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In the baking aisle of any grocery store, Guittard chocolate chips are a staple. Founded in San Francisco in 1868, Guittard is the oldest continuously family-owned and operated chocolate company in North America. Guittard chocolate chips are made with high quality ingredients and come in a variety of flavors, making them a favorite among bakers. But are Guittard chocolate chips vegan?
Several flavors of Guittard chocolate chips are vegan such as Unsweetened 100% Cacao, Santé 72% Cacao and Akoma Organic Extra Semisweet just to name a few. It’s important to note that they are made on equipment that also makes milk chocolate.
Below is a table showing Guittard chocolate chips flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Unsweetened 100% Cacao Chocolate Baking Chips | Vegan. |
| Santé 72% Cacao Made With Coconut Sugar | Vegan. |
| Akoma Organic Extra Semisweet Chocolate Chips | Vegan. |
| Butterscotch Baking Chips | No, contains Milk. |
| Choc-au-lait Baking Chips | No, contains Milk. |
| Extra Dark Chocolate Chips | Vegan. |
| Green Mint Baking Chips | No, contains Milk. |
| Milk Chocolate Baking Chips | No, contains Milk. |
| Semisweet Baking Chips | Vegan. |
| Super Cookie Chips | Vegan. |
Guittard chocolate chips Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Cacao Beans
- Cocoa Butter
- Cane Sugar
- Organic Coconut Sugar
- Inulin
- Milk Fat (Butter)
- Nonfat Milk
- Palm Kernel And Palm Oils
- Sunflower Lecithin
- Sunflower Lecithin And
- Tahitian Vanilla
- Vanilla And Natural Flavor
- Vanilla Beans
- Whey
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
There several ingredient made from milk such as whey, nonfat milk and milk fat.
Questionable Ingredients
Cane Sugar
This ingredient is a controversial one within the vegan community. The problem with the cane sugar is that it often needs to be refined before used in a product and in the refining process the sugar is also bleached.
A common method is to use bone char from dead cows and this has made many vegans upset. Some vegans would claim that the cane sugar would be classified as non-vegan if bleached with bone char.
Vanilla And Natural Flavor
Natural flavor is an umbrella term, meaning that it can contain several ingredients and this causes an problem for vegans because the ingredient can be animal-sourced or plant-based. There is also an interesting article on National Geographic where they found out that butt goo from beavers can be used in vanilla flavors.
Palm Oil
The palm oil industry is known for being responsible for deforestation and forcing wild animals away from their natural habitats such as orangutans. Exploiting animals like this does not align with veganism and many people not only vegans are staying away from products containing palm oil.
However there is a way to make the palm oil more vegan-friendly and it’s called RSPO. It’s a non-profit organisation that helps companies produce and buy sustainable palm oil. Guittard is a RSPO member, meaning that the palm oil in Guittard chocolate chips is indeed vegan-friendly.
FAQ
Are Guittard Chocolate Chips Vegetarian?
All flavors of Guittard chocolate chips are vegetarian because they don’t contain any animal-derived ingredient other than milk.
| Flavor | Vegetarian Status |
| Unsweetened 100% Cacao Chocolate Baking Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Santé 72% Cacao Made With Coconut Sugar | All Vegetarians. |
| Akoma Organic Extra Semisweet Chocolate Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Butterscotch Baking Chips | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Choc-au-lait Baking Chips | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Extra Dark Chocolate Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Green Mint Baking Chips | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Milk Chocolate Baking Chips | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Semisweet Baking Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Super Cookie Chips | All Vegetarians. |
Conclusion
It’s amazing that so many flavors of Guittard chocolate chips are vegan, which is great news for us vegan bakers. A common ingredient in baking chocolate chips is milk and some of the flavors do contain milk, which means that all flavors do suit vegetarians.
Thanks for reading, take care!
