“When witches go riding
And black cats are seen
The moon laughs and whispers
Tis near – Halloween”

The scariest time of year is nearly upon us – yikes! Time to dust up the old cauldron, grab your pet frogs, carve the pumpkins and of course, stock up on treats for friendly visitors.

If you have little ones in your life, or you’ve been enjoying the delights of veganism, you might be wondering what sweet treats you can offer and enjoy. Giving freely (without being that household that only gives out satsumas and nuts) can be tricky if you’re looking closely at what goes into the gummy, gooey, boiled and chocolatey confectionery.

Scary Sweets…

So what’s the deal with non-vegan sweets? Fruity and chewy and fizzy and foamy, but surely not meaty? Well, the proof is in the pudding as they say and if you take a closer look at the non-vegan goodies you’ll find quite a frightening gang lurking in there…

Ghoulish Gelatin

A derivative of beef or pork, gelatin is made by extracting the collagen from animal by-products (skin, bone and connective tissues etc). It’s flavourless and colourless and used as a gelling agent in many everyday products such as food, medicines and cosmetics. It’s gelatin that gives jelly sweets their gummy quality.

The vegan alternatives use naturally-derived gelling agents and thickeners, like pectin, derived from fruit or agar agar, an ingredient made from Japanese red algae.

Argh! Additives

E-numbers and additives included in non-vegan sweets are often derived from animal products for example E120 is a red food colouring made from crushed beetles and E966 is a sweetener made from animal milk. As experienced packaging scanners, we know it’s a bit exhausting to check and research every E number and additive on each packet. We suggest looking out for vegan certification instead.

Spine-tingling Shellac

Shellac is used to make the crispy shells of many sweets and comes from the secretions of the lac bug. The female lac insect produces a resin-like substance that will shelter and protect her eggs. This resin is harvested (along with a great many insects) and used to create glazes and shells on our crispy confections. Yum? We don’t think so!

Bloodcurdling Beeswax

The vegang knows: beeswax and honey are best left to our fuzzy pollinating friends. This is another reason many sweets aren’t certified vegan – they use beeswax as a glaze. The glaze on our deliciously fruity Tropical Kisses is made from a certified organic carnauba wax, so no buzzy chums were harmed in the making. Happy days!

Fill ya boots bounty

Vegan sweets obviously don’t contain any spooky animal products to make them shiny or squidgy, but they’re still mighty mouth-watering. It’s a scarily exciting time for vegan food lovers – there are so many options!

Gruesome Gourmet

Come the big night, we’ll obviously be chowing down on our Bonsan Organic Tropical Kisses and Fruity Stars, but for the more creative of you out there who want to indulge in something a little more decadent, check out our Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles, or these Chocolate Stuffed Cookie Cups (drool). We’re also loving this Pumpkin Bark from the Minimalist Baker, these Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles from Build Your Bites and a classic Halloween recipe – a vegan toffee apple from Planted Purpose.

What are your Halloween plans? Do you have pockets full of your fave vegan treats ready to fill the bags of eerie little visitors? What are your top vegan sweeties? Share your ideas and show us your ghoulish getup! #veganhalloween #vegansweets #bonsan