A baker’s kitchen is incomplete without sprinkles. To cookies and cupcakes, they bring a dash of color. But are sprinkles gluten-free?
In the article, we’ll examine the most popular brands of sprinkles, analyze their ingredients, and identify which products are gluten-free and suitable for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
Candy sprinkles are tiny, colorful candy pieces that can take on a variety of shapes, including stars, confetti, and jimmies.
Additionally, they are available in every color, including chocolate and multicolored combinations.
In addition to many other sweet treats, you can use them in recipes for cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, doughnuts, granola, and more!
If you have a gluten allergy or celiac disease, you are all too aware of the necessity to check the labels of every food item you eat, no matter how small, for the presence of gluten to evaluate its safety.
Sprinkles are no different, so let’s explore the gluten-free sprinkles world.
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Table of Contents
Are sprinkles gluten-free?
Sprinkles, which come in all the colors of the rainbow, as well as various textures and forms, give cakes, cupcakes, and other sweets a pop of color.
Sprinkles can have a delicate, glittering look or take on enormous, unique shapes. French bakers created the earliest sprinkles in the 1800s.
Instead of decorating confections like cakes, sprinkles were used on bread and toast.
Most sprinkles are gluten-free. Their ingredients include sugar, gluten-free carnauba wax, confectioners’ glaze, coloring, and sweetener.
Though most are corn-based and, therefore, gluten-free, they might also contain thickeners. The possibility of cross-contamination occurring while making sprinkles still exists.
What are the different kinds of sprinkles?
Are sprinkles gluten-free? Whether you’re baking, topping baked goods, or sprinkling sprinkles over ice cream, your choice of sprinkle will vary on what you’re using it for.
Sprinkles’ most popular shapes & textures include:
- Jimmies
The majority of people envision jimmies, which are rod-shaped sprinkles when they think of sprinkles. They may be made of chocolate or in other colors.
Jimmies are suitable for use in baking because, when cooked, their color doesn’t drip as much as that of other sprinkles.
- Nonpareils
These little balls of sprinkles are made from sugar and starch. Since they bleed color more than jimmies, they usually are not utilized in baking.
- Quins
Quins are flat sprinkles that are available in many different shapes. They are frequently used as a topping on cupcakes that have been iced.
They don’t work well in baking since they can bleed color, melt, and lose their structure.
- Dragees
Due to their rounded shape, dragees resemble nonpareils. They resemble pearls because they are more significant than nonpareils and coated with metal.
Due to their metallic coating, many dragees aren’t edible and, therefore, largely used for decoration.
- Sanding sugar
More coarse than refined sugar is sanding sugar. It helps make baked goods shimmer and comes in a range of colors.
If you employ it in baking, it won’t melt due to its size and texture.
Sprinkle ingredients
Generally speaking, all sprinkles are made of the same ingredients, including but not restricted to:
- Sugar
- Cocoa powder
- Cornstarch
- Emulsifiers and thickeners such arms soy lecithin and dextrin
- Vegetable oil
- Carnauba wax
- Food coloring
- Confectioner’s glaze
- Natural and artificial flavors
How are sprinkles made
Water, powdered sugar, butter, and food coloring are mixed to form a dough.
The dough is then put through an extruder to create long, thin strands. It appears like multicolored angel hair pasta at this point.
After drying, the strands are to be cut into smaller pieces. Sprinkles were sprayed with the confectioner’s glaze and carnauba wax to enhance luster and aid in color retention.
How to check if sprinkles are gluten-free
In general, the majority of sprinkles don’t use wheat flour or other gluten-containing substances.
Whether or not they are gluten-free snacks is another issue. The manufacturer determines everything.
Some manufacturers mark their sprinkles as being gluten-free.
Since the sprinkles are on similar production lines to other products, some manufacturers claim that even though there are no gluten-containing ingredients, there is a chance of cross-contamination during production.
Furthermore, given that the inclusion of the gluten-free label and the “may contain” allergen warnings are optional, some manufacturers offer very little information, if any at all.
It all contributes to the difficulty while purchasing sprinkles.
It may be challenging to determine whether you can trust a product merely based on its packaging unless it is labeled gluten-free without prior investigation, so always research.
