Gimbal’s candy is allergy free and delicious

Ok, this may seem odd given the way most of you know me (through the blog, not in real life) which means you only know what I’ve shared since 2007 or whenever I started this thing.  Buuuuuuut…I used to eat candy as a meal.  The bulk bin stuff, sweet and sour and sugar coated…the more neon the better and that’s the truth.  Sometimes I’d have candy for both lunch and dinner.  Of the same day.

I single handedly kept the Ackerman candy store in business…and Ralph’s candy aisle with the bulk bins?  That was my home.  For reals.  I wish I were exaggerating but I legitimately consumed hot tamales and sour apple O’s regularly for dinner throughout college.

The saddest part about what I just revealed is that I didn’t like chocolate back then.  Not even a little bit.  Man was I missing out.  But not really, because I still adore chewy sweet sugar candy.  I just don’t eat it because, well, I’m super healthy and sophisticated now.  😉  Oh, you didn’t know that italics are the new sarcasm text?  Ha.

My little dude thinks that every package that comes to the house is a present for him.

In most cases, he’s not wrong [amazon prime for the win].  But unlike the usual contents (diapers, wipes, etc.) this box was way more exciting.  Because it is CANDY that he can actually EAT!

So June is National Candy Month!  Were you in on this?  I like that we have embraced food holidays so much in this country that last week donuts had more hashtags than legitimate news stories.  Social media is fun though. Why not go with it.

Must.  Hold.  All.  The.  Candy.

Full disclosure: P doesn’t even know the word “candy”.  I think he knew it at one point, back during Halloween when you couldn’t avoid it, but he never tried any himself so who knows if he remembers.  [Who am I kidding, my kid remembers EVERYTHING]

When he first opened the package he thought the Gimbal’s bags were full of beans (the kind we planted in the garden) and he suggested we do gardening right then and there.  So sweet.

As it turns out, Gimbal’s contacted me to review their products for June’s theme and I said heck yeah because (a) aforementioned love affair and (b) their fine candies are totally allergen friendly.

The company prides itself on such:

Gimbal’s candies are peanut-free, tree nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and egg-free. These ingredients are responsible for countless allergic reactions across the nation. Many Gimbal’s consumers have personally thanked us for making our candies available to them. We are happy to create delicious treats that can be enjoyed by so many people, including those living with food allergies.

If you are a parent or caregiver of a child with allergies, you know how big of a deal this is.  It’s a scary scary world out there when your child could have a reaction due to cross contamination in food production.  I already have to go out of my way to make special foods for P – when he goes to birthday parties, when we eat at restaurants, etc. – and he’s only TWO!  What lies ahead terrifies me just a little bit.  So having a treat food that’s “normal” (by social standards) that he can both share with others and eat himself…well…like I said, it is a big freakin’ deal.

I’m going to be honest here and admit that I will probably eat most of these (I already tackled most of the sour jelly beans bag as a solo mission when Kyle was out of town), but P is just now beginning to learn about the concept of “sometimes foods” (aka treats) that we eat only so often.  I refuse to give morality to food so he will not hear foods being called “good” or “bad” from me, but he also doesn’t eat sweets.  The “cookies” that he eats are home-made by moi and are basically oatmeal baked into a puck.  I don’t mean for that to sound holier than thou (to any parents who’s kids have eaten ice cream, cake, and whatnot, you are lucky, trust me).  In essence, his palate is untainted due to my inability to buy processed foods for him with his numerous allergies.  It’s both a blessing and a curse I guess, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts to jelly beans.

In the meantime, I think I want to do something fun with the cherry lovers ones.  Cherry season has me all gaga over the flavor.