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Spicy candy has never been a favorite of mine, but my friends always ate it and loved it. They tried to give me Hot Tamales for so long and I always said, but after years of asking I tried one. I must say they were not bad at all. Then I turned vegan and got more careful of what candy I ate. Are Hot Tamales vegan?
Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon Chewy Candy is not vegan because it contains confectioners glaze. Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon Soft & Chewy Bites on the other hand might suit dietary vegans, but it’s hard to tell if some of the ingredients are animal derived or not. Both flavors contain artificial colors which makes them unfit for ethical vegans.
I made a table below that shows which flavors of Hot Tamales that fits a dietary vegan or an ethical vegan.
| Flavor | Dietary Vegan | Ethical Vegan |
| Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon Chewy Candy | No | No, it contains Confectioners Glaze, Artificial Colors. |
| Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon Soft & Chewy Bites | Maybe | No, It contains Artificial Colors, Palm Oil. |
Hot Tamales Fierce Cinnamon Ingredients
Below I’ve listed all ingredients from the two flavors or Hot Tamales that I found:
- Blue 1
- Carnauba Wax
- Citric Acid
- Confectioners Glaze
- Corn Syrup
- Dextrin
- Fumaric Acid
- Folic Acid
- Glycerine
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Iron
- Malic Acid
- Medium Chain Triglycerides
- Modified Food Starch (corn)
- Natural & Artificial Flavor
- Niacin
- Palm Oil
- Pectin
- Potassium Sorbate (preservative)
- Red 3
- Red 40
- Riboflavin
- Salt
- Sodium Citrate
- Soy Mono & Diglycerides
- Sugar
- Thiamin
- Water
- Wheat Flour
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
As you can see I’ve highlighted the ones that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Confectioners Glaze
This non-vegan ingredient is made from female bugs that leaves goo when eating in trees.
Artificial Colors
The following artificial colors are found in Hot Tamales:
- Blue 1
- Red 3
- Red 40
- Yellow 5 & 6
To be clear, there are no animal derived ingredient in either of these colors, but they have been tested on animals.
This makes them not suitable for ethical vegans.
There are also numerous health issues connected to these artificial colors such as hyper activity.
Palm Oil
The palm oil industry is known for high deforestation it contributes to and as a result of that, destruction of ecosystems.
Many animals suffer from this and more noticeably the orangutans.
Many vegans a.k.a. ethical vegans are taking a stand against this, by boycotting products with palm oil in them.
Palm oil can be more vegan-friendly and this is accomplished by RSPO.
They work towards helping companies to produce sustainable palm oil with minimal environmental impact.
I did a quick search for the company Just Born that produces Hot Tamales, but they could not be found as a member of RSPO.
Therefore the palm oil in Hot Tamales is not vegan-friendly.
Questionable Ingredients
Corn Syrup
The reason I put corn as a questionable ingredient is the fact the crop used might be GMO.
The problem with GMO crops are high usage of herbicide, which can destroy ecosystems around the farms that uses them.
Glycerine
Can be sourced from both plants and animals.
Medium Chain Triglycerides
MCT can be made from palm oil and the problem here is that it’s not RSPO certified in Hot Tamales.
Carnauba Wax
I put carnauba wax as a questionable ingredient because of the exploitation of both humans and animals.
I wrote an article on this “Is Carnauba Wax Vegan?“.
Natural & Artificial Flavor
This ingredient can be a bit tricky because it does not specify what flavors and where they are sourced.
Companies can hide the flavors they want here.
There are cases where vanilla flavors uses butt goo from beavers.
Niacin
Niacin also known as B3 can be derived from both animals and plants.
Riboflavin
This ingredient is also known as vitamin B2.
It can be sourced from organs and lean meat, but also from vegan sources such as leafy greens and soybeans.
The source of Riboflavin in Hot Tamales is not revealed so this ingredient might non-vegan.
Soy Mono & Diglycerides
This ingredient can be made from animals, but that’s not the case in Hot Tamales.
It’s made from soybeans.
I put this here for the same reason as corn.
It’s a common GMO crop that uses a high amount of herbicide to generate good yields.
It has a high negative impact on the environment.
To avoid this you can look for a label called non-GMO project.
This label cannot be found on the Hot Tamales package.
Sugar
It does not say the source of the sugar in Hot Tamales.
The problem with sugar is that it might be refined cane sugar.
This is the most common sugar used in the candy industry.
Bone char is often used to bleach the cane sugar.
This bone char is mostly from dead cows.
If this was the case for the sugar in Hot Tamales, then it would not be vegan-friendly.
Conclusion
It’s too bad Hot Tamales is not vegan.
I couldn’t find a vegan alternative.
Maybe soon someone will make a hot vegan cinnamon candy.
Stay vegan!
