Making proper organic popsicles was one of my main issues with going vegan, which shouldn’t surprise anyone here. Of course I’d jump to ice pops – you don’t mess with popsicles gosh darn it.
That said, I figured I’d post how to transform any ice pop from vegetarian to vegan for myself and for any of the vegans out there.
Um, aren’t ice pops vegan already?
Actually no. Many of the ice pop recipes I’ve posted here contain honey as the sweetener. Honey is a controversial vegan topic, but it is from an animal, so if you’re all the way vegan, consider using organic granulated sugar or organic raw agave instead of honey.
Other tricky animal ingredients that can end up in ice pops
As you’ll see below, unless you happen to making steak or pork ice pops (ugh), you’re mostly good to go. Popsicles are already very vegetarian and mostly vegan. But, there are some items you’ll want to avoid if you want vegan ice pops, such as…
- Dairy milk – instead use organic soy, almond, hemp or any alternative milk you like.
- Ice cream made with cow or goat milk. Use soy ice cream instead – or almond milk ice cream.
- Yogurt made with goat or cow milk. Use soy yogurt instead when you make homemade yogurt pops.
- Gelatin. I’ve been avoiding this for years, and you should too. It’s no good but lots of folks make popsicles with it. If you do use it, go for an organic vegan type. Oh, and this is also found in many conventional yogurts, another item commonly found in ice pops.
- Bone Char – this is animal bone ash and it’s often what’s used to refine white sugar. As a green family, I’d hope you’re already using organic sugar, which is minimally refined and the National Organic Program doesn’t allow it to be refined at all with bone char.
- Fake food colors often contain cochineal which is from insects along with coal-tar (bituminous coal) derivatives that are continuously tested on animals because of their carcinogenic properties. As if you didn’t need more reasons to avoid fake food colors.
As always, when looking for vegan ice pop ingredients go organic whenever possible.
