What Candies are Vegan?
Vegans with a sweet tooth, search no more. The ultimate list of vegan candy to answer all of your candy-related questions is here. You'll be so excited that your favorite candy is on the list.
The limits of a vegan lifestyle certainly stretch into the realm of candy just as much as any other part of life.
Not to mention, there can be some discrepancies between what is vegan to one person and what is vegan to another. Before diving into the candy list, there are a few things to be aware of. You can also consider vegan snacks from Ideal Nutrition or similar deliveries if you're not sure what snacks are vegan-friendly.
Ingredients to Look out For
- Carmine: A red pigment made from crushed insects.
- Gelatin: Made from the skin, ligaments, tendons, and bones of cows or pigs.
- Confectioner's glaze (Shellac): Common candy coating made from the excretions of insects.
Controversial Ingredients
- Sugar
- Palm Oil
Sugar and palm oil raise some questions about how far you're taking your vegan lifestyle. For many vegans, if the ingredients label is clear of animal products that is enough.
However, it's important for each individual to decide their own personal boundaries and priorities when it comes to their vegan lifestyle, and to remember that veganism is ultimately about minimizing harm to animals as far as possible and practicable, rather than achieving a perfect or "pure" lifestyle.
The problem with sugar is that bone char is often used as a whitening agent. Delving even further into controversy is the situation with palm oil.
Palm oil itself is vegan, however, the industry leads to deforestation that destroys the homes of orangutans. For some this is enough to exclude these items from their diet and consider them off the vegan friendly list. Thus, what candies are vegan to some of you may not pass the test for others.
In order to clear the air, you should be aware that most of the candies on this list contain processed sugar.
This doesn't necessarily mean the sugar used in these products is processed with bone char. However, it is probably near impossible to find out as this varies between manufacturers. This list of foods originally posted by PETA is the database of all candy that is vegan. All items on this list will be free of animal products.
The Ultimate Vegan Candy List
Items with an asterisk(*) are free of any controversial ingredients like sugar and palm oil and are completely vegan friendly to even the most strict out there. So, what candies are vegan? Here are some candies that are vegan.
- Airheads
- Big League Chew Bubble Gum
- Brach's Cinnamon Hard Candy*
- Brach's Mandarin Orange Slices
- Brach's Root Beer Barrels*
- Brach's Star Brites
- Charm's Sweet Pops
- Chick-O-Sticks
- Chocolove Dark Chocolate Bar
- Cracker Jacks
- Cry Baby Candy*
- Dots
- Dum Dums
- Ferrara Atomic Fireballs
- Ferrara Chocolate Wafer Swirls
- Fruit by the Foot*
- Haribo Sour S'ghetti Gummi Candy
- Hubba Bubba Gum
- Jolly Rancher Hard Candy
- Jolly Rancher Lollipops
- Joyva Chocolate Covered Orange Ring Gels
- Joyva Chocolate Covered Raspberry Ring Gels
- Jujubes
- Jujyfruits
- Landgarten Amarena Cherries in Dark Chocolate*
- Landgarten Amarena Ginger in Dark Chocolate*
- Landgarten Organic Pumpkin-Snack Dark Chocolate*
- Landgarten Raspberries in Dark Chocolate*
- Lindt Excellence Cocoa Bars (70+% cocoa)
- Mary Jane Candy
- Nabisco Ginger Snaps
- Nabisco Oreo Chocolate Cones
- Nature's Path Deep Chocolate Signature Cookies
- Nature’s Path Ginger Spice Signature Series Cookies
- Nature’s Path Lemon Poppy Signature Series Cookies
- Smartie's (U.S. version)*
- Sour Patch Kids
- Super Bubble Bubble Gum
- Swedish Fish
- Tic Tac Mints
- Whole Foods Organic Chocolate Truffles
- Zotz
Processed Sugar and the Vegan Candy List
That's a lot of candy to choose from, but this list of vegan candy isn't exactly the most exclusive. If you're wondering about the large number of candies that contain processed sugar, it's really a means of helping to make the vegan lifestyle appealing to more people. If it's even possible to make this very exclusive lifestyle more inclusive.
A note from PETA explains this eloquently. The thought of becoming a vegan is very intimidating to some, especially when taken to the degree that many vegans commit to. To help those people, and those of you who are a little more hardcore, this list of candies that are vegan includes the information for both of you.
The Ultimate Candies that are Vegan
For the dedicated among you that forego processed sugar and palm oil, here are the few candies that made the cut:
- Brach's Cinnamon Hard Candy
- Brach's Root Beer Barrels
- Cry Baby Candy
- Fruit by the Foot
- The Landgarten Amarena Varieties
- Smartie's (U.S. version)
You may be surprised at the amount of options you have in candy land depending on your views. Fruit by the Foot, can you believe it's vegan? Now, get out there and get your sweet tooth on! The next time you're asking yourself if something is vegan check out these helpful posts to help you solve the constant questions that pop up in a vegan's everyday life.
