Summertime is the best season for salads. This salad is bursting with great flavors, lots of color and a lot of crunch. Vegan Mexican Bean Salad is so hearty, you could serve it as a main dish instead of on the side. Make the salad one to two days ahead for the best result.

Vegan Mexican Bean Salad

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) package of frozen corn thawed or 1 (15 ounce)
• 1 red onion, chopped

Salad Dressing:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons vegan white sugar
• 3/4-1 tablespoon salt
• 1 dash hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Salad Directions:

1. In a very large bowl, combine salad ingredients and stir.
2. In small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, lime and lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, cumin and black pepper.
3. Add smaller amounts of sugar and salt to dressing mixture and whisk. Add more to taste.
4. Add hot sauce and chili powder to taste.
5. Poor dressing over salad and combine until salad is coated.
6. Cover and chill overnight or at least several hours.
7. Serve salad well chilled.

[Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com]

Apparently there is some question as to whether or not sugar is Vegan friendly.  Sugar does come from plants, but during the refining process some sugar does come into contact with animal products. Here’s the scoop on how to know if the sugar you are using is vegan or not.

White sugar comes from two sources: cane and beet. Beet sugar is refined but it never comes into contact with bone char. Bone char is made from cow bones and is sometimes during the refining process of cane sugar in the filters to whiten the sugar. Each refinery is different and below you will find a list of refineries that use bone char and those that do not.

Confectioner’s sugar (or powdered sugar) is made with refined white sugar and cornstarch. It may or may not be vegan depending on if the white sugar is can sugar and where it was refined.

Brown Sugar is refined white sugar with molasses added in. It may or may not be vegan depending on on if the white sugar is can sugar and where it was refined.

Fructose may or may not be refined using bone char. You will need to check with the refinery.

If you would prefer to use sugar substitutes, according to PETA Sucanat and turbinado sugar are never filtered using bone char.

Just to recap, if your white sugar is beet sugar you do not need to worry. If you use white sugar that is cane sugar, you want to make sure your sugar is not refined by a company that uses bone char during the refining process. You will want to avoid store brand white cane sugar because it is hard to know which refinery it came from. For confectioner’s and brown sugar that use white cane sugar as a base you will need to determine where it was refined. Here is a list of refineries.

Refineries that DO NOT use bone char:

Florida Crystals Refinery
P.O. Box 86
South Bay, FL 33493
407-996-9072
Labels: Florida Crystals

Refined Sugars Incorporated
One Federal St.
Yonkers, NY 10702
914-963-2400
Labels: Jack Frost, Country Cane, 4# Flow-Sweet

Pillsbury
Makes powdered brown sugar

Supreme Sugar Company (subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland)
P.O. Box 56009
New Orleans, LA 70156
504-831-0901
Labels: Supreme, Southern Bell, Rouse’s Markets

Refineries that DO use bone char:

Domino
1114 Ave. of the Americas
25th Fl.
New York, NY 10036
212-789-9700

Savannah Foods
P.O. Box 335
Savannah, GA 31402
912-234-1261

California & Hawaiian Sugar Company (with the exception of its Washed Raw Sugar)
830 Loring Ave.
Crockett, CA 94525-1104
510-787-2121