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Post by krzysiastevens on Mar 19, 2006 11:03:49 GMT -5
Blimey, Tyro, I'm with you...
Any way, I have three kids, one is a baby and doesn't have chocolate yet (ok - via mummy's milk..) my daughter is unaffected by chocolate but my eldest son (just4) goes loopy!!! He doesn't have an intolerance or allergy but it does send him sky high.
Now I know (from experience) that sugar is the main catalyst to his schizy behaviour and that sugar in the chocolate may be the reason that too much chocolate sets him off so I will be interested to see what happens when I feed him chocolate that I have made myself. I gave him some yesterday (the very first batch of chocolate I have ever made from scratch!- thank you!) and nothing out of the ordinary happened but it was given in moderation...I shall be experimenting on my children further and will keep you posted...
It is interesting that I rarely feed my children sugar in any form, other than fruit, and they are all relatively calm and easy to control. As soon as my son gets a whiff of sweets and chocolate he goes very 'bouncy'. At a friend's party the other day he was twitching and beeping at one point!
I used to be a teacher and had contact with a lot of parents who thought their kids were uncontrollable at home, I wonder why?! I think that refined sugar is the cause of a lot of society's ills! all those kids that start their day with a sugar laden packet of processed corn snacks, followed by an oddly coloured sugary drink, more sweets, cakes and biscuits, no wonder thay can't concentrate at school.
My kids loved the chocolate I made with only cocoa beans and sugar, I wonder if I can use brown sugar that has been less refined and maybe use less than an adult would normally go for.
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Post by Alan on Mar 19, 2006 11:39:47 GMT -5
I wonder if I can use brown sugar that has been less refined and maybe use less than an adult would normally go for. Be careful with any sugar product that is less refined than standard white sugar as it might have a higher moisture level. Brown sugar is a prefect example of this. It will certainly increase the viscosity of your chocolate over and above "comfortable" levels, and might, depending on the moisture level, even make your chocolate sieze. Plain white sugar or natural sugar with a proven very low moisture level are the best options. Alan
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Post by sugaralchemy on Mar 19, 2006 13:50:16 GMT -5
Please see the thread on maltitol - Sebastian and I beat the topic of sugar replacement in chocolate dead! There's also a thread on alternative sweeteners, and I provided some resources for them, but I would be careful when working with them in general, both for practical and nutritional concerns.
Basically, I would suggest you read up on "sugar" to see what the real issue is. There are three sugars that account for most sugars in our diet: -sucrose (white sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar is all over 99% sucrose) –fructose (as fructose crystals, some in honey, significant in high fructose corn syrup, etc) -glucose (aka dextrose, in corn syrup, etc)
A less "refined" sugar is going to have only a tiny bit more minerals or impurities compared to a refined sugar, so it's not really much "better" for you. If you even think about making chocolate with it MAKE SURE there is no moisture present - it should be a dry crystalline powder! (NEVER a liquid!)
If I were you, I would run some experiments with your son. Try him on various sugars straight - sweet water, basically, and measure his reaction. Once you have identified a sweetener that he doesn't react to, try adding some cocoa to the mix. He may not be too excited about sugar + cocoa powder, but it should be manageable. See if the cocoa impacts his reaction. I have seen people do a pulse test to gauge reaction - I believe that resting pulse should go down slightly after eating. If it goes up, it usually indicates sensitivity, provided it really is resting pulse. (Or if your son can't rest after eating the food, that's a good indicator too!) Your son could be reacting to the sweetener, or to the chocolate, or perhaps even to a minor constituent of the chocolate like vanilla, lecithin, or milk. I would progressively test everything until you've isolated the source of his reaction. The best time to test is morning, on an empty stomach. When you have a positive test, you should re-test another day to confirm.
Some people are even sensitive to free glutamate, so the free glutamate could be at fault, and the chocolate making process would tend to cause much higher levels of free glutamate present from the milk than the same amount of fresh milk would contain. (Though I am doubtful of some of these suggestions, when you get into the wild world of food reactions, almost anything is possible - even if not probable - so you've gotta test it all.)
This is not a hard science, and I don't present this as the end-all-do-all of testing, but I have seen the pulse technique work very effectively a number of times, particularly with kids. But if you're only dealing with a sensitivity, it may pick up issues missed by an allergy test. This is not medical advice and shouldn't replace your doctor's advice. I think of it more as a means of detecting subclinical food sensitivities. Considering there's no risk and it's not really even that hard, it's worth a shot.
