Whether you have stomach issues or want a healthy alternative to sugar, it’s a fantastic sauce, but is applesauce vegan?
Applesauce is typically vegan, made with pure and natural ingredients. Although some can have trace amounts of animals, so look for a label on the back. Scroll down to see what such a label looks like.
Both Homemade and applesauce is typically suitable for vegans. They are free from animal products and offer a lot of health benefits. -These health benefits include preventing acute stomach issues and can help with weight loss.
Applesauce is a great substitute for sugar in baked goods. Add a little applesauce instead of sugar and get healthier and more delicious results. I’m a big fan of adding applesauce to various brownie and cake recipes.
What Is Applesauce
Applesauce is quite simple as the name suggests as a sauce made of apples. You can eat it straight up or add it to various baking adventures. Many enjoy adding applesauce to sweets such as brownies or cakes.
Not only does it add a lot of sweetness and texture, but it’s also a much more healthy option. That’s because the sweetness applesauce provides means that your baked goods need less sugar.
While apples do contain sugar, it also comes with a wide variety of vitamins and fibers. -And all of them are entirely natural.
Applesauce Is Healthy
Applesauce itself is healthy because its main ingredient is apples. They are incredibly high in essential vitamins and antioxidants, Vitamin C. As well as a high content of fiber that works to cancel out the adverse effects of sugar.
-You might be wondering; is Vitamin C vegan? You can read all about which vitamins are vegan in this article. It might surprise you which Vitamins vegans need to avoid.
Apples may contain sugar, but the fiber completely cancels out the usual effects from pure sugar. That happens because it takes longer for the body to break down sugar, and thus results in more stable blood sugar.
Applesauce Stomach Issues
You know that applesauce is a favorite among children, and it’s not just because children love the taste. Apples have a preventing and a remedying effect on issues such as diarrhea and stomach upsets.
That’s something young children often experience. Thus it’s the reason that parents are encouraged to serve children applesauce. Apart from the brilliant taste.
Applesauce work as a remedy for various stomach issues due to the high amount of pectin. It’s a naturally occurring component that apples are high in. However, the production of applesauce actually increases the amount. Thus has even more beneficial effects than regular apples.
This works for adults too!
Is Applesauce Typically vegan
Making your own applesauce at home is both easy and healthy. It’s always the better option to make your own foods. At least to the extent possible. Not to say that bought foods can’t be healthy, but the homemade is almost always best.
Homemade applesauce contains quite simple ingredients. -And almost all the recipes you will find are entirely vegan. Here’s a list of common ingredients in homemade applesauce.
- Apples
- Lemon Peel
- Lemon Juice
- Cinnamon
- Water
- Salt
As you can see, it’s quite a simple recipe. Some like to add more spices and flavors, but this is a very common and traditional applesauce.
So applesauce is typically vegan, as long as it’s without any exotic flavors or added vitamins such as Vitamin D3. That’s a vitamin which is most often derived from animals. Avoiding this ensures that your apple sauce is vegan, always.
Although as with most things, you need to be more cautious when it comes to store-bought applesauce. So let’s see what you need to avoid.
Is Store Bought Applesauce Vegan
Buying foods vegan is sometimes a struggle. It’s not always easy to read and understand an ingredients list. Many contain labels and names that seem completely foreign to most of us.
Most store-bought applesauces are 100% vegan, but not all. You need to look for specific ingredients and labels on the backside. Otherwise, you could accidentally purchase a non-vegan product.
Reading The Ingredients Is Not Enough
-And it’s not always enough to read the ingredients list. Sometimes products can be of entirely vegan parts but have trace amounts of animals. That usually looks like this below, although it can differ a bit in the wording.
MANUFACTURED IN THE SAME FACILITIES AS EGG OR DAIRY CONTAINING PRODUCTS
So you have to avoid any labels that look similar to this. Or any other indication of animal products.
Typical Ingredients In Store Bought Applesauce
Store-Bought applesauce, on the other hand, is quite simple. They are usually free from any of the sketchy ingredients vegan needs to avoid. So let’s take a closer look at some of the most common elements.
Musselman’s Chunky Apple Sauce Ingredients
INGREDIENTS: APPLES, SUGAR, WATER, LEMON JUICE AND CINNAMON, ASCORBIC ACID
Musselman’s Chunky Applesauce (From Amazon)
The first ingredient that you see is most likely ascorbic acid. It might sound worrisome, but it’s merely Vitamin D. So there’s no need to concern about that particular ingredient.
All the others are also entirely vegan. All are from natural sources, but I will say this. It’s most likely not the healthiest option.
It has added sugar, which you don’t need. The fibers from apples do help slow down the sugar breakdown, but not with added sugar. Only the naturally occurring sugar that apples come with.
Mott’s Unsweetened Applesauce Ingredients
INGREDIENTS: APPLES; WATER, ASCORBIC ACID
Mott’s Unsweetened Applesauce (From Amazon)
This is just what I like to see. Straightforward and natural ingredients. It’s merely a mixture of apples and water. Applesauces don’t need any added sugar, apples are incredible sweet in the first place.
So this is just an amazing applesauce for vegans. Opt for applesauces like this one, with simple and healthy ingredients. Or you can have a look at Mott’s on Amazon.
Is Unsweetened Applesauce Vegan
Unsweetened applesauce is very similar to the regular kind. The difference being that the unsweetened kind is without any added sugar.
Unsweetened applesauce is typically vegan, as long as it doesn’t have a label that declares trace amounts of animals on the back. The ingredients are most commonly without any animals, but this label can be an issue.
So vegans can typically eat both the regular applesauce and the unsweetened kind. In fact, unsweetened is actually a healthier option. Apples have enough sugar in itself, so there’s really no need to add additional sugar.
Conclusion
Applesauce is a great food for vegans, whether you use it in other foods or eat it straight. It has many health benefits, both long and short time. Although there are some labels, you need to be aware of.
Sometimes an applesauce can have vegan ingredients but have trace amounts of animal products. You can always find this on the backside if it’s the case. Never buy a product if it has even trace amounts, as it’s no longer a vegan product.
Hey, I’m Gus! I have been vegan for quite some years now, and have collected a lot of knowledge about the subject in this time. My goal with this blog is to spread the vegan message and make it easy to know exactly what’s vegan and what’s not.