Valentine's Day Candy....Some safe, some not so much!

It's that time of year again. Your kids will be coming home from school parties with bags of candy from people that may or may not know they have food issues. In the beginning of our gluten-free journey, this would bring on a wave of stress in me. Now that my kids "know" what is safe and what is not, it is easier. For some of you, this is the first "candy" holiday you have had to face. Not to worry, there are safe options out there.

This week, I took a trip to Target to get a list of candy available for Valentine's Day. My goodness, I was not prepared for the sheer volume of candy out there. Even my 10 year old son was amazed! I would feel totally overwhelmed if I was trying to buy candy for someone I knew couldn't have gluten, eggs, milk or soy. Thankfully, you will have a bit more information when choosing candy for your special someone. With this list, hopefully you will be able to just avoid what is not safe and go right to what is.

Rest assured, there are safe options out there. When making my list, I tried to make note of what allergens were in the candy and what cross contamination issues could be present as well. As with anything though, when you make your final choice, please read the labels. I am not perfect and manufacturers are also notconsistent at times. I noticed several items that had no gluten in one one kind of packaging and then it was present in another. Made not sense to me. So, please read labels even though some of the work has been done for you. I have learned to trust nothing at face value, I always check!

OK, so here is the list of what I found. Grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee and get comfortable. I'll start with the safe candy. From my label reading, this is what I found to have no gluten. I will also note if they have peanuts, tree nuts, egg, milk or soy. Some of them I may have missed one of those ingredients, but if it was labeled with a foodallergen or cross contamination warning I did note that.

CANDY CONTAINING NO GLUTEN (May have a cross contamination issue)

• Airheads (cross contamination wheat)
• Airheads Pops (cross contamination milk)
• Andes Creme De Menthe Indulgence
• Animal Planet Valentine Candy Card Kit
• Baby Ruth
• Brach's Hearts (conversation type) - small boxes (processed with peanuts, tree nuts and eggs)
• Brach's Small Conversation Heart Treat Packs
• Bubblicious Bites (cross contamination peanuts, tree nuts, wheat , milk and egg)
• Butterfinger
• Charms Blowpop Cherry (milk and soy)
• Charms Valentine Pops
• Charms Zip-A-DEE Mini Pops (milk and soy)
• Chocolate Sweethearts (small box)
• Choxie Dark Chocolate Espresso Caramels (contain milk and soy, cross contamination wheat peanuts and tree nuts)
• Choxie Milk and Dark Chocolate Truffle Hearts (milk and soy)
• Choxie Seven Naturally Flavored Truffle Temptations (milk, coconut and soy)
• Dazzled Hearts Sweethearts (small box)
• De Met's Turtles Heart Box (tree nuts, milk, soy and peanuts)
• Disney Candy Card Kit (cross contamination with peanuts and tree nuts)
• Disney Princess Heart Box (cross contamination wheat and peanuts)
• Dora the Explorer and Diego Heart Box (cross contamination wheat and peanuts)
• Dove Caramel Hearts
• Dove Dark Hearts
• Dove Milk Chocolate with Almonds (almonds/tree nuts)
• Dove Promise Hearts, Milk Chocolate
• Dum Dum Pops
• Ed Hardy Lollipops (cross contamination soy and egg)
• Fruit by the Foot Sweetheart Rolls
• Ghirardelli Squares (milk, peanuts)
• Harry London Chocolates Heart Box (cross contamination peanuts, tree nuts, egg and wheat)
• Hershey's Kisses
• Hershey's Bliss Smooth and Creamy (peanuts, tree nuts, milk)
• Hershey's Chocolate Melt Away (peanuts)
• Hershey's Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Hearts
• Hershey's Milk Chocolate with a Raspberry Melt Away Center (tree nuts, peanuts)
• Hershey's Pot of Gold Heart Box (cross contamination tree nuts, milk)
• Hershey's Rich and Creamy Dark Chocolate (peanuts, milk, tree nuts)
• Hershey's Raspberry Hugs
• Hershey's Semi Sweet Chocolate Drizzled Popcorn (cross contamination peanuts, tree nuts wheat and egg...contains soy and milk)
• Hershey's Valentine's Exchange Chocolate Bars (cross contamination almonds)
• Hubba Bubba Max Bubble Gum and Cards
• Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
• Jolly Rancher
• Jolly Rancher Heart-Shaped Lolli Pops
• Life Saver Pop Cards
• Littlest Pet Shop Valentine Lollicards (cross contamination peanuts, tree nuts, milk, wheat and egg)
• M&M's (peanuts)
• Pez (soy)
• Reese's Miniatures (peanuts)
• Reese's Miniature Heart Box (peanuts)
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Heart Box (peanuts)
• Reese's Peanut Butter Double the Peanut Butter Hearts (peanuts)
• Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts - individually packaged for exchanging (peanuts)
• Skittles
• Skittles Fun Size
• Snickers (tree nuts)
• Sponge bob Heart Box (cross contamination wheat and peanuts)
• Starburst Fun Size (milk, eggs, soy)
• Sweethearts
• Sweethearts bulk bag
• Sweethearts Conversation Bracelet (cross contamination milk, eggs and wheat)
• Sweethearts Forbidden Fruits Twilight New Moon
• Target Gummy Skewer Fruity Flavors
• Target Hand-Pulled Lollipops
• Target Heartbreak Lollipops
• Three Musketeers Cherry with Dark Chocolate (egg and peanut)
• Toblerone (tree nuts, egg, almonds and milk)
• Tootsie Pop Cherry
• Tootsie Pops Miniatures - Valentine
• Tootsie Vanilla and Cherry Fruit Rolls
• Tootsie Rolls
• Tootsie Rolls Snack Bars
• Transformer Heart Box (cross contamination wheat and peanuts)
• Warheads Extreme Sour (milk, egg and soy)
• Wonka Fun Dip
• Wonka Gobstopper Heart Breakers
• Wonka Laffy Taffy Valentines
• Wonka Nerds Valentines (cross contamination wheat and egg)
• Wonka Pixy Stix
• Wonka Runts Mini Hearts Strawberry
• Wonka Sweet Tarts Hearts (processed with gluten, egg and soy)
• Wonka Sweetarts Lollipops
• Wonka Valentine Mix-Ups (cross contamination wheat and egg)

