Chocolate and ice cream are perhaps two of the most delightful sweets that you worried about leaving when you chose to be vegan. It may seem that after every great and hearty meal, you’re craving a dessert that may consist of either or both of the two, and you remember that since you’ve chosen the cleaner path, you just can’t enjoy the ones that are readily available at the local store anymore. Well, fret not, my friend, because there are nice places and products that would save the day.
Kilwins is well-known for its sweet and yummy treats. They have vegan chocolates and sorbets, but their original recipe for their ice cream remains unchanged and strongly consists of milk and cream, which are staple ingredients for the parlor.
Right off the bat, Kilwins offers a shortage of vegan options, but they’re trying their best to better accommodate vegans. However, it’s irrefutable that they make incredibly scrumptious vegan treats that would surely tickle your taste buds into craving more.
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Kilwins Sweets Since 1947
Kilwins has a very humble background that started from couples Katy and Don Kilwin in Petosky, Michigan. The first Kilwin’s Candies and Gifts is still the same headquarters of the franchise today. There are over 140 locations in 25 states that bring the joy and originality of Kilwin’s sweet recipes.
They mainly produce hot fudge, chocolates, and their signature ice creams, but other candies, barks, brittles, popcorn, truffles, and candied fruits are also available. Their methods of production remain unchanged, and so they kept well to their origins of making the finest quality ice cream and confections for their customers. Their equipment is also very traditional, as they use old-school copper kettles for their caramel and marble cooling tables for their fudges. Due to their unique and conventional procedures, people tend to call them “old-fashioned sweets.”
What’s best about Kilwins is that all of their products are fresh, right out of the kitchen, and perfectly prepared with the most caring hands of their chefs and staff. Besides that, the sweet smells, dazzling live preparations, and friendly ambiance would definitely strike any newcomer and frequenters in awe. The products and branches of Kilwins are highly rated in food and travel reviews, including Trip Advisor.
Today, the company is owned by African-American couples Don and Robin McCarty, who were also co-founders of the South Africa Medical Expedition (SAME).
Vegan Options at Kilwins Chocolates
As I’ve said, there’s a great need for a vegan-friendly expansion at Kilwins that would allow our vegan friends to partake in the sweet indulgence of their finely-crafted ice cream and confections that are famed to be one of the best of their kind. So I truly do hope that PETA as well as other vegan organizations, would encourage Kilwins to step further into action for the growing plant-based, cruelty-free populace.
For now, you can only count their vegan choices on one hand.
Lemon Sorbetto
Textured frozen ice with real lemon juice flavor, a perfect cup of goodness to beat the summer heat or simply to cure your taste buds of boredom and savors. A serving gives 100 cal with 25 g of carbs.
Raspberry Sorbetto
Their second, vegan-friendly, textured ice on a cup with real raspberry puree and a sweet-tart flavor. You can’t go wrong with this one as its light red color’s very appealing. A serving gives 100 cal and a little over 26 g of carbs.
72% Cacao Dark Chocolate
Their vegan-friendly dark chocolate comes in two sizes, a bar of 2.25 oz for $5.99 and a bar of 10 lb for $110.99. They’re both quite expensive due to the complexity of their origins, production, and strong cacao taste. It can be enjoyed as a dessert bar or for baking purposes.
A serving of 64 g has 350 cal and contains 26 g fat (17 g of saturated fat, no trans fat), 28 g carbs (7 g fiber, 18 g sugar/added sugar), and 5 g protein. Contains a good amount of iron for the blood.
Their 72% Cacao is essentially vegan-friendly. The simple recipe only contains chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin as emulsifiers, and vanilla. The product contains soy and possibly other allergens, egg, milk, peanut, tree nuts, and wheat due to shared processing equipment. That’s another area they have to improve upon.
Dominican Dark Chocolate
A dark and bold single-origin Dominican chocolate with earthy undertones and hints of spice. Sold for $5.99 and may also contain traces of other allergens. A 64 g serving contains 310 cal, 27 g total fat (16 g saturated fat, no trans fat), no sodium, 28 g total carbs (no fiber, 13 g of sugar/added sugars), and 6 g protein.
Peruvian Dark Chocolate
A robust yet smooth, slightly sweet single-origin Peruvian chocolate with a hint of fruit. Uses the same base ingredients of 72% cacao and Dominican dark, but with Peruvian chocolate. Sold for $5.99, contains soy and possibly other trace amounts of other allergens. One serving shares the same exact quantities as the Dominican dark.
The Best Vegan-Friendly Shops by PETA
Even though you can count the vegan-friendly options from Kilwins on one hand, you’re going to need your toes as well to count these other vegan ice cream recommendations by PETA.
