In the glorious age where “anything you can eat I can eat vegan,” it’s usually hard to think of a food item that you miss in your day-to-day, cruelty-free life. From meringue to macarons, soft cheese to fried chicken, almost everything has been replicated splendidly for the compassionate among us. But the one thing I’ve been missing all along has been the perennial fave: M&Ms. My dedicated M&M bowl has been empty for so long that I’d all but given up hope…UNTIL NOW!
Our friend Carmella, one half of The Food Duo and the fine folks behind V Marks the Shop, visited Expo West and reported back that there were vegan M&Ms to be had in the form of Little Secrets, who had a line of candy coated chocolates that included a few vegan varieties.* Upon initial inspection however, the inclusion of confectioner’s glaze had me suspicious. But I wrote to the company and heard back this great news:
Abby,
Our Confectioners Glaze gives the shine on all of our products. The Confectioners Glaze is the term used for the coating that protects the surface of our candy and provides the characteristic “shine”. The functional ingredient contained in “Confectionary Glaze” Carnauba Wax and Mineral Oil. Carnauba wax is a single ingredient that is derived from the leaves of the Carnauba Palm Tree. We are updating our packaging to make it clearer that are [sic] Glaze is vegan across all of our lines. Just so you are our vegan flavors are Raspberry, Dark, And Sea Salted Peanut. If you send me your address i will be sure to send you some product.
Full disclosure: they didn’t send me any product–even after I wrote back to remind them (no shame!). In my defense, I didn’t necessarily want free candy (although that’s not the worst thing in the world), I just couldn’t find them anywhere. But, as you can see, the crisis has been averted and I’ve now tried all three vegan* varieties.
The salted peanut dark chocolate made with sea salt are exquisite! They’re the most upscale peanut M&Ms you ever could have imagined.
The rich & creamy dark chocolate are a crowd pleaser and my most-gifted thus far. This has nothing to do with the fact that I’m hoarding the salted peanut. NOTHING!
VM (a.k.a. my Vegetarian Mom) can’t get enough of the dark chocolate raspberry and I can’t say I blame her. I am not a fruit and chocolate kind of gal, but this combo is done right and then some.
Don’t forget that the other varieties are not vegan!
Little Secrets are kosher, fair trade, use natural food coloring, and have a swell sense of humor (see their website and packaging). And you can now buy all the vegan flavors on VeganEssentials.com. Go give ‘em a try and see for yourself! #untileveryM&Mbowlisfull
*
From the Little Secrets’ website:
Q: Are your products vegan?
A: Little Secrets cannot be called vegan, as they are produced in a facility which also produces milk products. Our Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Raspberry, Dark Chocolate Salted Peanut and seasonal Dark Chocolate Peppermint do NOT contain any milk or dairy in the ingredients, while our Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, Milk Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate Toasted Coconut do contain dairy.