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Post by dragonmama on Dec 3, 2006 16:05:18 GMT -5
Hey all,
Being new to the forum, this is my motivation for being here.. multiple food allergies in my household. I have true allergies - anaphylaxis - to wheat, corn, oranges, and other foods. My son is violently allergic - again, anaphylaxis - to peanuts, and more mildly to oranges. My daughter is severely intolerant to gluten.
That said, I'm very interested in finding chocolate safe for us to eat. The agricorps are buying out the smaller organic companies that used to be safe, and ruining them en masse. So... my solution, as with the rest of our foods which I make from scratch, is to figure out how to make chocolate from scratch as well. If I can't find another small batch chocolatier who does.
I'm very interested to know if anyone has made dairy free chocolate, esp. without soy milk. Did it work out? If not, any clue why not? We don't need to be dairy free in my house, but I have many friends who need to be, and I wouldn't make chocolate with dairy in it, for their sakes.
As for dedicated facility, that's absolutely necessary. For all the reasons you've stated, the risk of cross contamination is just too large. I know someone so allergic to corn that she reacts to the corn used to make Dixie cups. I know another person who went into anaphylaxis when her favorite coffee shop switched to "eco-friendly" corn-based plastic straws.
As it takes me six weeks, and my daughter at least two solid months to heal after we've been accidentally glutened, cross contamination is no laughing matter for me. I won't get started on the joke of a labeling law. It's worse than useless.
Hence, my interest in from scratch chocolate. Has anyone tried to make this, or know someone who has? I'd love to talk to them in depth about how it worked or didn't, what else they've tried, etc.
Thanks,
Dragon Mama
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Post by dragonmama on Dec 3, 2006 16:12:50 GMT -5
If you're looking into your child's reactions to foods, sugar is almost never a cause. The chemicals served up with sugar are. When my allergist told me I had to do an elimination diet to confirm or deny the results of any food allergy testing (as none of them are reliable) I went looking and found this: www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/This is a site put together with info from the Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Their allergy unit has been studying food allergies AND intolerances for over 20 years, and is light years ahead of anything done in the US. The closest thing we have is Feingold, and that doesn't go nearly far enough. Figuring out which foods - and food chemicals, both naturally occurring as well as man made and added - caused or triggered problems, helped us immensely. I have an autoimmune disorder, arthritis, asthma, as well as allergies and intolerances. My kids have allergies as well as intolerances. And eliminating the triggers means we don't need to go to the doctor, or use meds much at all. : ) And symptoms of food mediated problems are not merely physical, but behavioral as well. Just in case you're interested.
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Post by vivachoco on Dec 4, 2006 14:58:56 GMT -5
i don't see any reason why you could not make dairy free chocolate. other than if you don't like dark chocolate. if you insist on milk chocolate, how about goat's milk? alchemist carries a goat's milk powder. you can look up recipe ideas on chocolate alchemist's recipe link - and basically, even avoid cocoa butter, lecithin, and vanilla. just do pure roasted cocoa beans. but that will be somewhat bitter (which can be controlled with careful roasting). but you say sugar is not a problem for you, so just do cocoa beans with the amount of sugar that would please you. and add goat's milk if your palate so desires
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Post by bgschocs on May 4, 2008 12:49:01 GMT -5
My son is intolerant to cows mik and soya, so I make chocolate using goats milk, in 40% and 60% varieties. I use a rice emulisifer to avoid the soya risk. The chocolate is lovely, although trying to sell it you do come across the peolpe who think 'goats milk oh no I don't like that' but once they taste it they seem to say 'thats lovely!' and be very surprised. I only make goats milk chocolate, which prevents the cross contamination in my machines. Unfortunately nut allergies seem to be the worst ones as you can never guarantee that the ingredients are all nut free. I do sell it, although it is taking a while to catch on! Have a look at www.billygoatstuff.co.uk unfortunately I can not post to the US or Canada for insurance reasons. I am a very small business trying to help people like my son out rather than make my millions!!!
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Post by joyojoy on May 7, 2008 21:16:13 GMT -5
I have an allergen-free chocolate company because my daughter is allergic to milk and peanuts, and I have a niece allergic to soy: Whey-Out Chocolate Inc. I make chocolates that are free of milk, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, eggs and gluten. Alchemist John actually helped me formulate my white chocolate, and now I'm making a "Milkless Chocolate" which I think tastes pretty good, if I do say so myself. I'm happy to report that this Easter, over 200 children had chocolate bunnies in their Easter baskets for the first time in their lives. If you're interested, you can check out my shop at www.wheyoutchocolate.com
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Post by gotkosherinc on May 12, 2012 4:27:34 GMT -5
A child with Food allergy base offers the main online support ... and Time unpaid helper to help us attain our assignment to keep kids well and safe.
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