Once I found out I was a coeliac and what that meant as in only being able to eat gluten and wheat free food; I simply had to find out if all my favourite foods were going to pass the gluten free test. Sadly many of them did not. However one did, sort of.
Chocolate.
Some brands and varieties are gluten free.
Cadbury
Thank you Cadbury for making life a little easier and making your dairy milk variety gluten free. There are other varieties that Cadbury make that are gluten free, Top Deck, Hazelnut and Mint Bubbly (so yummy!). Check out this link here and it will help you and let you know what else is gluten free. Please be careful and read the ingredients. I personally cannot have glucose from wheat syrup but I know others can and some of the chocolate listed as gluten free has the glucose from wheat syrup.
Nestle
They shouldn’t rate a mention because now hardly of their chocolate is gluten free. Areo’s used to be but now longer are. I do believe the Melts are okay and as are the freckles. Here is their ‘free from gluten‘ list, which lists everything they sell that is gluten free.
Lindt
Hardly any of Lindt chocolates are gluten free. I am pretty sure it is just some of the plain blocks of the dark chocolate. Their website doesn’t let us so please check the ingredients. Edited: okay I have heard back from Lindt (via twitter) and they advised that their chocolate is not suitable for coeliacs. Here is a link to explain why.
Toblerone
I know the original variety of this is gluten free because I have eaten it with no problems. Plus my husband has made me a gluten free toblerone cheesecake with them. I am sure that all except the honeycomb crisp are ok. Here is the product page which also has the ingredient listing.
Sweet William
Ah our own very range of gluten free and dairy free chocolate. Sweet William is nice and is a simple choice. They come in choc chips now so you can bake with them. Should be able to find them in the health section of the supermarket. (I know they are at Coles)
Supermarket Brands
Coles Brand is NOT gluten free, however their home brand cooking chocolate chips are. (go figure)
Woolworths Brand is gluten free, or so it was last time I checked. **edited to add, as Amanda pointed out in the comments, she has had trouble with the Select brand, which is Woolworths. Which goes to show, you have to check the ingredients all the time. Anyone else had experience with Select? Would love for you to let me know.
Aldi Brand – I am not sure, can anyone help me out there?
Have I missed someone? What is your favourite chocolate?
Whittakers? Haigs in Melbourne?
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Personally the chocolatier shops I have not had luck with but haven’t investigated them enough to mention them. I had forgotten about Whittakers but I’ll check them out thank you!
Is ‘select’ brand Coles or Woolies? That one isn’t gluten free as I discovered the hard way!
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Oh Amanda Select brand is Woolies, I thought it was gluten free! There you go, I’ll change the post. Thanks
Thanks for sharing. We tend to stick to Cadburys here. My mum has on occassion got me some divine specifically Gluten Free chocolate from a shop near her. Tastes so good. I am planning on getting some on my next visit.
Sadly companies change things so often we have to read labels constantly or suffer the consequences.
I tend to stick to Cadbury’s as the safest option, TBH. I use the Nestle melts in baking too.
Whittaker’s are g free except for, I think, the kiwi fruit variety and the toffee milks. I have eaten other Whittaker’s without dramas and I’m a *very* sensitive gluten barometer (as my gastroenterologist merrily informed me, “flamboyantly Coeliac!”) Haigh’s state that their products have “no detectable gluten” but I had a reaction to some and would not eat it again based on that.
Almost all Green & Black’s varieties are g free and they are among my favourites for a special treat, but too $$ to be everyday chocolate here.
Most chocolatiers can tell you which products are safe and which aren’t – I’ve always found I’ve had a good experience at Koko Black in Melbourne, for instance.
Wait a minute … I think I know a bit too much about chocolate
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A lot of the chocolate that Aldi sells is gluten free.
Sweet William you can get at Darrell Lea (as they cannot guarantee any of theirs is gluten free so they stock the Sweet William line).
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I have had some luck with gluten free chocolate, except that I have to cut out soy as well. And as you may have seen just about every chocolate has the common viscosity reducing agent – soya lecithin
Only ones I’ve found to not contain soy are Cadbury’s from the UK (some contain wheat and soy but most it’s just contains milk, may contain nuts). They have raw chocolate bars here but I’m not exactly fond of them and I usually find myself going to odd places for easter treats.
I have recently made an order from Amedei that is being shipped from Italy at this time. I have yet to receive it but will be reviewing it in due course. It’s some of the best chocolate ever (no soy lecithin) and no gluten is processed at the factory. Can’t hardly wait to try it!
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Hi Amy, I hope your chocolate arrives soon and you enjoy it.
Why doesn’t lindt advise us on this?! I don’t seem to recall seeing ‘may contain barley’ on the labels of their products that didn’t contain the barley malt extract!
I can see the frustration here. I took Lindt to task on the 3.6ppm claim some months ago, as one cannot actually test the gluten content of barley or oats like they can wheat and rye. Something fishy is going on indeed…
Many chocolatiers include ‘may contain’ statements on their products and this is not just a precaution… many of the bigger ones DON’T clean their lines (Nestle) properly and often just flush their moulds with left-over chocolate to get rid of discernible traces. Also Green & Blacks employs this same practice. I personally don’t care for whittakers much – just a little too gritty.
Just about all Aldi chocolates contain wheat (or residues of it). I wouldn’t go near them.
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Wow Kelly, you have done your research and thanks so much for sharing what you have learned.
Thanks so much for this post. My sister is gluten free as is a good friend and I am always mucking up when I buy chocolate. Now I will know this guide is here
I ate Merci chocolate and had a severe hearth arritmie shortly after. I cannot eat Gluten because this is a reaction I have. It took me a long time to find out. Because doctors said I am crazy at the heart Institute when I told them that there is a link with my heart problems.I checked the label to late and , ingredients where Dextrosa and Maltodextrosa. But I did not learn because so far I had no problem with chocolate. But somebody oftered me lite pit of Lindt and the same reaction again Maltodextrosa.
So, in my cause I have to be even more careful. I am so limited what to eat and eat almost no porcessed food. But eben with the icecream I had a bad experience, it had gluten. But why such a severe reaction on my hearth. I only could explain it with acupuncture. The hearth meridian is together with the smal Indestine meridian, one is Yang the other yin and the saml indestine has the problem in Gluten allergies or coeliacs.But it is so fast almost in minutes . And this is not psycological like doctors tell me.I do not even know that gluten is in it.
most of aldi’s chocolate was no longer GF last time i checked (which was probably year ago so could easily have changed!). the individually wrapped fingers were but that was about all i think.
it’s interesting that the cadbury website doesn’t reflect what’s on the packs, unless we’re still buying old packs. my daughter hasn’t had an issue with snack chocolate for instance, even though their site now states it’s not GF (it used to be there)
ah thanks Karen, I keep meaning to check when I am in there but always forget.