When I first entered the realm of vegetarianism as a naive teen, I continued eating jelly sweets for a fair while, blissfully unaware that they contained ground-up animal bones, ligaments, and tendons – also known as gelatine.
Once enlightened, I think I literally gagged and then proceeded to rage about how ridiculous it was that a sweet would contain such atrocities!
Now, in my oh-so-much-wiser mid-twenties, I have become much more sensible in my ‘protests’, and I actively seek out gelatine-free sweets to satisfy my sweet tooth. Here are some of my favourite finds (a few are UK-based, but most are available worldwide):
TOP GELATINE-FREE SWEETS
Haribo Funny Mix
Want to join the happy world of Haribo? You can! The Funny Mix is full of hilarious yummy gelatine-free goodness. Slightly stickier and chewier than the original sweets, these tasty treats received such high praise by my non-vego friend as “way better than the normal ones”.
The Giant Strawbs and a few others in the Haribo range are also vegetarian but the Funny Mix seems to be stocked by more places. And it comes in bigger bags…
Veggie Percy Pig
Percy is so cute, I just want to eat him up… And now I can! Released by M&S just over a year ago, Veggie Percy is a delicious little fruit-flavoured friend. His green ear lets you know he’s vegetarian-friendly (just in case any non-veggies sneak in…).
Panda LiQUorice
I know not everyone loves liquorice but for those who don’t, firstly… you’re wrong. And secondly, Panda make other flavours of ‘liquorice’ including raspberry, cherry and blueberry so even if you’re not a fan of aniseed, you can still enjoy some Panda goodies. Panda use all natural colours and flavours and contain no preservatives. Most of the Panda range is vegan but the Licorice Mix does and the Liquorice Creams may contain milk powder. I have tried the original, blueberry and liquorice creams – so, so good!
(By the way, it’s not me who can’t decide whether it’s spelt ‘licorice’ or ‘liquorice’, it’s Panda; I just wrote the product names as they appear on the packaging!)
Jelly Beans
Despite the fact that they have the word ‘jelly’ in their name, jelly beans are gloriously gelatine free. Hooray! I prefer the good old fashioned kind to Jelly Belly beans, which are over-rated in my opinion. However, I was pretty excited recently when I got to try their Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans (in case you live under a rock, they’re the jelly beans Harry Potter and friends enjoy). Unsure whether the back of the packet was just ‘joking’ when it listed the flavours earthworm, vomit and rotten egg, I had to try them… it wasn’t a joke. You’ve been warned.
Turkish Delight
I went to Turkey last year and this stuff blew my mind. I may have eaten Turkish Delight on occasion over the years but the cheap stuff that you buy anywhere else just doesn’t compare. And that horrible chocolate-covered Fry’s Turkish Delight bar Cadbury makes (comes in the pink wrapper in Favourites) is not anything like real Turkish Delight!
If you are partial to the chewy, sugar-dusted little cubes, don’t worry – although they make look suspiciously gelatinous (great word), the ‘gel’ is just made from sugar and starch.
Biona Organic Sweets
Biona make a range of jelly lolly favourites that are all vegan! This includes Cola Bottles, Mini Fruit Bears (I have searched for veggie-friendly gummi bears for so long!), Pineapple Chews, Sour Snakes, and Tutti Frutti Gums. They’re all flippin’ delicious. Biona is stocked in health food stores around the UK and Europe and there are also stockists in Australia and Singapore.
Final Thoughts
Before you go and indulge in tonnes of sweets, just a tip: You may think hard candies are pretty safe. But watch out – even if sweets are gelatine-free, it doesn’t automatically make them vegetarian.
Make sure to check there is no cochineal (aka Carmine, Crimson Lake, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470 and E120) listed in the ingredients. Cochineal is a dye extracted from female cochineal insects and is used for red, orange and purple colouring in many sweets (and other foodstuffs including yoghurt, juice, jam, soft drink etc.). Cochineal extract is basically made by crushing up dead insects… Yum.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to ‘test’ some more bone-free, bug-free sweets. And if I don’t post for a few days, I may have fallen into a sugar-induced coma…
What are your favourite gelatine-free sweets?
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Really want some Percy Pigs right now.
