Watch Out For This Halloween Candy

[ljgs]

Last night my daughter and her friends came back from trick-or-treating and spread all their candy out on the floor. My daughter, who is 13 and pretty aware of what she can and can't eat, was dutifully trading her Kit Kats and Butterfinger Crisps away for safe stuff like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Tootsie Rolls. After a bit I got down on the floor to see what she'd collected and something that resembled a short Twizzler in a plastic wrapper caught my eye. "What's this?" I asked. "It's a Sour Patch Kids," she reassured me. "It's safe." I took a closer look and realized it was not a Sour Patch Kids at all but something called a Sour Punch Twist. The logo was designed to look very much like the Sour Patch Kids logo. I immediately Googled it and found out that wheat is the second ingredient listed!!! I was relieved she hadn't eaten it yet but annoyed that she so easily could have. Double check all candy!!!!!! And I hope everyone had a very happy and gluten-free Halloween!!!!

[srall]

We're struggling with our first gluten free Halloween. I thought I'd read tootsie rolls were gluten free? She did have a sour stomach last night but I thought it was too much candy in general. It's the first time I'd heard my daughter complain of a gassy stomach since taking her gluten free. I'll check her stash for the sour punch twist.

[ljgs]

Yes, Tootsie Rolls are definitely gluten free. And I did some more digging and found that there are many varieties of Sour Punch candies. I don't know if they all have wheat but worth checking out. It's made by a company called American Licorice, I think.

[srall]

I just reread your post and realized I'd read it wrong about the tootsie rolls. I don't think my daughter had any of those twists. I'm actually happy that most of her candy got sidelined. Last year the candy seemed to last forever.

[twohokies]

Thanks for the post! You've saved me some internet digging time - for both the twists as well as the Reese's cups. After the 3 kids got home the other night I began sorting and automatically just threw all the twists into a "gluten" box since I assumed they were like twizzlers......I hope the troops overseas enjoy them ;-).

[Juliebove]

My daughter just showed me a round, two toned Jolly Rancher and asked me if she could eat it. She just expects me to automatically know if something is safe or not. I don't! I told her if the ingredients are not on the wrapper to assume it isn't safe. We do go out before Halloween and check all the things she normally eats just to see if there are changes. Since she has additional allergies she is pretty much limited to about 6 things.

It was my nephew's birthday yesterday but we are celebrating it today. He's a young adult. Angela got him a gift card that she put in a little bag and she is using all the candy she can't eat as a bag filler.