Gelatin, which itself is essentially a protein derived from the bones, skin, and connective parts of animals including cows, chickens, pigs, and fish. This is unfortunately a component of most gummy bears.
Since the majority of gummy bears are not vegan, it’s crucial to offer vegans options that they may appreciate and buy without feeling guilty.
There is no better location to acquire these vegan substitutes than online. Even though it could be challenging to locate some of them in a nearby grocery store.
We have done all the hard work for you. We have gathered together the 10 best gelatin free vegan gummy bears that you can purchase yourself.
In addition to that, we will briefly touch upon how gummy bears are created and how you could even make your own.
The Best 10 Vegan And gelatin Free Gummy Bears
There are a lot of vegan and gelatin free gummy bears available online, so it can be difficult knowing where to look or who to trust.
In addition to that, there is a broad range of flavors to choose from as well. You don’t always have to stick with the sweet and fruity gummy bears. There are plain and savory versions available as well.
To make everything easier, in this section we have outlined the top 10 gelatin free and vegan gummy bears that we believe you should consider.
All of these use organic and natural coloring and flavors. This makes them not only taste great, but look great as well.
Even though their gummies are in the shape of bunnies rather than bears, the flavor is just as great regardless of the shape. Additionally, the rabbits are adorable.
These gummies are produced with natural fruits and are certified organic and gelatin-free. As a result, they don’t include any artificial flavors, fake colors, or high fructose corn syrup. There are many package sizes available that you can buy.
A great benefit of these treats is that a full day’s worth of vitamin C is provided by each pouch.
Ingredients Included: Sodium Citrate, Natural Flavor, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Pear Juice Concentrate, Organic Carnauba Wax, Organic Cane Sugar, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Organic Tapioca Syrup Solids,Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Color (Organic Black Carrot, Organic Black Currant Extracts), Citric Acid, Pectin, and Water.
Starting with the fact that they are gelatin-free, non-GMO, and certified organic. These organic fruit bears created by Surf Sweets are another intriguing substitute for traditional gummy bears.
Since, pectin is used by Surf Sweets in place of gelatin for both their sour and sweet gummies. You won’t discover any components that are made from animals in this product.
They are also extremely sweet and covered in sugar. Which is something that not everyone enjoys.
Ingredients Included: Colors Added (Organic Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Ascorbic Acid, Natural Flavors, Organic Cane Sugar, Organic Turmeric, Organic Grape Juice Concentrate, and Citric Acid.
We are aware that youngsters occasionally enjoy a sweet treat. With Lovely Honey Gummy Bears, you can feel comfortable offering them these pure, natural licorice bites. Apple, cherry, orange, and lemon are some of their most well-liked flavor combinations.
These “Honey Gummies” or “Gummy Bears without Gelatin” are the first honey-based gummy bears ever produced. Give these gummy bears a try if you’re searching for a more nutritious, vegan, and safe snack to give your children.
The Gummy Cubs from The Organic Candy Factory are available in two varieties: Peach and Mixed Berry. Which essentially combines flavors like Boysenberry, Blackberry, and Raspberry together.
The brand stands out among the market, which frequently chooses the same flavors, thanks to their distinctive flavor profiles.
These Gummy Cubs are the very first kosher and organic gummy bears in the world. They even come in a resealable bag. These are yet another option to take into account. However, they are known to be sugar-coated and stickier than other gummies.
Ingredients Included: Organic Grape Juice Concentrate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Organic Sugar, Ascorbic Acid, Retinol Acetate, Pectin, Natural Flavors, and Citric Acid.
These may have you hooked after just one taste, thanks to the perfect quantity of cinnamon flavor and the lack of high amounts of fructose corn syrup and artificial colors. Although the texture is less pleasing than the originals, the flavor is irresistible.
They are also the perfect size, and the reduced thickness may be a good thing if you have dental concerns.
They are, however, unquestionably more pricey compared to artificial cinnamon gummies. Nevertheless, we must remember that they are non-GMO, certified organic, and the sugar is also certified Fairtrade, which is more ethical.
Ingredients Included: Colored with Fruit and Vegetable Extracts (Organic Carrot, Organic Blackcurrant and Radish), Natural Cinnamon Flavor, Organic Carnauba Wax, Organic Apple Juice, Organic Agave Powder, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Native Starch Blend (Organic Tapioca Starch, Corn Starch), Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Cane Sugar and Organic Tapioca Dextrose.
Organic fruit snacks from YumEarth are offered in two distinct flavor bundles. Fruit Flavor, which includes flavors like Very Very Cherry, Banana Blast, Perfectly Peach and Strawberry Smash. Then the other is a tropical bundle that includes flavors like Playful Pineapple, Razzmatazz Berry, and Mango Tango.
