Summer Fruits for fresh Summer Sangria

This season is the most opportune time to enjoy fruits when they are at their sweetest. Eating fruits fresh, adding or centering desserts, salads, and smoothies around them are commonly done. How about stirring them up in a pitcher of sangria! Whether you’re mixing together with alcohol or keeping it non-alcoholic, its a crowd pleaser…as well as a relaxing beverage to enjoy when not entertaining.

We’re using fresh peaches, grapes, and cherries with a sparkling wine for this refreshing sangria!

At the conclusion of our virtual image tour this week in Summer’s Edible & Colorful Garden – Part 2 (colorful) I had suggested and invited readers to join me for a glass or two of summer sangria…

The plan was to share this sangria around the days of the July holiday. That timeframe has come and gone almost a month ago. Since that time, I’ve made this sangria several times already but by the time it’s ready to be served, I’m ready to just start enjoying it (and not set it up to be photographed)!

Sangria originates from Spain, Portugal and Argentina. Its main ingredients traditionally include wine, chopped up seasonal fruits, a sweetener (sugar, syrup, honey, orange juice, etc.), and a touch of cognac (or brandy). The drink is typically dark red, hence the name sangria meaning “blood” in Portuguese. For sangria made with white wine, it is called sangria blanca.

This is a nice base of a recipe to work with, change it up with other seasonal fruits, and maybe substituting the sparkling wine with a pinot gris or sauvignon blanc (something with no carbonation and without adding too much more sweetness). It’s a dangerously deceptive drink in that you may not realize there’s alcohol in it until its too late. It’s a refreshing treat.

In addition to the fresh peaches, cherries and grapes to sweeten up the drink, we’re adding superfine sugar.

Superfine sugar, also known as baker’s sugar, dissolves/melts quicker and incorporates more smoothly into the ingredients better. Because it is superfine, you lessen the possibility of a “grainy” texture in your finished product when a smoother consistency is more desired.

I’ve cut the sugar down considerably, from using a whopping 3 tablespoons to a mere 1 tablespoon. Depending on how sweet your fruits are, you may want to cut that down even more. It’s purely preference (and calories).

Brandy can be substituted for the cognac without losing the quality of the drink!

Use ripe, but firm fruit. This will be even more important depending on how long you allow the fruits to macerate in the juices (before adding the wine at the end).

I’ve made this where it sat in the refrigerator from 3 hours and also tried it at over a day before adding the wine and serving. The longer it sits, the more time it has had time to macerate and the fruit softens up. If the fruit was kind of soft or too ripe to begin with, it may fall apart depending on how long you let it macerate (especially the peach). In that scenario, don’t let it sit too much longer than 3 hours before finishing it off to serve.

• Easily substitute Brandy for the Cognac.
• 1 cup = about 20 medium-sized grapes.
• 1 cup = about 20 cherries.
• Cut the sugar down to 1 tablespoon.
• Use baker’s sugar if you have it on hand for the superfine sugar.
• Use Rainer cherries to brighten up this festive drink.
• Used Ballatore Gran Spumante for the sparkling wine.
• For a non-alcoholic version, try using Seltzer or other lemon-lime flavored soft drink.