Vegetarian sugar free sweets

Vegetarian sweets

As a vegetarian I am always looking out for sweets that I can eat.  To give sweets a certain texture many sweets contain gelatine which is made from animal protein, usually derived from pork or beef.  This means that one should be aware that Kosher or Halal sweets may contain gelatine derived from beef.

Some of the colourants and other additives in sweets are not vegetarian.  One very common red food colour called cochineal is derived from crushed insects.  A good article to read up about which food additives may be unsuitable is published by the vegetarian society https://www.vegsoc.org/Enumbers.

Sugarfree sweets are as likely to contain non vegetarian ingredients as non sugar free sweets. This is particularly true of sweets like gums which mostly contain gelatine.  I am looking for sugar free gums that do not contain gelatine.  For boiled sweets the choice is much greater as you only have to be wary of the additives.  I love peppermints, so it is fortunate for me that most mints are suitable for vegetarians!  I have yet to find sugar free marshmallows that are vegetarian though there are some marshmallows made with sugar are vegetarian.

It is a pity that sweet manufacturers have not addressed the needs of vegetarians by labelling products as being “suitable for vegetarians”.  This information makes my choice much easier when I shop for many other grocery products.   At Sweetswithout we have included a search facility that makes finding gelatine free sweets easy to find.