Yum Earth isn’t a vegan company, but they have made adjustments like avoiding high fructose corn syrup and replacing gelatin with pectin in several of their goods.
Additionally, this item has some of the most positive reviews of any vegan gummies on Amazon.
Ingredients Included: Organic Sunflower Oil, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Organic Carnauba Wax, Organic Rice Syrup, Pectin, Organic Color From Concentrate (Apple, Carrot, Pumpkin, Blackcurrant), Organic Cane Sugar, and Ascorbic Acid.
German gummies are well known for being very delectable, which is why we have put J. Luehders gummies on this list.
Additionally, J. Luehders is not a newcomer to veganism. They have consistently employed vegan ingredients to create their vegan gummies, which says a lot about their brand’s principles.
Although they may not be bear-shaped, they are still worth trying, and if you do, we are confident you won’t be sorry.
Ingredients Included: Sustainably Sourced Palm Oil, Glucose Syrup, Fruit and Vegetable Juice For Natural Color (Black Carrot), Fruit Juice From Concentrate (Pomegranate, Apple, Elderberry, Blackberry), Pectin, Natural Vegan Flavors, Sugar (Non-Bone Char), Tripotassium Citrate, Citric Acid, and Carnauba Wax.
The Scandinavian Swimmers from Trader Joe’s come in a unique assortment of vibrantly colored sea creatures including lobsters and sharks with a really chewy texture. Which make them have a similar texture associated with regular gummy bears.
The Scandinavian Swimmers are significantly more affordable compared to every other vegan option on our list because they can be purchased at a very low price at Trader Joe’s.
However, this price drop is probably due to the use of less expensive components, such as palm oil and cane sugar, as well as the absence of organic ingredients.
What You Should Be Aware Of When Purchasing Vegan Gummy Bears?
You must be aware of the substances to avoid when buying vegan alternatives. This is because conventional gummy bears unfortunately include substances that are not vegan.
The following are some ingredients you may wish to stay away from:
Gelatin
The main factor preventing many traditional gummy bears from being vegan is gelatin. As a binding substance, gelatin is largely responsible for the distinctive gummy texture of gummy bears.
Sadly, it’s made from the scraps that the meat industry throws away, and it frequently contains connective tissue, hooves, skin, and pulverized bones.
The good news is that alternatives are simple to locate. Agar-agar, carrageenan and pectin are a few of the most well-known substitutes. They are either derived from fruit peel or seaweed.
Beeswax
Beeswax, which has been utilized since the dawn of humanity, is used to finish the creation of candies like Haribos. The gummies get a shine from beeswax, and it also keeps them from clinging to one another in the bag.
Bees create beeswax naturally to construct honeycombs, the framework required to preserve honey and protect baby bees. It is also sometimes known as cera alba.
According to some vegans, honey and beeswax are both vegan products as long as bees are not harmed during production.
Also, as long as the beekeeper leaves plenty of honey behind for the bees to have a healthy population. In other words, these ingredients have to come from ethical beekeeping. Which is a term that is unacceptable to the majority of vegans.
Thus, it is down to your personal standpoint on whether you will accept beeswax in your gummies or not.
Carmine
Natural red dye, sometimes known as natural red 4, may be found in some gummy bears. It may also occasionally be referred to as cochineal extract or carmine. In essence, the dark-red hue of gummies is due to a red dye.
Unfortunately, because it comes from the bug cochineal, carmine cannot be consumed by vegans. In some regions of Central and South America, the cochineal thrives on cactus.
Before the Spanish invasion, both the Aztec and Mayan populations used the red acid as a dye to scare away predators.
Artificial Colors
You will also discover a ton of synthetic colors in addition to carmine.
To make white, green, yellow, orange, and red sweets, for instance, Haribo combines Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics (FD&C) together.
This includes Yellow No. 5, Blue No. 1, and Red No. 40. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized these hues of color additives.
Why do some vegans object to the use of synthetic colors? Well, some vegans think that animal testing leaves behind artificial hues. While these chemicals are fundamentally vegan.
It is also notable that some of these hues, such as Red 40, nevertheless appear to be put through animal testing. This is in order to gauge whether the color poses any health hazards for humans.
Cane Sugar
Sugarcane or sugar beets can be used to make refined sugar in the traditional sense. While these varieties have similar flavors and textures, they have different refinement methods.
On the one hand, there is beet sugar that has been crystallized after going through a diffuser and being combined with non-animal additives.
On the other hand, based on how it is produced, cane sugar may or may not be vegan.
Unfortunately, some sugar producers treat, filter, and bleach sugar using bone char, which is frequently the reason why cane sugar has such a pure, white tint that is free of contaminants.
