the ingredient list. I just rechecked my package of Nestle's semi-sweet morsels, and there is no wrbo listed there. Nestle's has a number of divisions, including beverages, baking products, confections, and not all of the gluten-free products appear on every list. They say to check the ingredient label.

The other day I happened to read the label on Nestle butterscotch chips (after I had eaten a handful) and it lists BARLEY PROTEIN as an ingredient. I was sick for 3 days - boy did I feel stupid . I'm sure I used them for making candy at Christmas and read the label. They seemed to be gluten-free from the label and I didn't have any trouble after eating the candy I made. Just a reminder to READ THE LABEL EVERYTIME because formulas do change.

[kbabe1968]

It totally depends on where you're from, i think!

I was RAISED on Hersheys. I'll have to read about the children's slavery issue though. My understanding is that there is still the Orphanage/School there and if it's turned them into slave labor it certainly was NOT Milton Hershey's intent AT ALL.

I don't like Lindt at all. It seems really bitter and flat to me.

I LOVE Ritter Sport - my favorite was the one with Hazelnuts.

I did the Ghirardelli Square in SF MANY years ago!!! I do like their chocolate too. But I"m sure the ones that were my faves I can't have anymroe! LOL

Oh well....

[Michi8]

I think Bernard Callebaut makes the best chocolate going: Open Original Shared Link

They have complete ingredients lists of each of their products through the website. I cannot say whether they are truly gluten free as I've never contacted them for further info...the last time I ate their chocolate, I was still eating gluten.

That said, looking at the ingredients for most of their chocolates, I don't see anything that is obviously gluten...though it could be hidden in some of the flavourings. Otherwise, their chocolates are made with fresh ingredients and have a shelf life (peak freshness) of about 8 days.

Michelle

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hey Stef thanks for your insights and recommendations on real german chocolate.

We have to stay away from milk, egg and now we are weening out corn along with the gluten.

So do you know if these german chocolates have milk in them?

I think, that all three of them have milk in them. Ritter Sport, Milka, and Kinder Schokolade. I don't know, where you would be able to buy them in the west anyway. I know, in the east, you can buy Ritter Sport at Wegman's Supermarket. At times even the Milka chocolate, it depends on the store, I guess. My mother is flying Kinder Schokolade over in the winter regular so that I can stock up for the summer, since I haven't seen Kinder Schokolade here yet (other than in Canada and THAT was just the Kinder Chocolate Egg). And the Milka I found in one little German convenient store and another store that imports European foods. You will have to look for a German store somewhere in your area.

ACtually I melt the bars in the microwave and eat them with a spoon.............YUM!!!!!!! and then lick the plate.

I melt the chocolate in the micro too and pour it over fresh strawberries

I just melted some German chocolate in the microwave and ate it to our strawberries. Hmmm! There's nothing better than THIS! Thanks, guys!

It totally depends on where you're from, i think!

I was RAISED on Hersheys. I'll have to read about the children's slavery issue though. My understanding is that there is still the Orphanage/School there and if it's turned them into slave labor it certainly was NOT Milton Hershey's intent AT ALL.

I don't like Lindt at all. It seems really bitter and flat to me.

I LOVE Ritter Sport - my favorite was the one with Hazelnuts.

I did the Ghirardelli Square in SF MANY years ago!!! I do like their chocolate too. But I"m sure the ones that were my faves I can't have anymroe! LOL

Oh well....

Well, it also depends on the person! Because my mother-in-law and my husband both were raised on Hersheys. And until they tried Ritter Sport and Milka, they swore, Hersheys is the best. I totally convinced them otherwise now. I know a lot of people who have another opinion of Hershey, after they tried a piece of German chocolate. My one co-worker at the Taxi company always asks me, if I brought German chocolate today . I think, she's addicted.

I love Ritter Sport with Hazelnuts, too. It's my absolute favorite. In fact, I have two bars of them in the freezer right now. I also like, that they come in quarters, not in rectangles. They are really handy to put into your tupperware in the sports bag. Duuuuh! I guess, that's why it's called Ritter Sport. Oh, btw, if you translate Ritter into english, it means "knight"...

