Is my sugar vegan? What about white sugar? Powdered sugar? What about bone char? I should just avoid all white sugar when I am vegan. right?..
I want to make it simple for you! Yes you could research every single sugar company and figure out the "vegan" status - aka if they use bone char in the refining process. But there is a much easier way! I have a fast way to easily identify some of the vegan sugar out there. Watch my video to learn the trick! And this even includes powdered sugar - a staple ingredient in delicious vegan frostings. And Nelly the cat fans - she makes a (long) background cameo in the video too..
*note: increase video quality if needed
Thanks to VRG.org for the info on vegan sugar. Learn more -> VRG "Is Your Sugar Vegan?"
If you have any vegan sugar tips or info to add please leave them in the comments!
Nancy says
You are just too cute! Thank you for the tip on sugar!!!!!!!
Missy Jayne Patrick says
oh my god I thought there was a gorilla behind you!! i was freaking out until i realized it was your cat lol. I love all your recipes Kathy and all the hard work you put into giving us such great information. Thank you so much, truly!
Health says
Thanks Kathy for sharing this helpful information for purchasing original vegan sugar.
Ojibweequay says
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
Audrhodengrey says
Thanks Kathy. I was able to go to WM and purchase organic sugar with the vegan symbol on the container. I was smiling. Blessings!!
Heather Hildreth says
This was so helpful. Thank you very much!
Katrina says
i contacted silver spoon in the uk , who make the most readily available sugar in the uk, this was their reply...hope it helps any uk consumers! : Thank you for your interest in our Silver Spoon brand sugar and syrups in regard to vegetarian and vegan assurances, the Silver Spoon brand of products certainly do not contain any alcohol or bone char.
Billington sugars are derived from cane and are unrefined brown sugars, which apply the same assurances.
I would like to assure you that the Silver Spoon Company, use only sugar beet which is grown primarily in East Anglia, to be processed into the Silver Spoon brand of sugars. Some parts of Europe, France and Belgium are also moderately heavy growers of beet.
Firstly, let me reassure you that we do not use fish oil or anything else of animal origin anywhere within the factory process, this of course includes dairy products. Therefore all of the Silver Spoon range is suitable for vegetarians. Sugar beet on entering the factory are thoroughly washed, sliced into strips and then extracted with hot water. The 'raw juice' is then purified to remove all the 'non-sugars', mainly using natural substances such as lime and carbon dioxide. The juice is then concentrated and crystallised as to give the finished product, clearly this is very much an over-simplification of the sugar manufacturing process but it serves to illustrate that no animal products are used. Sugar is not bleached, and is free from artificial preservatives, colours and chemicals.
All Silver Spoon branded WHITE sugars will be 100% of beet origin. All of our brown sugars, i.e.: Golden Granulated, Demerara and soft browns and Black Treacle contain small amounts of cane molasses.
Nada (One Arab Vegan) says
Great post Kathy, white sugar has always eluded me so thanks for the useful tip!
Sanielj says
i like the whole foods 365 vegan cane sugar fair traded.
Willow says
Brilliant! I was just wondering - why is the (whole foods) 'vegan' sugar whiter than their 'organic' sugar... made me think the organic must be bone-char free, and now I know!
Amanda says
You and your cat are just too stinkin' cute! Great info too. I had no idea about bone char. Sounds very blech!
Sarah Lantry says
I love how the cat get's in the picture! She is very cute. ...and so she should have a star place in your video!
Louisa says
Thank you, so good to know.
P.S. Your cat is so squishable.
Kristen says
Adorable!! Great vid, and really useful info- I can't believe I didn't know that before! Any tips though on less-expensive options? Organic sugar often comes in small, expensive packages... so if you find out about non-organic companies that don't use bone char, please let us know.... thanks!
Amanda says
I know at Whole Foods you can buy organic sugar in bulk. I also don't believe turbinado sugar (organic or non organic) uses bone char.
Adam says
if you're near a whole foods, you can buy a large bag of the non-organic but vegan-labeled sugar for a good price, but even their smaller 365 brand organic bags of sugar aren't that expensive compared to some other brands.. and like Amanda said, the bulk bin sugars are a great value
also im pretty sure any sugar labeled raw, evaporated cane juice, sucanat, turbinado, demerara, all these will be vegan whether organic or not as they are unrefined
Angel (Angelic Monkey) says
Oh great tip!
& your cat is so cute 😉
Thanks
Viana Evette says
Thank you for the info!!!