NOT SAFE CANDY/CONTAINS GLUTEN

• Brach's Valentine Nougats (wheat and egg)
• Charms Blow Pop Minis (contain a questionable starch, milk and soy)
• Choxie Milk and White Chocolate Cherries, Cranberries and Strawberries (wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, milk and soy)
• Ed Hardy Gummies Cherry, Strawberry and Grape (milk, egg, soy, wheat, peanuts and tree nuts)
• Elmer's New Orleans Quality Chocolates (wheat, cross contamination tree nuts and peanuts)
• Farrero Collection (wheat and tree nuts)
• Hershey's Miniatures (wheat)
• Kit Kat Wafer Bar (wheat)
• Lindt Lindor Truffles (wheat, peanuts and tree nuts)
• Mrs. Fields Premium Assorted Chocolates
• Nestle Crunch (wheat/barley malt)
• Nestle Crunch Hearts (wheat)
• Reese's Hearts in a bulk bag (wheat)
• Twix (wheat)
• Whitman's Heart Box (cross contamination peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat)
• Whoppers Milkshake Strawberry (gluten)
• Wonka Sweetarts Hearts Gummies (wheat)

I can suggest that any of the large heart boxes containing assorted chocolates should be avoided. I did not find one of them that did not contain at least a cross contamination issue with one or more of the food issues to watch out for. As with most things in our gluten-free world, simple is best and quite often safe.

Hopefully this list of candy will help you. It is by no means, complete. There are more varieties out there, I only checked one store. So PLEASE make sure you are still checking labels. It is not impossible to have a fun and safe Valentine's Day and you and your kids can enjoy some tasty treats. As you can see, there were very few that actually contained gluten and many on the list of not containing gluten were actually labeled "gluten-free"! How encouraging that was to find.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day with your kids and special someone! Make some memories and enjoy your time together.