inexpensive vegan candy (suitable for pinatas)
hey all,
i'm going to be starting a part-time party business and one of the concepts i'd like to offer for the parties is a pinata filled w/candy.
some of the standard pinata candy packs have obvious non-vegan components (i.e. tootsie rolls, which has whey and maybe other non-vegan ingredients).
i'm also reading that lots of candy is colored with a type of dye called "Red #4" - which actually comes from a form of ground up insects (yum) - this can also be referred to as cochineal. So on a side note, if you see cochineal as an ingredient on any product - be sure to avoid that product (unless of course, you're practicing for a personal appearance on Fear Factor :)).
Does anyone know of inexpensive vegan candy that can be purchased in bulk?
Worst case scenario i might supply only the toys for the pinanta and leave it to the parents to fill their own candy - but hopefully i can find a suitable alternative.
thank you in advance...
If you're not concerned about sugar, then IIRC Sour Patch Kids, Fuzzy Peaches, Sour Cherry Blasters, and Swedish Berries are a) vegan and b) come in little pinata-friendly packets. You can also go with most kinds of boiled sweets (hard candy).
Some people from here have recommended this site: http://www.bulkfoods.com/products.asp#candy for items like nuts, flours, nooch, etc.....they also have a good assortment of candies. Not sure if they're vegan, but my favs have always been the root beer barrels!!
chick-o-sticks are vegan, and so are the peanut butter bars made by the same company. plus, ive seen them at the $1 store - dollar tree i believe. the ones i saw there are the mini pieces, but they can come in giant bars, too. i believe jolly ranchers are vegan too.. i know trader joes has tubs of natural lollipops that might not be too expensive.
have you looked at peta's 'accidently vegan' list? they have candy section that would help you. just google "accidently vegan" and it should pop up.
thanks for all of the great advice - there was a lot of stuff i didn't think of.
propinecone - i went and looked up the Peta list and there's lots of good stuff there in addition to the other items mentioned in this thread.
I'm going to go with a combination of everything mentioned and that should get me going.
thanks again!
"Red #4" has been "delisted" according to wikipedia (I guess out of use in the States?), and the ground-up-insect dye is usually listed as "cochineal" or "carmine color." As far as I know, all of the other numbered dyes are petroleum derived... not from an insect, but still not very tasty.
that makes sense, when i was shopping for candy the other day - on one of the candies ( i don't remember which one offhand) i noticed one of the ingredients listed as "carmine"
hmmm,...carmine...ground up insects...mmm...yum! :-X