http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vegan-organic-fair-trade-corn-syrup-free-candy.html
The Best Candy
By Melissa Breyer
The candy and kids dilemma kills me. My kids love candy, but candy’s rotten for my kids. High-fructose corn syrup, artificial coloring, bovine gelatin, oh my. So I think, “Sorry girls, no candy, unh unh.”
But something about total restriction goes against my instinct–and surely enough, a New York Times article, 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make, backs me up on that one with statements such as: “A large body of research shows that if a parent restricts a food, children just want it more,” and, “Other studies show that children whose food is highly restricted at home are far more likely to binge when they have access to forbidden foods.”
So there you go. How to treat my kids to the treats they covet, without exposing them to a rainbow array of sickly sweet, and quite frankly, terrifying ingredients?
Well lucky me, by chance I stumbled upon a source for candy that meets any number of requirements: Vegan, organic, fair trade, gluten free, non-allergenic, kosher and Feingold. Imagine! The source comes from a mom-and-daughters candy team who started a Web site called NaturalCandyStore.com. It’s extra terrific because you can browse by category, and each candy is labeled with an easy-to-identify icon telling you which categories it falls under. The candy they have selected meets strict quality standards, and the good ol’ taste standard of yumminess as well.
Next: More great candy
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41 comments
add your comment »I've read that you also should be careful with the dried fruits as they are teaming in sugar and the sticky residue can damage teeth. Choose wisely and make sure their diets are mostly organic and no/low sugar.
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IMO it comes down to common sense it's the parent's responsibility to overlook candy intake.I raised 4 healthy adult kids just by using my brain.
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AWESOME Site!! My kids will love this candy! (and so will my husband and I). We went to the Dixie Classic Fair last week and bought some "Maple Syrup Cotton Candy." This is a great healthy treat since it is made from maple syrup and not corn syrup. It can be ordered online from Vermont Maple Products at www.macleodfarms.com
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Maureen, That sounds like my Simbas. I add raisins, almonds, dry cranberries. I like to use almond butter, too. Aren't they great? We all love them. Kids think they are junk and dive into them. What do they know? Yummie!
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I have a sweet tooth and for the halloween and christmas celebrations coming up, will be exploring making "candy" like confections. This is a good way to involve kids in creating their own. Here's one I'm working on (I made a variation of this with my aunt when I was a kid).
6 tbsp heaping organic oats
3 heaping tbsp organic peanut butter (crunchy is good)
organic shredded organic coconut as much as you like that is mixable with proportion of other ingredients
unsweetened cocoa powder
honey (I'll be trying rice syrup next)
stir and put on wax paper
depending on proportions of each ingredient, it'll be more or less dense and hard
I am trying to use "real food" rather than processed cereals etc although some cereals might be ok I guess
Next I'm going to try boiling water over some sort of dried fruit, blend it after the fruit softens, then add coconut.
I imagine there's recipes galore, limited only by the imagination
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I agree with Emery on some points, because some of us really can control ourselves, but I don't know why that is. That's because the majority of us can't, and I do know why that is, for the most part at least. That's because anything refined, meaning sugar, flour, etc., and fats too, causes us to crave more. Kraft, McDogfoods--which I wouldn't even give my pups--Frito-Lay, M&M and Mars etc., ALL have specialists on the top level, who've studied long and hard on how to make their foods more addictive. This, of course, is applied. It's very hard to stop at "just one". It's made too easy for us, in so many ways that we'd be shocked if we knew, to grab that food. I greatly appreciate a mom & pops candy store, even if it's laden with nasty corn syrup, but that's still a crappy ingredient. And, even if it's not intended that way, or even made to the extent that your potato chips, hot dog, & soda are to be addictive, it still is so to an extent. We are also hypnotized by marketing gimmicks from our childhood. And though some of us are lucky enough not to fall into that category, for whatever reason it may be, most of us are victims. That's why we're fat and unhealthy, and why studies done in schools & prisons, where only healthy foods were provided, we excel--less violence, more productive, smarter, healthier. But there's no money to be made there.
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Choice and moderation is the key. My kids grew up in the candy factory we owned. The three are young adults now and my middle son still has a bit of a sweet tooth and none indulge much in sweets or even desert. Being a Candy Maker over the last 30 years there are wonderful products to experience many rich in heritage and tradition. There is a cultural commonality in food that we all share. Unfortunately because the perception that all sweets are bad for us creates a cultural void and the history being displaced by fear can not ever be replaced.
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All other issues aside, you all do know that high fructos corn syrup is natural and in moderation is perfectly safe.
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I love the idea of more natural candy, especially for Halloween. But the cost to provide such candy to our neighborhood is prohibitive. Every year I have so much guilt that I can't get fair-trade chocolate or natural lollipops or whatever for the 100+kids who come. I've done gum and plain chocolate, but the guilt is still there. I would like to see an article rating the candy that's readily available as to what's "less bad" for kids and the environment. Thanks!
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I like to use all kinds of alternatives to candy BUT there are times when it's nice to splurge and times when a "good" candy is needed as an alternate for regular candy. I'll have to check them out.
My favorite, though, is Yummy Earth http://yummyearth.com/ Awesome! My kids love their "pops".
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