No matter if most vegans follow lifestyles rich in healthy vegetable-based foods, it is no slip to develop cravings for the usual snacks some time or the other. Saltine Crackers are the best (comparatively healthy) snack to accompany television, books, work, even cooking. A brothy soup along with Saltines would make your snack healthy too, this is the most delicious meal you can enjoy during sickness. But are Saltine Crackers vegan? You bet they are!
Saltine Crackers are completely vegan by popular standards
You’d be happy to know that most brands of Saltine Crackers are completely vegan. There isn’t a tiny pinch to worry about because the fundamental ingredients for these beloved oldie snacks include just unbleached enriched flour, salt, baking soda, malted barley flour, and yeast.
We know you are amazed reading this. There are no animal based ingredients in Saltine Crackers. The recipes employed by different brands may be variable but the basic ingredients remain cruelty free. We know you are still suspicious. Nevermind.How are Saltine Crackers vegan if they contain salt?
Salt’s vegan-ness isn’t obvious and absolute for many vegans. Especially because of the turnabout white sugar has made in their eyes. The use of bone char in refinement and filtering processes used for cane sugar has been a serious topic of discussion in the vegan community.
As white sugar and table salt appear quite similar, it becomes a matter of speculation to ascertain whether the salt too undergoes similar refinement processes that use bone char. Of course there are impurities in salt which the producers need to get rid of, but no such methods are employed to whiten it.
Salt is, in fact, colorless, although it appears white. The electrons in Sodium Chloride are bound to the ions of sodium and chloride in a very tight manner. This renders salt the pristine white coloration, no bone char is required. Thus your table salt is absolutely vegan. Now comes enriched flour.
Have you also wondered whether enriched flour is completely vegan?
Well, this has remained a debatable topic since a long time whether white flour gets its white coloration after contact with animal based products. Here comes your mythbuster fact.
No, white flour purification does not employ any animal related products. It is instead commonly filtered in rotating and crushing machines.
Some vegans also question whether the nutrients added to the enriched flour are vegan or not. The speculation is understandable. Enriched flour has added iron and B vitamins that include thiamin, riboflavin, and folic acid.
Many people are aware that vitamin D is obtained from a precursor that is in turn extracted from wood oil while this is not the case for B vitamins. B vitamins are produced microbially on a large scale. Another vastly used method of production is by chemical synthesis which also doesn’t require animal-derived precursors.
Unlike fortified flour, enriched flour is trustworthy and is always free of animal based ingredients.
For your better understanding, fortification is a method by which the nutrients originally absent from the given food product are added in it to boost the nutritional status.
Enrichment, on the other hand, refers to the additional incorporation of the nutrients that were originally present in the food but were lost during the milling process.
Of all the enriched flour breads available in the market, only those that are vitamin D enriched are non vegan. Since vitamin D is derived from animal sources.
We know how vegans calculate. We know the next question arising in your mind.
How are Saltine Crackers vegan when they have that buttery flavour?
Of course it is possible for buttery flavour to be vegan friendly. But it is true that some brands of Saltine Crackers do use dairy products like milk fat and whey protein to get that taste. So your doubt has an obvious reason.
It is recommended to check the list of ingredients before buying a pack to stay safe. Saltine Crackers are supposed to be quite bland. They are generally eaten by people when they suffer from nausea and their dry, crisp nature makes them an excellent accomplice with soup. So basically, their flavour doesn’t matter.
We have listed some popularly known vegan Saltine Cracker brands for your convenience
You can easily avoid the buttery flavoured Saltine Crackers at the market. We have listed some popular brands of Saltine Crackers below to ease your next trip in the cracker aisle.
Nabisco Premium Saltine Crackers
This is unarguably the most well-known brand of Saltine Crackers. One reason they are very popular is the fact that they are definitely vegan friendly. Nabisco Premium Saltine Crackers come in two varieties: whole grain and unsalted tops.
