Now and Later’s were probably my favorite chewy candy, at least when you get fresh ones. Sadly most that I’ve had were from dollar stores and the like which always had dry not so great quality Now and Later’s. But when they’re good I must say they are GREAT!
Classic Now and laters are in fact vegan. They don’t contain any gelatin, nor carmine, or any other non-vegan ingredient in them.
The full ingredients for classic Now and Laters are: Corn Syrup, Sugar, Palm Oil, Citric Acid, Salt, Artificial Flavor, Soy lecithin, Red #40, Yellow #5, Blue #1, and Blue #2.
Hold on now, not all Now and Laters are vegan!
While Classic Now and laters are vegan these flavors of now and laters are NOT vegan:
- All Shell Shocked Varieties
- All “Chewy” Now and Laters
- All Extreme Sour Varieties
- All “Split” Now and Laters
Unfortunately the only now and laters that are vegan are:
- Classic Berry Smash
- Classic Tropical Rush
- Classic Original Mix
This is because the Shell shocked Variety Contains Gelatin, which is made out of boiled animal bones, and the Chewy, Sour, and Split now & laters contain egg whites.
What are the best Vegan alternatives for the non-vegan varieties?
If you are someone who likes the extreme sour ones I’d recommend getting some of these, which are Airheads Extreme sweet & sour strips, as while a bit different they’re a vegan sour candy.
As for the other varieties, there’s no real equivalent that I know of that really fits the bill.
Well, for the chewy ones just be picky about your Now and Laters and get the originals and make sure they’re super fresh, as in my experience they’re quite soft and chewy if they were produced relatively recently.