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Tststs, I just licked the plate, too. It's a dream

[tarnalberry]

FYI, I found a new chocolate, local to Seattle, called, Theo. It's soy free! (and milk free in the dark chocolate)Open Original Shared Link (I found it at Whole Foods.)

[Viola 1]

Tststs, I just licked the plate, too. It's a dream

Oh, lucky lady ... we don't have any strawberries around yet So I will dream about them tonight

[MGoers37]

Ghiradelli is itallian for "overpriced chocolate". they might be strictly U.S., im not reslly sure....but i do know it's like two bucks for one of their chocolate bars versus the much cheaper/better candy choices :]

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Ritter Sport, Milka, and Kinder Schokolade. I don't know, where you would be able to buy them in the west anyway.

I made a great discovery. Well, ah, it's actually a long story, but the end of the story is, now I can tell you, where you can get the "kinder chocolate", the "kinder eggs", the "milka chocolates", and the "ritter chocolates" all at the same time, same place for all of you on here. I just placed an order for my jam. It's awesome...

Well, how did this happen. I was craving rosehip jam. And there is no shop in the US, where you can buy this. So I was very cranky and sad about this. The best jam ever and you guys don't have it. What a shame. One of my students a bulgarian lawyer noticed me being a little cranked up and asked what's wrong. She's also an immigrant, so we have a great connection together. I told her about my problem and she said. You know, I have the same problem sometimes. I go there and there to order my bulgarian food. Well, she sent me the link and the first pic I saw, was this glas with the rosehip jam. What a strange coincidence. The company ships out of New Jersey. So I started browsing and I found all the chocolates I was talking about with you. OK, first go here:

Open Original Shared Link

Then click on "chocolates and wafers". A site pops up with all of those chocolates. I can tell you right now, that these ones are definitely glutenfree:

Milka Whole Nuts

Milka Chocolate Alpine Milk

Milka Chocolate Hazelnuts

Milka Chocolate White Chocolate

Milka Chocolate Happy Cow (this one's funny, it has cow dots all over it)

Kinder Riegel

Kinder Chocolate (I have this one in my freezer at the moment. Hmmm!)

Ritter Sport Chocolate - Whole Nuts (this one's in my freezer as well, a dream)

Nutella (You can buy this one over here in WalMart and Giant and no, it's no butter. It's a bread spread, like jelly or jam and yes, you can use butter underneath. In fact, it's in the aisle with the jelly and jam.)

Kinder Eggs

And that these ones are definitely NOT glutenfree:

Milka Choco & Biscuit

Ritter Sport Bisquit

Ferrero Hanuta

Kinder Country

Ferrero Duplo

Milka Wafelini

I try to find out on the german celiac board, what else is glutenfree!

Enjoy!

[paulusa]

I was on a hunt for safe chocolate. I contacted Ghirardelli and got this pretty good response:

Dear Consumer,

Thank you for your email regarding Ghirardelli Chocolate. In response

to your inquiry, a majority of our products are manufactured in a gluten

free facility. If there is any chance of cross contamination we would

print a warning on our packaging. Please reference the allergen page on

our website.

In response to your inquiry, a majority of our products do contain

either whole milk powder or a milk fat. Only a few products do not have

a dairy ingredient in them, this would include our Unsweetened Baking

Bar, Unsweetened Cocoa, Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa, hot chocolates

and our Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. If there is any chance of cross

contamination we would print a warning on our packaging.

Our Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips do not contain any dairy

ingredients. However, they do share the line with other chips which do

contain either a whole milk powder or a milk fat. That is why you see

the diary warning on the package. The lines are cleaned and flushed

between the changing of flavors and the first two batches are disposed

of.

No eggs in our plant.

Open Original Shared Link

Kind regards,

Shawna Ortez

Senior Consumer Affairs Coordinator

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

1111 - 139th Avenue

San Leandro, CA 94578

When I contacted Hershey's it was a nightmare. Starting out with their website first. I use Firefox and I am on dialup and for some reason I couldn't even get the online contact form to work. I have been on tons of manufacturers websites regarding gluten and this site was the worst to try to find anything or get it to load and I was on the low bandwidth too. They are in a class all to themselves.

