For as long as sprinkles contain confectioner’s glaze, they are not vegan.

Sprinkles are so common on desserts like ice cream, doughnuts, cookies, and cakes so that they almost seem like a natural or compulsory topping. They bring the brightness and color to desserts. They are pretty crunchy and sugary too. Typically, they are rainbow while some others would be chocolate, gold, or even silver. The newer types known as sequins come in a variety of animal, flower, Halloween shapes to give a boost to event themes, compared to the traditional round or elongated ones which have stuck as official sprinkles.

Bakers find them useful not only for decoration but also to hold up ice cream and chocolate in hot weather where they easily melt.

The term “sprinkles” represents a wide variety of candy decorations such as sanding sugar, nonpareils, dragées, Jimmies, or hundreds-and-thousands.

Sprinkles generally contain the below ingredients

• Sugar
• Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed, Soybean)
• Corn syrup
• Cornstarch
• Artificial coloring and flavoring
• Cocoa Processed with Alkali
• Dextrin
• Camauba Wax
• Soy Lecithin
• Confectioner’s Glaze
• Red 40 Lake
• Yellow 6 Lake
• Yellow 5 Lake
• Blue 1 Lake
• Red 3

Of course, the bone of contention here is confectioner’s glaze, got from insects. Other ingredients you need to watch out for in sprinkles are beeswax, gelatin, and food colorings such as E20 or Cochineal. However, it is possible to get vegan sprinkles if you take your time. For instance, Let’s Do Organic Sprinkelz Organic Confetti is vegan (check it on Amazon).

While sprinkles may seem non-detrimental conceivably because of their quantity on your snacks, they are definitely not natural. Here is a recipe for homemade vegan sprinkle to top your desserts:

Would you rather fix your sprinkles from home or buy processed ones?