If you’ve never heard of bone char, it is essentially a powder that resembles charcoal. It is made by burning the remains, including bones, of cattle to a high temperature.
In spite of the fact that more suppliers are depending on substitutes like activated ion-exchange and carbon resins, which ultimately help accomplish the same objective.
There is still a widespread use of bone char in the United States. It’s nearly hard to determine whether a product genuinely contains vegan-friendly sugar because it’s so challenging to determine what kind of sugar was used in it.
As a result, some vegans opt to purchase goods that contain sugar made from sugar beets or sugar that has undergone no processing at all (i.e: organic sugar).
There are also different substitutes to sugar as well, like stevia or sweeteners.
Are Vegan Gummy Bears Healthy?
Although, there are many situations where it can be proven that plant food is better than animal food. We can’t say it’s true when the goods are heavy in sugar. Thus, we all know that gummy bears are very sugary and sweet treats.
Vegan gummy bears are created from all-natural or organic materials, but at the end of the day, they are still sweets.
In other words, a candy is healthier if it includes less sugar. You need to be careful not to consume certain goods regularly or in excess. However, that doesn’t mean you ought to totally avoid them.
If you are watching the amount of sugar you are consuming, you need to check how much sugar your gummy bears, vegan or not, contain by looking at the ingredients.
Making Gummy Bears At Home
We want to offer you a cheaper alternative to shop bought vegan gummy bears because they can be pretty pricey. Especially if you adore gummy bears and enjoy cooking.
This Edgy Veggies recipe uses Agar Agar Powder, which is made from red algae, instead of gelatin. It is the ideal gelatin substitute because it has a natural jelly-like consistency.
Remember that these sweets have a much softer texture than regular gummy bears.
Additionally, there aren’t many components required. The number of ingredients you need for this recipe depends on the flavors you want to produce.
In this recipe, they tell you how to make clear, green, orange, red and purple gummy bears. They all use natural juices to provide a real and natural sweetness and fruity flavor.
Making your own gummy bears allows you to control the ingredients being added. Additionally, you have control over how much sugar is added, making them a healthier option than store-bought.
In addition to that, this recipe takes just 30 minutes to complete. Therefore, you can have a batch of your own homemade gummy bears in flavors that you love the most at one time.
Are BlackForest Gummy Bears Vegan Friendly?
It is a common misconception that BlackForest produces vegan treats. Yet, gummy bears from the Black Forest are not vegan.
They have a lot of plant-based ingredients, but they also have gelatin, therefore they aren’t suited for vegans. Maybe one day, they will substitute their non-vegan ingredients for vegan alternatives.
A lot of people see these gummy bears as quite healthy. This is because they don’t use any artificial flavors. Instead, they are made using real fruit juice concentrate in your favorite flavors.
However, unfortunately, these gummy bears also contain gelatin. As a result, they are not suitable to be consumed by vegans.
Is Haribo Gummy Bears Vegan?
Haribo’s are a popular sweet that a lot of people enjoy, thanks to their range of flavor and bright colors. Yet with that being said, the gummy bears from Haribo are not vegan.
They are inedible to vegans simply because they contain substances like gelatin and beeswax.
It is always important to check the ingredients on the back of your gummy bear packaging.
Is Albanese Gummy Bears Vegan?
The manufacturer has stated that Albanese gummy bears are unfortunately not vegan. This is because in their gummy bears, they use gelatin that has been created from both cows and pigs.
As a result, any vegans should definitely steer clear of these gummy bears due to the gelatin.
Final Thoughts
Due to the fact that they frequently contain substances like gelatin or beeswax, the majority of gummy bears you’ll find in stores and online are not vegan.
The good news is that even previously non-vegan firms are embracing new operating procedures and utilizing vegan substitutes, like pectin. Therefore, more vegan alternatives are becoming available.
If you are looking for some vegan gummy bears, then we have shown you the 10 best gelatin free and vegan options out there. All of them taste fantastic and have that similar gummy bear texture.
With that being said, you can also make your own gummy bears, so you can be assured what is going into them.
We hope you have found this article useful. Now you have 10 new gelatin-free and vegan gummy bear alternatives to choose from.
Hi, I’m Eve Mason and I’ve been a vegan since almost five years now.I can honestly say that veganism has changed my life for the better.The past few years I’ve been on a quest to find affordable vegan friendly food.Fortunately, meat-free alternatives have now become available in most supermarkets, which has made my life a lot easier.
I love cooking at home, but for those who don’t like cooking at all, there are more and more restaurants that offer vegan options as well nowadays.
I hope you enjoy my website and have fun preparing your own homemade vegan meals.