When I searched for recipes it would pull up tons and was not able to discern specifics. It was not helpful at all.

So I finally just called them and got the royal run around. I first talked to a Catora who would tell me their cocoa was gluten free but wouldn't provide that info to me in writing. Hmmmm Then I talked with her supervisor Samantha who also couldn't put it in writing. Hmmmm Then I talked to David another one up the food chain at Hersheys who also couldn't put it in writting. Hmmmm.

I think what they are doing their is wrong but also dangerous. You can argue with them until your are blue about this and they dodge and weave about disclosure on gluten. They tell you is safe and gluten free but won't send me a list of gluten free items since they say they are revising it and in another breath they say they don't want to send one out and then they change the ingredients and then people complain that they went by the old list. They won't send an email on just one product that says it is gluten free. They will tell you it is made of 100% cocoa but when pushed about their manufacturing practices and cross contamination that is where they get all wishy washy.

I think they think it is legally safe to say stuff over the phone but they don't want to get caught putting anything in writting right now. Maybe that is why the online contact form didn't work.

But as you can see Ghirardelli is light years ahead of Hershey's when it comes to providing safe disclosure of their ingredients to consumers. Also their website was manageable. I now need to give my Hershey products away and I advise others do as well.

David at Hersheys said Celiacs are not a big enough group to make changes for. The folks at Hersheys are arrogant and want to remain stupid on this issue. So be it. We have other choices GHIRARDELLI and vote with your pocket book. But I do think they should be held accountable for telling newbie or trusting celiacs it is safe when it may not be and they end up getting sick from it.

Trying is not an outcome you either do it or you don't.

[paulusa]

I was on a hunt for safe chocolate. I contacted Ghirardelli and got this pretty good response:

Dear Consumer,

Thank you for your email regarding Ghirardelli Chocolate. In response

to your inquiry, a majority of our products are manufactured in a gluten

free facility. If there is any chance of cross contamination we would

print a warning on our packaging. Please reference the allergen page on

our website.

In response to your inquiry, a majority of our products do contain

either whole milk powder or a milk fat. Only a few products do not have

a dairy ingredient in them, this would include our Unsweetened Baking

Bar, Unsweetened Cocoa, Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa, hot chocolates

and our Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. If there is any chance of cross

contamination we would print a warning on our packaging.

Our Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips do not contain any dairy

ingredients. However, they do share the line with other chips which do

contain either a whole milk powder or a milk fat. That is why you see

the diary warning on the package. The lines are cleaned and flushed

between the changing of flavors and the first two batches are disposed

of.

No eggs in our plant.

Open Original Shared Link

Kind regards,

Shawna Ortez

Senior Consumer Affairs Coordinator

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

1111 - 139th Avenue

San Leandro, CA 94578

When I contacted Hershey's it was a nightmare. Starting out with their website first. I use Firefox and I am on dialup and for some reason I couldn't even get the online contact form to work. I have been on tons of manufacturers websites regarding gluten and this site was the worst to try to find anything or get it to load and I was on the low bandwidth too. They are in a class all to themselves.

When I searched for recipes it would pull up tons and was not able to discern specifics. It was not helpful at all.

So I finally just called them and got the royal run around. I first talked to a Catora who would tell me their cocoa was gluten free but wouldn't provide that info to me in writing. Hmmmm Then I talked with her supervisor Samantha who also couldn't put it in writing. Hmmmm Then I talked to David another one up the food chain at Hersheys who also couldn't put it in writting. Hmmmm.

I think what they are doing their is wrong but also dangerous. You can argue with them until your are blue about this and they dodge and weave about disclosure on gluten. They tell you is safe and gluten free but won't send me a list of gluten free items since they say they are revising it and in another breath they say they don't want to send one out and then they change the ingredients and then people complain that they went by the old list. They won't send an email on just one product that says it is gluten free. They will tell you it is made of 100% cocoa but when pushed about their manufacturing practices and cross contamination that is where they get all wishy washy.

