Junior Mints are a candy brand consisting of small rounds of mint filling inside a dark chocolate coating. The product is produced by Tootsie Roll Industries who makes over 15 million Junior Mints each day according to Wikipedia. In this article we seek to answer the question “Are Junior Mints Vegan?” along with many other commonly asked questions about Junior Mints.
A full vegan-friendly analysis of Junior Mints can be found in the following sections.
Controversial Vegan Ingredients
Before we start our vegan analysis, we would like to make note of the controversial ingredients that are assumed to be vegan in this analysis. Even though we consider them to be vegan, we will still highlight these ingredients if they appear in any posted ingredient lists. These controversial ingredients include:
Sugar
In almost all candy products, one of the first few ingredients is Sugar. Sugar is a controversial product in the vegan community because refined cane sugar is processed with bone char to achieve the pure white color. The sugar itself does not contain any bone char particles, but is not vegan due to the processing methods used. Since the type of sugar is typically not stated, it is assumed to be vegan in this analysis. If you choose to avoid non-vegan sugars than all of the products in this analysis should be avoided. A full rundown on if sugar is vegan can be found in our article titled “Is Your Sugar Vegan? Lets Find Out!“
Natural and Artificial Flavorings
Natural flavors can come from both animal or plant sources, but the natural flavors in candies are typically from plant sources. Those natural flavors from animal-origin will be highlighted if known.
Colors
Some food colors are controversial in the vegan community. This is because food colors are often tested on animals. In this article we assume all food colors are vegan, unless the color itself is from an animal or insect origin (e.g. Carmine).
Junior Mints
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Junior Mints Ingredients (Original and Mini)
Sugar, Semi-Sweet Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate Processed with Alkali, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin-An Emulsifier, Vanillin-An Artificial Flavor), Corn Syrup, Confectioner’s Glaze, Food Starch-Modified, Peppermint Oil, Invertase (An Enzyme). [Source]
Are Junior Mints Vegan?
Junior Mints have one ingredient in them that would cause vegans some concern. That ingredient is Confectioner’s Glaze. According to Wikipedia, Confectioner’s Glaze (aka Shellac) is made from the secretions of female lac bugs found in India and Thailand. As Shellac/Confectioner’s Glaze is a insect-derived ingredient, it is usually not considered to be vegan friendly. Therefore, Junior Mints (Regular and Mini size) are NOT vegan.
Junior Mints Deluxe
Junior Mints Deluxe Ingredients
Semi-Sweet Chocolate {Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, And Soy Lecithin (An Emulsifier)}, Sugar, Palm Kernel Oil, Maltodextrin, Invert Sugar Syrup, Sorbitol, Invertase (An Enzyme), Polysorbate 60 And Mono And Diglycerides (Emulsifiers), Peppermint Oil, Potassium Sorbate, BHT And Citric Acid To Preserve Freshness, Milk. [Source]
Are Junior Mints Deluxe Vegan?
Like their non-deluxe counterparts, Junior Mints Deluxe are NOT vegan-friendly. This is because Milk is listed in the ingredients list.
Junior Caramels
Junior Caramels Ingredients
Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk, and Soy Lecithin – an Emulsifier), Sugar, Corn Syrup, Palm Oil, Dry Whole Milk, Mono and Diglycerides, Natural Flavors, Whey, Confectioner’s Glaze, Salt, Food Starch-Modified, Soy Lecithin. [Source]
Are Junior Caramels Vegan?
Unfortunately, Junior Caramels are NOT vegan. They contain multiple milk-based ingredients (Milk, Dry Whole Milk, and Whey) as well as Confectioner’s Glaze.
Additional Junior Mints FAQs
Junior Mints are dairy-free, but there is a chance that egg or milk could be present according to their website. This is due to Junior Mints being manufactured in the same facility as other products that contain these ingredients.
However, other Junior Mints products (Junior Mints Deluxe and Junior Caramels) are NOT dairy-free because they contain milk-based ingredients.
Junior Mints are in the vegetarian grey-area. This is because they contain Confectioner’s Glaze. According to Wikipedia, Confectioner’s Glaze (aka Shellac) is made from the secretions of female lac bugs found in India and Thailand. As Shellac/Confectioner’s Glaze is a insect-derived ingredient, it is usually not considered to be vegan friendly but is debated if it is vegetarian. Therefore, each vegetarian needs to decide if Confectioner’s Glaze is vegetarian in their eyes.
Junior Mints website lists all of their products as gluten-free. This means that Junior Mints, Junior Mints Minis, Junior Mints Deluxe, and Junior Caramels are all gluten-free.
Yes, Junior Caramels are gluten-free according to their website.
Junior Mints and Junior Mints Minis are both Kosher. Junior Mints Deluxe and Junior Caramels are Kosher-Dairy. [Source]
Junior Mints website lists all of their products as peanut and tree nut free. This means that Junior Mints, Junior Mints Minis, Junior Mints Deluxe, and Junior Caramels are all nut free.
Summary
Unfortunately, none of Junior Mints products are vegan friendly since they contain Confectioner’s Glaze or milk-based products in their ingredients.
If you liked this article, you can read about other vegan snack options here.