You might want to know that these crackers are known by the name ‘Christine’s Premium Plus Crackers’ in Canada where they are vegan too. It has been confirmed by PETA that this brand of Saltine Crackers is completely vegan.
Wegmans Saltines
It has been verified by the Wegmans company on every page of their cracker product that both the original and the unsalted varieties are vegan. The constituents are mentioned on the back of each package and they don’t include any doubtful ingredient.
These Saltines use unbleached enriched flour, sunflower oil with high oleic content, baking soda, soy lecithin, and enzymes.
You might have raised your eyes at enzymes as an ingredient since enzymes are often obtained from animals. But the enzymes used in these crackers are obtained for microbes and hence are vegan.
Target Market’s Pantry Saltine Crackers
These Saltine Crackers are vegan without any doubt. The ingredients used in their making are simple, such as enriched flour, soya bean oil with TBHQ, citric acid, leavening, sodium sulfite, and enzymes.
Sunshine Krispy Saltine Crackers
Children of Kelloggs, both Sunshine Krispy Saltine Crackers and Keebler Zesta Crackers are produced with the same ingredients and both are vegan.
Keebler Zesta Original Crackers
Although a brother of Sunshine Krispy Saltine Crackers, Keebler Zesta Original Crackers have attained the position of the second most popular brand of Saltine Crackers. Entirely vegan, these crackers are also available in wheat varieties and those with reduced sodium content. PETA has confirmed that all varieties of crackers made by this brand are vegan.
A look at the forming ingredients shows us the common constituents of all Saltine Crackers, namely enriched flour, soya bean oil with TBHQ, soy lecithin, baking soda, and yeast.
Harris Teeter Saltine Crackers
Available in two varieties, both original and unsalted Harris Teeter Saltine Crackers are entirely vegan. The constituents are the usual constituents of all Saltine Crackers. Nothing to worry about.
Winco Foods Saltine Crackers
According to their mentioned ingredients, Winco Foods Saltine Crackers are vegan: enriched flour, vegetable oil (including canola oil, palm oil, corn oil, soya bean oil), wheat gluten, malted barley flour, baking soda, and yeast.
It is important to note that Winco Foods Saltine Crackers are not gluten free
Have you wondered why some people consider palm oil non vegan?
An ingredient worth noticing is palm oil.
Ethically, palm oil is a non vegan product. There are several reasons for this speculation. Many strict vegans do not consume products with palm oil as a constituent.
Palm oil cultivation is ethically unfair, environmentally crippling, and socially devastating. It is true that palms are plants but the wreckage caused by these plantations is far from green.
Huge areas of evergreen rainforests are cleared to make space for these sprawling and sucking plantations. Such widespread deforestation of valuable forest trees results in an enormous loss of percious flora and fauna. Many animals are left helpless amidst no food and shelter. Animal-cruelty and poaching coupled with loss of habitat makes their survival a challenge. Palm plantations are directly responsible for the endangerment of animals like the Orangutan and the Bornean Pygmy Elephant.
Deforestation inevitably results in an ascent in global warming levels. The dead palm plants release peat into the soil which in turn contributes methane gas to the atmosphere. If you aren’t aware, methane is another greenhouse gas largely responsible for the greenhouse effect and the resultant global warming.
Plam plantations also cause havoc in humanity. The workers employed in these plantations are not guided by fair trade regulations and are instead treated like bonded laborers.
It is in your hands to make the right choice, especially when so many other cruelty free options are easily available.
As a final speculation, guys, are Saltine Crackers vegan, like totally?
Definitely, completely, yes! They are undoubtedly vegan if you only buy the ones without any butter flavouring.
Although Saltine Crackers provide meagre nutrition, they are an excelled home remedy for nauseous and sick humans when served along with steaming hot soup.
You need not worry about this simple snack at all, amidst numerous other snacks a vegan has to worry about. Cheers!
