Living a vegan lifestyle including vegan food is not an easy thing. Every time we go to a food store, food and drinks with animal ingredients are always displayed. A vegan this is a problem. For example, you want to enjoy a packet of gushers, you would be worried about the ingredients.
Are gushers vegan? To get rid of your worries about gushers, here we will explain about the ingredients used in making fruit gushers, so you can decide whether they are vegan or not.
Vegan food is food that is free from animal products or their derivatives. Usually they will not consume any form of food that involves killing animals or slaughtering them. OK, what about fruit gushers, are fruit gushers vegan?
So, Are Fruit Gushers Vegan?
Perhaps this is an important piece of information for vegans. Recently the company that makes fruit gushers made a statement about the ingredients they use in making gushers, where they do not use any ingredients derived from animal products and their derivatives. So, are fruit gushers vegan? The answer is “yes, it is vegan”.
To learn more about fruit gushers, let’s take a look at the ingredients. What are the ingredients used in fruit gushers?
See too: Is Soy Sauce Vegan? A Vegan Soy Sauce Guide
The Fruit Gushers Ingredients
Vegan fruit snacks are not something that is easy to get. This is something that is difficult, but finding fruit gushers that are vegans is a breath of fresh air for vegan dieters.
Also read: Are Twizzlers Vegan? Let’s have a Look at the Ingredients!
When you’re at a vegan-friendly fruit store, there are still things you should avoid. There are some ingredients that you should avoid.
Some people do not realize that the gelatin in these products is sourced from animals. Gelatin is a product that is used in food and it comes from animal skins or bones. Usually the gelatin is taken from animals such as pigs and cows. even worse for a vegan, where gelatin is abundant in products such as yogurts, fruit chews, and cakes.
Apart from gelatin, there is another ingredient that vegans should avoid, this is carnauba wax. Actually, carnauba wax is an ingredient taken from the leaves of the palm plant. It is used to give shine to cars, shoes and floors. So, it is very important for vegans to know the ingredients in their food and drinks.
A note on food coloring
Gushers are fruit snacks that also use food coloring. So it is important for vegans to read what the ingredients are in a product so that they know and are safe to consume. Among the most widely used food colorings, including fruit gushers, are yellow 5, blue 1, and red 40.
Also see: Is Gatorade Vegan? Let’s See the Vegan Gatorade Guide
Well, what’s the problem? Actually, we must also know how the process of making the dye is, whether it is made from materials related to animals or not. Blue food coloring 1 and red 40 are colorants derived from coal, petroleum and tar. This is so worrying that food coloring is banned in some countries such as Belgium, France and Denmark. But in America, it seems that coloring ingredients will still be around and are always used in food.
Food coloring with yellow code 5 is an ingredient that can cause allergies and cause hyperactivity in children. While Glycerin is an odorless, colorless sweet liquid, it is like some syrups used to preserve food and fruit snacks. This is a vegetable based product and can be consumed by vegans. However, vegans should pay attention to the type of glycerin so as not to use animal types. Glycerin from a type of animal fat is also present, so this can be said as an important thing to pay attention to.
Fruit Gusher Ingredients
General Mills mentions that fruit gushers are fruit snacks that do not contain animal products, so gushers are considered a vegan product. Even if the company has declared fruit gushers to be vegan, it’s still best to pay close attention to the ingredients used in gushers.
So, for those of you who are curious, below is a series of ingredients used in producing fruit gushers.
- Sugar
- Corn Syrup
- Dried Corn Syrup
- Fructose
- Cottonseed Oil
- Grape Juice
- Glycerin
- Maltodextrin
- Citric Acid
- Carrageenan
- Malic Acid
- Monoglycerides
- Natural Flavor
- Sodium Citrate
- Ascorbic Acid
- Jelly
- Potassium Citrate
- Xanthan Gum
- Red 40
See also: Are Sprinkles Vegan, What Are The Ingredients?
Want To Make Your Own Fruit Gushers?
For vegans, it’s safer to make your own food, including making your own fruit gushers using animal-free ingredients.
So, if you want to make your own gushers, it’s easy and you can always do it for your vegan diet.
If you want to make fruit gushers at home, here are the ingredients you should use:
- Store-bought vegan fruit skins
- Fruit juice of your choice
- Vegan thickener derived from chia seed gel or vegan yogurt
- Light corn syrup, and
- A silicone tray
How to Make:
- First, use a fruit juicer, you can use ingredients from the fruit of your choice and use chai seed gel as a vegan thickener, this is to give it the consistency of gushers you can find in stores.
- Boil your fruit juice, remove from heat, and add chia seed gel and light corn syrup.
- After everything is done, put it in the refrigerator for two hours
- Cut the skin of the vegan fruit into small circles or squares, and insert it into the silicone tray.
- Put the pieces of juice into the pieces of fruit skin.
- Put others small piece of fruit leather on top and pinch to seal the edges.
- Place in the freezer for five minutes until firm, and enjoy!
- This recipe has removed the unneeded ingredients in vegan fruit gushers.
Read too: Are Fruity Pebbles Vegan? – Cereal Scrutiny
The Bottom Line
So, fruit gushers are vegan because they are free from animal-derived dairy products and other animal-related ingredients. If you are a vegan, you can enjoy these fruit gushers as your favorite food.
However, what’s even better is making your own vegan gushers according to the recipe we’ve already mentioned. What do you think, do you like to make your own vegan gushers from home or buy some gushers that are labeled “Vegan” in the store.