Chocolate

Chocolate. I've never been a big fan of it, but when an event like Easter rolls around, you feel a bit left out if you can't enjoy an Easter egg with the rest of the family. (Assuming you celebrate the event.) This Easter, I had almost accepted the fact that anything related to chocolate that I could eat, wouldn't be chocolate as I use to know it before my allergies flared up last year. I had been purchasing the Sweet William range of chocolate from the grocery store, which never really tasted like chocolate as I remembered it, however I wasn't about to buy regular chocolate and wait for my allergic reactions to the milk (and sometimes egg and wheat) content.

I did check a few online health food stores and other blogs and found that any Easter chocolate for allergy sufferers were few and far between, and all were rather average. I guess most were on the market to stop any kids with allergies, from missing out. Then I found (or rather stumbled upon) Kinnerton, who are a UK confectionery company. They had a luxury dark chocolate Easter egg with a chocolate block as well in the one package, which I happily purchased for myself from David Jones. It was dairy free, nut free, gluten free and egg free. Jackpot for me!

On mid-morning on Easter, when the rest of the family cracked open their Easter eggs, I pulled out my own. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive about how it would taste and I was more than pleasantly surprised when the chocolate tasted like the most divine and normal chocolate that I ever ate. Although I savoured every little piece of that chocolate egg, I gave my husband (who does not share the bulk of my allergies) a tiny piece to try. He wrinkled his nose at the offering at first, as I think we'd both class him as a chocolate connoisseur of sorts, who prefers fine dark chocolate and nothing that would try to impersonate real chocolate. After some insistence, he tried the chocolate and happily stated that it tasted like regular, normal, good quality dark chocolate. Needless to say that I had to hide the rest of my chocolate so that I would be able to eat more of it the following day.

The only downside is that since Easter, I have not been able to find any more of their chocolate in stores. The Australian Kinnerton site list several stores in Australia where you can buy their chocolate, but I have not been able to find the same allergy range. I'll keep searching, but in the meantime, I have found that if I look for raw chocolate (sometimes labelled organic chocolate), then there usually isn't any dairy content. However, as I don't often eat chocolate, I've yet to try the ones that I've bought. When I do, I'll add to this post.