RSS
print
email
Why It's Good:
Kids love candy. You love your kids. These treats let your kid be a kid on Halloween while keeping artificial stuff out of their diet.
Why It's Green:
All of the candies contain organic or natural ingredients. Sugars, dyes, coatings, and flavorings are replaced by things like molasses, cane juice, and rice or tapioca syrup; beet and black carrot juices, turmeric, and purple berry; beeswax, real fruit extracts, and more. "Artificial" is conspicuously absent from ingredient lists, so these taste just like the real thing—we tested them ourselves! Yuck free. See individual websites for detailed nutrition facts.
Where To Get It:
Click on the above products for pricing and direct buy-it links.
Trick or Sweet?
Halloween, my favorite time of year, meant I got to be one of my idols, Pocahontas, and troll for candy with my brothers, a Chinese opera singer and a KISS band member (yes, really). As the strangest looking bunch on the block, we must've scared off the competition, because we always returned home with heavy pillowcases. Treats were normally just that—a treat—but that night, all bets were off and we reveled in the glory of sugar. I shudder now to think of all that artificial flavoring and coloring, and saccharin and dyes not yet banned by the FDA—each candy piece so sticky sweet we'd jam our jaws shut. No wonder we were sick hours later. Today, watchful parents curb sweets intake—so much so, however, that a kid can miss out on the best part of being a kid: candy. So for this Halloween, we rounded up some not-so-scary treats:
Sunspire Sun Drops (center): Dead-ringers for those colorful candy-coated chocolate discs we grew up with. Fill a bowl at a party—they won't know the difference; also available in trick-or-treat-able snack packs. Comes in a peanut version, too.
Yummy Earth lollipops and drops (back, right): Certified organic, and out-of-this world real fruit flavors like Pomegranate Pucker. Set a bin by the door and watch it empty fast. Good for kids with allergies and other dietary restrictions. In small and bulk packs and bins.
College Farm lollipops (center, behind gum): Yup, we love lollies. Perfect for Halloween, in festive black (chocolate) and orange (citrus). Certified organic; comes in (eco-friendly) small or bulk packaging.
Sharkies Yummy Gummies (right, behind lollipops): Monster sharks are in the news, and your kids will love eating their own pint-size version. Fruit juice and Vitamin C infuse these certified organic chewy treats. Snack-pack size for doorbell-ringing scary monsters.
Get Real candy: In funky fun flavors like licorice, raspberry cocoa, and lemon ginger, these certified organic treats in retro graphic tins make great party favors.
Surf Sweets: A vegetarian or vegan's delight, these certified organic jelly beans and gummy bears and swirls are packed with Vitamin C. Available in mid-sized packs.
Figamajigs (left, front): A chocolate-covered fig dream, these drops and mini bars are low in fat and high in fiber. All in snack packs for visiting hungry ghouls.
Glee Gum (center, front): Let ‘em chew to their heart's content—this gum comes from nature, in tangerine, mint, and cinnamon. Comes in cute retro palm-sized boxes for older trick-or-treaters.
Hero Yummy Sourz gummy worms: Your favorite worms, only better, with that perfect meld of sweet and sour. Holiday themed in bulk packs of individually wrapped worms for great-and-ghastly party bowls. (Available at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, or call customer service for more information: 1-800-500-4376)
Bloomsberry & Co. chocolate bars: Save these for the winner of the apple-bobbing contest at your Halloween shindig. Full-size, all-natural gourmet chocolate bars packaged with images of witches and brooms.
—Elizabeth McMullen