I think they think it is legally safe to say stuff over the phone but they don't want to get caught putting anything in writting right now. Maybe that is why the online contact form didn't work.

But as you can see Ghirardelli is light years ahead of Hershey's when it comes to providing safe disclosure of their ingredients to consumers. Also their website was manageable. I now need to give my Hershey products away and I advise others do as well.

David at Hersheys said Celiacs are not a big enough group to make changes for. The folks at Hersheys are arrogant and want to remain stupid on this issue. So be it. We have other choices GHIRARDELLI and vote with your pocket book. But I do think they should be held accountable for telling newbie or trusting celiacs it is safe when it may not be and they end up getting sick from it.

Trying is not an outcome you either do it or you don't.

[paulusa]

Oops. I am new to this forum and had a couple dry runs on my first posting. I just wanted to share the following info I got from See's candy today. I for one am thrilled!

Thank you for visiting Sees.com. Our Quality Assurance department has

advised that we have reformulated our products and we have eliminated wheat

as a direct ingredient in all of our candies. Therefore, none of our

products contain gluten as a direct ingredient and cross-contamination is

no longer a possibility.See's Candy

We do wish to advise that the vinegar used in our Butterscotch Lollypops

and Little Pops is grain based.

We are still in the process of changing our packaging labels and expect to

have this completed during the upcoming year. Some of our product labels

still list wheat as an ingredient. However, this is no longer the case.

I hope this information is helpful. Thanks for your interest in See's

Candies. We look forward to serving you soon.

Sincerely,

Ian Dickie

See's Candies Customer Service

[Rosewynde]

My favorite chocolate to work with is Scharffenberger. My mom, who's always been lactose intolerant, found it and shared it with me when I started having stomach problems that we thought were extreme sensitivity to lactose. It was one of the first things I looked at when I found out that my problems were due to gluten. The only thing they don't guarantee is their coco powders as they're made in a facility that does deal with wheat products too.

Scharffenberger was one of the first to come out with Cacao percentages on their chocolate. My favorite to use in making chocolate treats is their pure dark chocolate that is 99% cacao. It makes brownies and cakes rich and decadent enough that all you can eat is on piece haha ; D

[loraleena]

Endangered Species is made in a facility that also has wheat products. Dagoba is labeled gluten free and most of Green and Blacks are. Good organic quality chocolate!!

[elonwy]

I have yet to find a Lindt product WITHOUT malt in it.

Sharffenberger is amazing.

Hershey's just isn't trustworthy at this point. They change their policy too often for my liking, and I have gotten sick from things that should not have gluten in them (I do not have dairy issues).

Dove chocolate is awesome.

I had thought Ghiradelli was not safe, according to thier last statement from 2005. Nice to know they may be changing.

Elonwy

[wschmucks]

Ghirardelli's statement was revised in 2008 :-(

they stated that their milk chocolate bars have been reformulated and now contain gluten from barley and that these bars share the same equipment as their chocolate squares. Their White chocolate chips also contain gluten. Their powdered hot chocolate and other chocolate chips (not white) remain gluten free.

Another one bites the dust! But kudos to them for telling us about the change.

Sees Candy is AMAZING with their chocolate almost 100% of their products are gluten free with the acception of some of their special holiday products (that require further decorations...which are not gluten free). Check them out!

[Gentleheart]

Just ran into this thread. With lots of allergies, there are very few storebought treats I can have. So I am in the habit of making my own simple 'chocolate bars' with unsweetened chocolate and a natural sweetener ( I use several different kinds). Since I can't have gluten, dairy, soy, cane sugar or corn, to date I have not found a single readymade chocolate bar that I can have. So I have been using Hershey's unsweetened baking bars for a long time. But if they are by chance not truly gluten free and may be following unethical production practices as well, then I'm glad I recently changed to Ghiradelli's unsweetened baking bar. I only hope they are telling the truth about their gluten content.