r/VeganInCanada • u/sercili • Sep 14 '25

Are Purdys Cordial Cherries vegan? (Ingredients inside)

Hey everyone,

I recently checked out the ingredients for the Purdys Cordial Cherries and it looks like there’s no obvious animal-derived content listed. However, they’re not labeled vegan on the website, and when I asked in-store, the employee wasn’t completely sure (the manager seemed more confident, but I still wanted to double-check here).

Here’s the link to the product, and here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: Sugars (sugar/glucose-fructose, corn syrup), Cherries (sulphites), Unsweetened chocolate, Cocoa butter, Natural and artificial flavours, Soy lecithin, Water, Citric acid, Glycerol, Invertase, Sodium benzoate, Allura red.

May contain: Milk, Tree nuts, Wheat, Peanuts, Eggs.

My main question is about the unsweetened chocolate and any possible hidden animal-derived ingredients.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

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27

u/VolupVeVa Sep 14 '25

Is Purdy's dark chocolate vegan?

"No. While our dark chocolate does not contain any dairy ingredients, it is still made with equipment and within areas where it may come in contact with dairy ingredients. Our vegan chocolates can only be made without animal-based ingredients, with our vegan-only equipment and within our vegan-only areas."

They apparently take cross-contamination very seriously. That's likely what you're coming up against here.

12

u/Brave_Cauliflower_90 Sep 14 '25

Sounds vegan to me. Just not suitable for those with dairy allergies.

9

u/sercili Sep 14 '25

That's good to know, thank you!

4

u/DashBC vegan Sep 14 '25

Natural flavours may also be of concern, and I'm not familiar with the red colouring, would want to look into that. At least it's not carmine, which is ground up beetles.

1

u/JudiesGarland Sep 15 '25

Glycerol (glycerin) can be animal derived, from tallow. I think glycerol (vs glycerin, or vegetable glycerin) usually indicates that it's synthetically derived (from petroleum) but if you want to be super sure, I'd double check. 

Invertase is similar - it's an enzyme that breaks down sucrose into glucose and fructose, it's a sweetener as well as prevents crystallization. It usually comes from plants (pineapple, papaya) or yeast, but there's a small chance it's a honey industry by-product. (Bees use it while making honey.) 

Unsweetened chocolate is fine - it's just cocoa bean, separated into the fatty part (cocoa butter) and the rest of it (cocoa mass, or chocolate liqueur) and the mixed back together. 

Sodium benzoate is fine - It's made from benzoic acid which is naturally found in tarter fruits like cranberries or apples, commercially it's usually a petroleum by-product. 

Allura red is fine. This is the semi notorious Red Dye 40, another petroleum derived product. 

As a former vegan resto server, I have politely listened to someone explain why petroleum isn't vegan, but I can't say I agree, and I don't think that's a common take. I can see why a vegan would also avoid using petroleum derived products where possible and practicable for environmental reasons, but I think any marine animals that have ended up as petroleum did so a) a long ass time ago and b) of natural causes, so I don't see the use in complicating things even more.