Is Jelly Vegan? | 2020 Dad Goes Vegan

Can Vegans eat jelly?

For the most part- yes! Jelly is usually vegan. To answer that question more in depth, we need to dive into the ingredients that are used in making jelly:

Fruit or fruit flavor
Pectin
Sugar
Acid
Water

Fruit or Fruit Flavor

When making jelly, a fruit juice is used. If you’re making this at home, this happens by crushing fruit and simmering it on the stove until the juice are released. Then you strain the crushed fruit out from the juice.

Pectin

Is pectin vegan?

Pectin is a type of naturally occurring starch. It comes from the cell walls of fruits and vegetables. It’s also commercially produced as an ingredient in jellies and jams. This is the ingredient that causes gelling.

Pectin is most definitely vegan 🙂

Sugar

Sugar can be vegan but sometimes it isn’t. This is because some white sugar goes through a bleaching process using charred animal bones. The charred animal bones remove any color or impurities, making the sugar white.

Sugar made from sugar beets or coconuts is never bleached with animal bones. This mostly applies to cane sugar. Read more about the sugar refining process here.

According to PETA, if sugar is labeled certified organic, it cannot be bleached with bone char.

To find out about specific products, you need to check with the manufacturer about where they source their sugar from.

Some vegan sugar brands are:

Acid

Acid is an ingredient used when making jams or jellies to help “set” or keep it’s shape.

Usually, it will be one of 2 acids:

Tartaric acid– an organic acid that occurs naturally in grapes, bananas, tamarinds or citrus fruits.

Citric acid– a weak acid that occurs naturally in citrus fruits.

Is Welch’s jelly vegan?

Welch’s jelly is most definitely vegan. These are the ingredients listed:

Concord Grapes, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Fruit Pectin, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate.

Corn syrup is vegan and doesn’t use any animal products during production.

Is Hartley’s Jelly vegan?

Hartley’s regular jelly line is NOT vegan. However, they did re-launch their 10 calorie pots and they are vegan friendly!

Hartley’s jams are vegan 🙂

Here are the ingredients listed in the strawberry jam:

Strawberries, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Sugar, Gelling Agent: Pectin, Acid: Citric Acid, Acidity Regulator: Sodium Citrates.

Is Smuckers jam vegan?

Smucker’s jam is not vegan because of sugar being listed as an ingredient. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: Strawberries, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Sugar, Fruit Pectin, Citric Acid.

I did email Smucker’s to ask what kind of sugar they’re using, although this was specifically for their Grape Jelly:

Thanks for contacting us regarding Smucker’s®. We greatly appreciate your interest in our Company and products.

In response to your inquiry, Smucker’s® Pure Concord Grape Jelly

In response to your inquiry, we use cane sugar in our Smucker’s® Pure Concord Grape Jelly. We source the vast majority of our ingredients from North America. If there is not an ample supply of a certain ingredient or if it doesn’t meet our quality standards, then we may source the ingredient from outside North America.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to visit us at smuckers.ca or give us a call at 800-567-1897.

Sincerely,

Debbie W.
Consumer Relations Representative

Because Smucker’s uses cane sugar, it’s probably not vegan. Most cane sugar that isn’t certified organic goes through the bleaching process using animal bone char.

Is Jelly vegetarian?

If you’re talking about jelly that is used as a spread- yes, it’s usually vegetarian as they use pectin (which comes from plants) as the gelling agent.

If you’re talking about jelly as in Jell-o that’s served as a dessert or kids snacl- no, that usually contains gelatin (which comes from boiled animal body parts) as the gelling agent.

Where to buy vegan jelly?

You can find vegan jelly at pretty much every supermarket or on Amazon.

If you’re looking to buy vegan jell-o here are some kinds you can find in the store or on Amazon:

Can Vegans eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

In short- yes! Absolutely.

Be sure to check the ingredients listed on both the peanut butter and jelly just to double check.

See the in depth answer below on peanut butter ⬇

Is peanut butter vegan?

Jif and Skippy are 2 peanut butter brands that are NOT vegan.

This is directly from the Jif website FAQ’s:

“Jif peanut butter with omega-3 DHA & EPA uses an encapsulated fish oil source that contains both EPA and DHA. The encapsulation process keeps the DHA/EPA locked in, while keeping the smell and taste of fish out of the peanut butter. However, we encourage individuals to consult their medical professional if they have specific allergy concerns.”

Skippy Peanut Butter may not be vegan because of the added sugar which may be bleached using bone char.

In short- look for peanut butter that has NO added sugar or other ingredients. The best peanut butters contain “peanuts, salt” on the ingredient list and that’s it 🙂

Here are some peanut butters that are vegan:

Can you substitute gelatin for pectin?

Yes, you certainly can, as long you know there may be differences in texture.

Is gelling agent vegan?

It depends on which gelling agent is used. Sometimes a gelling agent means gelatin (not vegan) and sometimes it means pectin (vegan) or agar agar powder (vegan). If it isn’t specified, check with the manufacturer.

What is agar agar made out of?

Agar Agar is a jelly like substance that comes from red algae. It has the same effect as gelatin and can be used as a gelatin replacement.

You can find agar agar powder on Amazon and make your own vegan jello if you want!