Vegan sea moss gel

Wildcrafted Irish sea moss. Purified water. Lime juice. That is the ingredient list of Gold Pure, and it is printed on the jar.

There is no dairy in it, no gelatin, no egg, no honey and no animal-derived thickener — because none of those things is needed. Sea moss thickens on its own; that is the entire reason it has been used in kitchens for centuries. Nothing had to be replaced to get here.

Sea moss itself is a red alga: a marine plant-like organism, not an animal and not a shellfish. If you are wondering about the shellfish question specifically, we answer it on the side effects page.

A flavored jar is a gold or purple base with fruit, herbs or spice worked in, and each flavor has its own ingredient list. Fruit flavors are straightforward. A flavor built to taste like a dessert is the one to read closely, because dessert flavor systems are where animal-derived ingredients usually turn up in this industry.

So rather than printing one badge across the whole range, we point you at the individual label. Every jar carries its full ingredient list, every product page reproduces it, and if a line on it is unclear, write to us and we will tell you exactly what it is.

If you want the simplest answer: Gold Pure is the three-ingredient jar. Start there and read your way outwards.

Gelatin is animal collagen, and it is what sets panna cotta, mousse and countless chilled desserts. Sea moss sets things too, through its own carbohydrates, and it does it from a plant. The Irish were making set puddings with it long before anyone had the word vegan.

In practice: a spoonful of gel gives body to a mousse, thickens a chilled custard, holds a vinaigrette together and turns a thin smoothie into a thick one. Our recipes page has the methods, and the rule to remember is that heat loosens the gel while cold sets it.

We have not written certified anywhere, because we do not hold a third-party plant-based certification. What we have is a short ingredient list you can read and a manufacturer we can ask questions of. When there is a certificate, it will be named and dated here.

And we have not made this a page about what sea moss does for you. It is a page about what is and is not in the jar. If you want the longer version of why we draw that line, it is on the what sea moss contains.