I still have some left. I will bring them on Wednesday! Saves me eating them all myself. 😉
Have you tried the Goody Good Stuff range – all gelatine-free and very yummy!
I’ve never seen those but their website says they export to the UK, so I’m going to keep an eye out! Thanks for the tip! =)
I buy them in Holland and Barrett, Waitrose or the Vegan Store online – proper veggie fizzy cola bottles – Yum!
Oh, amazing! Thanks! Will be popping into Holland & Barrett this weekend. 😉
Thanks for this! It’s crazy how animal products sneak into foods you wouldn’t expect! I’m so glad I stumbled across your blog! Love it! 🙂
You’re most welcome! And I know – you’ve really got to check the labels and they do tend to sneak some nasty stuff in there.
And thanks! Just followed yours too. I love finding like minded people in the blogosphere. =)
Woop! I only recently discovered Veggie Percy Pigs, but I had no idea about the M&S jelly beans. Thank you for enlightening me!
Percy is sooooo good!
And you’re welcome. Enjoy! I love jelly beans and I love sour lollies so they’re perfect for me! (Of course, M&S do normal jelly beans as well if sour isn’t your thing.) Yum!
I have, more than once, overdosed on gelatine-free cola bottles. Just can’t help myself! I used to devour the odd bag of the Haribo Funny Mix on my way home from work too, when I worked at Holland and Barrett last summer while studying xx
I have been known to ‘accidentally’ eat an entire bag of Funny Mix… Minus, the coke bottles though, as not a fan. You can have mine! 😛
hahaha, thank you! xxx
Oh my WOW, I used to LOVE the regular Percy Pigs when I lived in London. I am sooooo excited to hear that they now have a vegan version, whoohoo!! Will they ship to Australia??!!! Say yes, M&S, say yes! 🙂 I also DID NOT KNOW that about Turkish Delight or Jelly Belly beans so I am officially in love with you! Biona lollies rock too, I regularly munch them.
Haha, thanks! I hope M&S can ship Percy to Australia or I will be crushed when I eventually go back home! Might have to stock up before I leave… They are veggie but technically not vegan as they are glazed with beeswax – sorry! (Not sure how strict most vegans are on this one?) I think lots of lollies are glazed with this, so best to double-check. xx
oh how i love turkish delight! i always figured it had to be good, since edmund was willing to sell out his siblings to an evil queen in narnia just to get more!
Hahaha, he knew what he liked!
Mmmm I LOVE Haribo Funny Mix, I prefer them to the other non-veggie Haribo sweets.
They’re so good! I like them better than a lot of other sweets I used to eat too. They’re just so squishy and good!
Good research 🙂 bet that was fun!! I love veggie Percys and Turkish delight yummy!
Thanks! It was not the most difficult ‘research’ I’ve ever done. 😉
Think it’s probably about time for a follow up post…
I am jealous you get Haribo without gelatin, all the ones we get in The States have gelatin in them 🙁
Panda is THE BEST licorice ever, we do get that here 🙂
Yeah, sorry – they’re pretty good! 😉 Maybe they will eventually release them worldwide as I’m not sure how long they’ve been out over here.
Agreed. Panda is delicious!
You should make your own gummies! They are even better then store bought ones.
Oh, my goodness – I’ve never even considered that! I think you just changed my life…
Do you have any recipes?
Oh wow, never knew Haribo made suitable for vegetarian product. Haribo was my favorite as a child, before I knew better. It’s the one thing I missed since becoming vegetarian in 1986.
Yeah, they’re really good – I was really excited when I found them! I do prefer Biona, though but not sure if they’re available worldwide.
Yum-I especially like the Panda licorice.
Me too! It’s so good! 🙂
Love this post! A subject dear to my heart… And M&S have just brought out a whole new veggie Colin the Caterpillar range! Hooray!
Thanks! I know – I got so excited when I saw the new Colins! They’re really tasty too. 🙂
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I should get hold of some of the real Turkish Delight. I only have the horrible Fry’s stuff in my shop. Thanks for the tip. I will ask the confectionary specialist in my street tomorrow.
I very love Turkish delight, I even cooked it at home, it’s very tasty!
Wow! I’ll have to try to make some myself!