# What sweets are gelatine free?

**Canonical URL:** https://sweeties.net/wiki/what-sweets-are-gelatine-free/
**Source:** sweeties.net, online pick and mix sweet shop

## Summary

Boiled sweets, rock and sherbet rarely need gelatine, and some chewy sweets have dropped it, from Fruit Pastilles to Percy Pigs. How to check.

## Description

Gelatine is the classic way to give a chewy sweet its bounce, and it comes from animals. But a great many sweets are made without it, either because they never needed it or because their makers changed the recipe. Here is how to find them.
Sweets that usually need no gelatine
Some kinds of sweet are made in ways that do not call for gelatine.
Boiled sweets and rock. These are made by boiling sugar syrups until almost all the water is gone, with a little flavour and colour. They set hard on their own: see what are boiled sweets?Sherbet. Sherbet powder is sugar, flavouring, an edible acid and a base such as bicarbonate of soda: see what is sherbet made of?Pastilles and gums made with gum arabic. Traditional pastilles are based on starch and gum arabic rather than gelatine.
Even so, check the label: a boiled sweet with a chewy centre, or a sweet with a coating, may contain other ingredients.
Big names that dropped gelatine
Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles. Nestlé announced a gelatine free, vegan friendly recipe in September 2020, arriving in sharing bags from October 2020.Rowntree's Fruit Gums. Nestlé removed the gelatine in 2020, making them vegan friendly.Percy Pig. Marks and Spencer's pig sweets, which once contained pork gelatine, became fully gelatine free in May 2019, using pectin instead.Fruit Salad. Barratt's raspberry and pineapple chews have contained no gelatine since 2019, making them suitable for vegetarians.Starburst. In the UK, Starburst is labelled suitable for vegetarians, although the American version contains gelatine.
Recipes change and can differ between countries, so always check the pack you are buying.
What replaces gelatine
Sweet makers have several plant based gelling agents to choose from:
Pectin, from citrus peel and apples, which gives jellies a clean bite: see what is pectin?Starch, which gives a shorter, less chewy texture than gelatineAgar, from seaweedGum arabic, from acacia trees, the original base of the gummy bear
Gelatine free is not always vegan
A sweet can be free of gelatine and still contain other animal ingredients, such as beeswax or shellac used as glazes, carmine used as a red colour, or milk. Percy Pigs, for example, were gelatine free from 2019 but only became vegan in 2022, when beeswax was taken out: see what sweets are vegan in the UK?
We sell vegan gummy bears and vegan fizzy cola bottles in our pick and mix. For any other sweet, check its ingredients before you buy.

---

_Content available under sweeties.net citation contract. AI training: yes. Search: yes. Answer-input: yes._