White vs dark chocolate...difference???

bakermom,
From what I've heard, white "chocolate" is not really chocolate at all so you may have very good luck with that. As far as chocolate being contaminated with peanuts--yes, chocolate candies (and white chocolate candies) are easily contaminated because they are run on shared equipment most of the time. I recently contacted Hershey's and felt pretty good about their manufacturing procedures. I've been giving my son plain old Hershey bars for quite some time now and we have been doing great. I also made some fudge with Hershey's baking chips and unsweetened chocolate. You may be dealing with a sensitivity to chocolate if your son has a reaction to chocolate every time he eats it. While, cross contamination could exist, I can't imagine it is in every piece of chocolate he has tried. Go to the Hershey's website. They have a page on a chemical that is in chocolate that is actually what people are allergic/sensitive to (pheno...something or other). Read that page and see if it fits your son.
Christine

thank you for the info! Actually my son had only one tiny taste, and I never gave it to him again! I'm going to look into this.

andrea

bakermom,
After I first posted, I went back to the Hershey site to review what I *thought* I had read about chocolate sensitivity. What was on there was a discussion about theobromine, which is really a problem for animals. BUT, I have read somewhere that there is a substance in chocolate that causes an allergic reaction in some. It is not the cocoa or any of the other components, but it is some chemical. If I get some time, I will look for it again. But, you could probably do a general internet search on chocolate allergy and come up with something.
Christine

If there is a chocolate allergy, there is cocoa butter in a lot of white chocolate and many of the companies that put out white baking chocolate use nuts in it. We have been sucessful with hershey choc. chips, and nestle chocolate and white chips. Their white chips have no cocoa products listed, but you may want to call about cross contamination.

If it turns out that your son can eat chocolate, peanutallergy.com has a link to a peanut-free plant. I just ordered from them... and they are great. They are happy to provide an ingredient list (in case your child, like mine, has other food allergies). Of course, if your son can't eat chocolate, I guess that doesn't help you (*grin*). We often substitute small toys or crayons for candy... my son never gets candy, so he isn't disappointed; or health food grocery stores often have safe candy alternatives (natural cinnamon candies, etc). Good luck.