Dairy Queen
The world-famous brand of sticky, creamy ice cream comes with a new vegan-friendly delight – the non-dairy Dilly Bar made with coconut cream and coated with a dairy-free, crunchy chocolate exterior. Thanks to PETA’s years of effortful encouragement for Dairy Queen to introduce a plant-based, cold dessert, Dairy Queen finally embraced the opening of a new, vegan-friendly market for ice cream.
Ben & Jerry’s
The well-known brand has done far more than Dairy Queen to date, this is because they’ve already released a fresh line of vegan-friendly pints and scoops of delicious ice cream. They primarily use almond milk and sunflower butter, and they also source from non-GMO ingredients, which makes their vegan ice cream the healthiest option to grab.
With 19 exciting flavors to choose from, there’s no shortage of your favorite flavors in the vegan form here! Their latest release is the Chocolate Mint Chance which comes in a pint serving; others you’d want to check out would be “Milk” & Cookies, Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and the Netflix & Chill’d.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Now what I love about Jeni’s is that they are so confident and thrilled with their vegan-friendly creations that they literally admit that their vegan ice creams are the best they’ve made so far. Their Cold Brew with Coconut Cream Sorbet is a luscious, perfectly creamy coffee drink in frozen form. They also have Dark Chocolate Truffle, Roasted Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam, and their dairy-free Texas Sheet cake that would immediately settle your chocolate ice cream craving or perhaps even aggravate it.
Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream
What sets this shop apart is that they have all kinds of ice creams and combinations for all types of diets and lifestyles. Vegan, Keto, non-gluten, Kosher, anything you can think of, they’ve got it all for you. This is because Sub Zero gives you the amazing privilege of building your own creamy, frozen delight for affordable prices. For vegans, they have soy, almond, and cashew-based ice creams that you can pick and top off with your choice ingredients: fruits, syrups, nuts, and more.
You really need to activate your sweet tooth and ice cream craves and head on over to Sub Zero to start making the very best ice cream you can imagine.
Best Vegan-Friendly Shops by Regions
- Amy’s Ice Creams – TX
- Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop – San Leandro, CA
- Halo Top – LA
- McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams – CA
- Odd Fellows Ice Cream Co. – Brooklyn, NY
- Perry’s Ice Cream – Northeastern U.S
- Salt & Straw – West Coast
- Stewart’s Shops – NY
- Van Leeuwen – LA and Brooklyn, NY
Best Vegan Ice Cream Brands
JD’s Vegan Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert
A release of fresh, vegan ice creams with a coconut base by music producer and famed vegan Jermaine Dupri. The flavor names are interesting as well, like Welcome to Atlanta, Cholate My Way, and (404) Cookies & Cream.
KIND Frozen Plant-Based Creamy Frozen Dessert
A nut and energy bar company that now partook in one of the world’s fastest-growing lifestyle markets with its new line of vegan frozen delights. They’ve got Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt, Cherry Cashew, and Coffee Hazelnut.
Oatly Frozen Desserts
The oat milk brand has also introduced its unique, creamy, plant-based flavors for all to enjoy. Mint Chip, Fudge Brownie, Raspberry Swirl, they’ve got more, and you definitely have to try some. Their oats and creams are also gluten-free.
There are tons more mouth-watering ice cream flavors from various popular brands, and for sake of time, and you who’s probably drooling already and crazily craving for one of these treats, let’s cut it up here and be sure to check for more updates and content on these vegan cold cream delights at PETA, Healthline, and the VegNews.
Final Toppings
Here we are at last, and honestly, my mouth was watering as my stomach was growling while I was looking into those vegan-friendly desserts myself.
Anyway, not to lose vision of what we actually talked about here, Kilwins is a great place with awesome treats and awesome people dedicated to putting a sweet smile on your face as you taste one or any of their heartfelt concoctions. However, since they haven’t fully opened their doors yet for a more vegan-friendly ambiance and menu, mostly because of their steadfast adherence to their 70+ years of special recipes, this may not be one of the best vegan-friendly ice cream parlors for now.
If you do come across a branch, you would want to check it out still and have a go with their vegan-friendly options just to show that the plant-based market is growing, and they need to make some changes to accommodate that. Also, if you’re a more prudent vegan, then you might be worried about cross-contamination in their food, and that is certainly up to you.
Just remember that the more you show unwary restaurants that the vegan market is wide open and yearning for more vegan-friendly meals, desserts, and treats, the more they are likely to think of partaking in that rising action and thus will immediately help propagate awareness and care for our precious environment and inhabitants. That’s it for today, and don’t be dismayed by just one great ice cream parlor being short of vegan-friendliness; there are tons more right next door.