The best brand of gluten-free sprinkles
In consideration that most people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity try their hardest to avoid gluten at all costs.
The most secure options are gluten-free sprinkles from producers proving their claims.
It is because most manufacturers that do not declare their products gluten-free also mention a risk of cross-contamination.
After all, the sprinkles are produced on shared equipment.
It is probably reasonable to believe that the sprinkles using gluten-free ingredients have less than 20 ppm of gluten and are suitable for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity if the item states it is.
The brands listed here still have a wonderful assortment of gluten-free sprinkles, even though this does restrict your selections.
The top brands of gluten-free sprinkles are listed below:
Betty Crocker: Although precise details on validation or manufacture were challenging to locate, several of the Betty Crocker sprinkles are gluten-free.
Cake Mate: Cake Mate guarantees that none of its items, including nonpareils, sugar shapes, and decoration sprinkles, contain wheat or gluten.
Additionally, they stipulate that any goods that even slightly carry a danger of cross-contamination will be declared and prominently indicated on the product label’s “Ingredients” section.
Cake Craft: Their website contains no details on the manufacturing of gluten.
Chef’s select: There was no more information available about this brand; however, you can buy these sprinkles on Amazon, which are gluten-free.
Color Kitchen: A factory that also processes wheat produces sprinkles.
To verify the products meet the requirements for gluten-free certification, they employ third-party lab testing for the presence of gluten.
Fancy Sprinkles: All sprinkles from Fancy Sprinkles are gluten-free (apart from the metallic decoration category), but they are not gluten-free by official standards.
There is always a chance of cross-contamination because the sprinkles are made in a facility that produces gluten-containing items.
Hobby Lobby – Sunny Side Up Bakery: Several products at Hobby Lobby are marked gluten-free, including rainbow nonpareils and sanding sugar.
It is advisable to read labels carefully because not all sprinkles are gluten-free.
There are no details about the manufacture, sourcing, or gluten-free labeling of the hobby lobby.
India Tree: Although India Tree asserts that their sprinkles are free of gluten derived from wheat, barley, rye, oats, or any other cross-bred combination, it is difficult to determine whether cross-contamination has occurred.
Although they do not mark their products as gluten-free, they assert that they have ascertained with their suppliers that none of the ingredients used in their production process contain grains that contain gluten.
Uses for sprinkles:
Here are a number of our preferred implementations, including a few unusual ones:
First, frosting on cupcakes, cakes, and pastries is the most straightforward way to use sprinkles.
Make gluten-free funfetti cookies by incorporating them into the dough.
Sprinkles work well for decorating cakes like the gluten-free vanilla cake.
For a colorful snack like these gluten-free cake batter waffles, add sprinkles to waffles.
Build a piata cake or bake cupcakes. Sprinkles are an option for decorating the gluten-free cupcake.
Cookies or gluten-free biscotti can be dipped in chocolate and decorated with sprinkles before the chocolate hardens, as in the case of gluten-free butter cookies.
FAQ
Can a celiac consume sprinkles?
Yes, sprinkles are safe to eat if you have celiac disease.
It is preferable to check for sprinkles with a gluten-free claim on the label because most sprinkles do not typically contain gluten ingredients but may come into touch with gluten while being manufactured.
Are sprinkles gluten-free?
In general, sprinkles don’t have gluten-containing ingredients; however, they could be exposed to them while being made. Frequently read labels.
Are sprinkles vegan?
Because confectioner’s glaze (shellac), derived from bug secretions, is a component of most sprinkles, they are typically not vegan. It is possible to find vegan-friendly sprinkles without shellac or confectioner’s glaze.
Are there certified gluten-free sprinkles
Currently, no manufacturers use a third-party GFCO, BRCGS, or NSF certification, a requirement for gluten-free products. Each manufacturer does the verification of gluten-free claims according to their respective methods.
Conclusion
Are sprinkles gluten-free? It is preferable to look for sprinkles that are marked as gluten-free, even if the majority are prepared without gluten-containing components due to potential cross-contamination during manufacturing.
Since these sprinkles have been certified gluten-free, anyone with celiac disease or gluten intolerance can consume them without concern.
In any of your gluten-free recipes, gluten-free sprinkles are suitable to use.
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