Baking Chocolate from Vermont Nut Free!

Hi Wilton,
Never feel like you don't have options. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa is perfectly safe for PA and most likely will be much cheaper than VNF. A great company I work with is King Arthur Flour - check them out for baking supplies including chocolate. They are very allergy aware and have many baking chocolate options for you from top quality chocolatiers.
King Arthur is also very sensitive to those that are wheat allergic and have many gluten free products.
I tend to order from their catalogue but I'm sure they must have a website - I'd visit there and get on their mailing list. A great company, very responsive and competitively priced.
Don't get me wrong - I love some of the VNF products but they are very expensive. I save them for the safe holiday theme stuff I can't get anywhere else.
One more thing I almost forgot - for regular chocolate chips, Nestle's semisweet are safe for PA provided the product code ends in FN. It's a very small code and you'll probably strain you eyes trying to find it - but please always check, the other product code is not safe. Hope this is available in your area.
[This message has been edited by Philip's Mom (edited May 19, 2001).]

Wilton, great news,
I am happy (since today I was melting down VNF chips for a chocolate cake). I will continue to buy from and support Vermont Free Chocolates, I am delighted that there is a supplier dedicated to the needs of pa/ta consumers.
I would be very saddened to see VNF lose out to the big multinationals, for the most part, many of them are still not listening to our needs (for me it would be worse than the corner bookstore/coffee shops etc losing out to the big cheaper less personal chains). Yes, VNF are more expensive but most small business cannot compete with the big guys in terms of price, I'm not surprised that keeping products VNF pn/tn-free products cost extra (I won't be surprised if the big guys place a surcharge on any dedicated pn/tn-free they come up with) - our family just eats less chocolate!
It would be terrific to see a comapny like VNF grow, there are million of us in the US. We are trying to convince corporations that we are a consumer body worth noticing and catering too, supporting pn-free business is one way of showing our strength in numbers and as consumers. I want my pa-son to understand, as he grows, that he has power as a consumer and VNF is a great place to start!
[This message has been edited by EILEEN (edited May 20, 2001).]

Philip's Mom,
Are you located in Canada? Because I live in the US and I wouldn't touch Nestle products with a 10 foot pole! I wanted to make cookies a few weeks ago and was looking at the Nestle semisweets package and it actually has peanuts in the ingredients not a "may contain", but in the listing.
I only use Hershey or there's another company I use, but I can not remember there name. Just wanted to know about Nestle, I'm sure it's a great product, but it's not safe here in the US (as far as I know).
Thanks,
Melanie

Hi Melanie,
No I'm in Colorado. My comfort level with Nestle's semisweet chocolate chips really stems from this site. I can refer you to two posts in the same thread concerning Nestle's semisweet if you look under Alerts & Food Recalls. There was much discussion concerning Nestle's various chips and through investigation it was determined that Nestle's Semisweet Chocolate Chips with a product code ending in FN (for Fulton, New York) are produced in a peanut free facility. The other facility that produces these chips is not safe and the product is labeled as such. This was as reported by Riley's Mom on 1/7/01 and followed-up by Frances on 1/30/01.
If you have different information from Nestle's we would love to hear it.

I agree with Phillip's mom regarding both Hershey's baking cocoa which I've used for years and the helpfulness of the people at King Arthur. I like VNF too but they are very expensive; the only thing I really buy from them now are boxed chocolates like the ones with creamy fillings and fruit because I cannot find nutfree chocolatiers who make truffles, fondants, etc.

Do you know of any nut free, dairy free and egg free chocolate chips so i can make chocolate chip cookies?

Cacao Barry chips are egg free, nut free.
The dark chocolate ones are also milk free, but of course the milk chocolates are not. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] Goes without saying.
I didn't inquire about the risk of cross-contamination for milk though.
They're very hard to find, because they only go to wholesale. Over here I have to buy a minimum of 30 lbs.

Darthcleo, you mentioned Cocao Barry chips. I have never heard of them. Where do you find them?

Cacao Barry is a French group. They have plants in a few countries. I talked to a representative who knew right away what I was going for when I mentionned my kid is PA.
The plant in Vermont is peanut and nut free and so is the plant in France. The one in Belgium is where they make their praline chocolates (hazelnuts) so that's not safe. None of the plants are milk free, because they all manufacture milk chocolate.
Cacao Barry does not sell to the public. It's targeted to bakeries, and restaurants and is strictly wholesale. You can get it as a transformed product though. My local bakery sells Cacao Barry chocolates in small packages but the repackaging is not done in a peanut-free environment. In fact I was even told that cross-contamination was very likely in that case, so my only solution is to go wholesale.
I just got 2 11 lbs boxes of chocolates today.. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by darthcleo (edited December 14, 2001).]

We love VNF chocolates. We just received our second order a little while ago. They are extremely prompt in sending their order. My son is a huge chocolate chip cookie fan and it is a major relief to find safe baking chocolate. Our new favorite is chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. I melt two packages of VNF 8oz. Baking choc. With two sticks of butter. Add this to approx. 2 cups flour,