Red food coloring used in food products is currently almost always vegan. Years ago, red food coloring was created with carmine (check our carmine post, not vegan), carminic acid or cochineal. Today, most food grade products with red dye use Red #40, which is derived from coal (gross, but vegan). So double check those red food coloring jars, but chances are, vegan.

Red Vines candy have been a US tradition for nearly 100 years. Licorice is a popular candy and the original flavored candies are vegan friendly. The ingredient list is simple: corn syrup, wheat flour, citric acid, artificial flavor & red 40. And NO gelatin! Yay. For more information or to browse the other flavors, check out the Red Vines website.

Scones are a crumbly baked good item. They are generally made with butter. Some are made with milk, sour cream and eggs. Lame. But don’t dispair. If you look hard enough, you can find some vegan scones. Whole Foods generally has 3-4 different flavors of vegan scones daily (my favorite is the chocolate chip scone, only available in the northeast region, or so I’m told). Vegan bakeries will also have a selection of vegan scones. I know Wildflour in Pawtucket (right next door to Providence) in Rhode Island carry a great selection of vegan scones.

What’s your favorite recipe? Which shop carries your favorite scone? Go check out our favorite scone recipe.

Summary: Super Veg Seasoning is an import from Hungary. It’s a mix of spices and dehydrated vegetables that can be used for a soup base. The ingredients are Salt, Dehydrated Vegetables (Carrots, Celery, Parsley, Onion), Monosodium Glutamate (Natural Flavor Enhancer), Sugar, Vegetable Protein, Spices, Vitamins (B1 & B2).. We say “potentially” because it is unclear how the B vitamins (thiamine and riboflavin, respectively) are sourced. Can any Hungarian speakers get to the bottom of this? AS for the soup mix, I’d avoid on principle due to MSG. Yuck.

Summary: quality peanut butter is made from crushed peanuts and maybe a little bit of salt. Crappy peanut butter has hydrogenated oils and other goop added. But all those ingredients are from vegan friendly sources. Some peanut butters contain mono and diglycerides which can be from dubious sources (Jif Peanut Butter is one of those peanut butters). Other natural (and less natural) peanut butters contain honey as a natural sweetener. Best bet, watch out for crappy filler ingredients. Always buy peanut butter that is strictly peanuts. Even better, go to a store where you can grind the peanuts on demand. Nothing beats freshly ground peanut butter.

Everyone loves a good tortilla, and most wraps are vegan friendly, just flour and water … Watch out for authentic tortillas as they may be made with lard (yuck). These Don Marcos Healthy Style Whole Wheat Tortillas APPEAR vegan, but you’ll notice something odd in the footer.

Contains wheat and milk. Milk? Huh, how so? Check those ingredients, no milk products listed. My guess, Don Marcos and Co are playing it SUPER safe since the tortillas are produced in a factory that also processes some milk ingredients.

I’ve reached out to @DonMarcosBrand on Twitter for more information, but haven’t heard back yet. They are twitter newbs (I’m one of 10 followers, where most are spam bots) so I’ll let it slide. When I hear back, I’ll make sure to update this post.

Baklava is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert made from phyllo dough, nuts and a sweet glaze. For most recipes, the baked good portion calls for butter. And for the sweet glaze, honey is often used. Of course, both of these items could be substituted out – margarine for the butter, perhaps agave or maple syrup for honey (and some sugar). There is a recipe for vegan baklava in The Joy of Vegan Baking (an AWESOME book, by the way). I haven’t tried it yet, but it uses the substitutions I listed above (margarine and agave).

Vanilla extract is a solution containing the flavor compound vanillin. Pure vanilla extract is made by extracting from vanilla beans in an alcoholic solution. Imitation vanilla extract is usually made by soaking alcohol in wood, which contains vanillin.

From the isitvegan.com archives. Thanks to Dan Linehan.

This one is a fairly broad question, but the answer is almost always, yes. Steamed, flashed and packaged whole, crushed and chopped tomatoes are almost ALWAYS vegan. I haven’t found any brands that have non-vegan additives. Pre-packaged pasta sauces are different. Obviously, you should avoid meat and sausage additives. Some brands put cheese in even their “traditional” or “classic” sauces, like Ragu. Ragu uses romano cheese in almost all of their sauces.

In summary, most of these are going to be vegan. But be careful to check the ingredients for meat, cheese and honey. These are the usual culprits.

That’s right. Tattoo ink is NOT always vegan. Tattoo ink is made from color pigments plus a liquid carrier. Some black inks are made with bone char. Some liquid carriers are made with animal by-products. Look for inks that use plant based glycerine. Below is a list of current (2012) vegan ink brands:

Classic Ink
Stable Ink

When in doubt, ask your favorite artist. Any artist worth getting tattooed from will have fairly detailed knowledge of their tools. Just ask. For more information (potentially outdated), check out the following links.

VegPress.org: Tattoo and Aftercare Information for Vegans (Fall 2011)
Jinxiboo: All About Vegan Tattoo Ink, Aftercare, and Supplies (Spring 2010)

I’d love to pull together a list of tattoo artists that use vegan inks. If you know someone, let me know. Lets see if we can create an official list.