I am finally back in a neighborhood where I am likely to receive trick or treaters. I’m pretty excited about the sparkly skull decorating my front door to announce we are a trick-or-treater-friendly household, but I am stumped on what treats to provide.
High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil do not cross my threshold which eliminates a lot of the popular candies. It would be pretty hypocritical of me to provide those to other people’s children if I wouldn’t provide them to my own. Those great big bags of candy would be easy, but I do not want to support the continued use of chemicals in our food products.
One of the first things I did was look up recipes to make my own Halloween treats at home. Sugar-free gummy worms was probably the easiest one I found. Gummy worms, a chocolate ‘bat’ cookie, and a ‘finger’ cookie seemed like a nice treat; unfortunately, there is a lot of distrust in our society and a lot of reason to be distrustful. Even if I printed off a copy of a blog and a note to each parent, my efforts could go to waste. Even worse, I would run the risk of being the ‘food snob’ of the neighborhood.
I went back to the candy aisle to read more ingredients and find out if there were any acceptable choices. There were some options (more from Hershey’s than any other brand, from my unscientific observations) that utilized corn syrup rather than high fructose corn syrup. Even after searching through DietsInReview.com, Wikipedia.com, and Google.com, I knew that corn syrup is not HFCS, but I wasn’t clear if it was entirely ‘safe’, so I downloaded the Don’t Eat That app for my iPhone. I won’t eat that. Even Dove Chocolate had alkali and soy lecithin which Don’t Eat That suggests you avoid.
Below is a list of items I am considering handing out this Halloween (some suggested by others):
- Although Endangered Species Chocolate Bug Bites do contain soy lecithin, it is an organic version which seems to be acceptable. The cost for 64 pieces is $34, plus shipping. Each piece does come with a bug trading card and all are kosher and gluten-free, so they should make everyone happy.
- Pre-packaged fruit, nuts, popcorn and/or pretzels will not frighten parents, but make sure there aren’t any scary ingredients added! Kids looking for candy may be less impressed with these, so there is some risk of a trick. Scarrots, on the other hand, may be a safer choice due to the packaging.
- Oriental Trading Company offers holiday-themed toys, crafts, and decorations and very reasonable prices, often in bulk. My favorites were the treasure chest assortment, mini paratroopers, and neon vampire teeth.