Te Quiero, Sangría

When I told my mom about my blog she reminded me of her all time favorite alcoholic beverage to drink: Sangria. For those of you who don’t know what Sangria is, it’s wine. And stay with me even if you don’t like wine. I hate wine, but love Sangria. Go figure!

Photo credit http://www.kegworks.com/images/blogpost/sangria.jpg

Historia de la Sangría: Translated from Spanish to English into the history of Sangria. Because, that’s right, Sangria came from Spain. Sangria is named after the Spanish word ‘sangre’ which translates into English as blood, all because of the red color of the wine used in Sangria. But it is also popular in Portugal as well. Normally Sangria is a summer drink for the Portuguese and Spanish but in the States it is consumed year round.

Now that you’ve learned some new Spanish words or brushed up on your high school Spanish, it’s time to get into what Sangria is really made of! Sangria is a punch wine. But it’s not just wine. There is normally brandy, some kind of sweetener, and chopped fruit that is combined with the wine. Sangria is normally made with red wine but can also be made with blush (pink) wine and white wine. My personal favorite is white sangria! A few fruits used in Sangria are oranges, lemons, limes, apples, peaches and berries. Another great thing about Sangria is it can be made non-alcoholic. Sangría Señorial is a flavored non-alcoholic soft drink that can be purchased for everyone under 21 or who do not drink alcohol. Sangria is great for a large gathering because you can make tons of it in a quick amount of time.

Recipe Time!

Classic Spanish Sangria: Red

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ready in : 2 hours, 10 minutes

Serving: 6

What you need:

1 lemon

1 lime

1 orange

1 ½ cups rum

½ cup white sugar

1 (750 mililiter) bottle dry red wine

1 cup orange juice

How-to:

Have fruit, rum, wine, and orange juice well chilled before actually preparing anything. Then slice the lemon, lime and orange into thin rounds and place in a large glass pitcher. Pour in rum and sugar. Let chill in refrigerator for 2 hours. Then crush the fruit lightly with a wooden spoon and stir in wine and orange juice. Then, Enjoy!

Recipe can be found at

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Classic-Spanish-Sangria/Detail.aspx

Lisa’s Sangria

If you’re like me, you are not waiting 2 hours to have a drink. Instead an inside secret from my mom, Lisa will probably be right up your alley. Believe it or not, Ed Hardy makes pretty awesome bottled Sangria. I normally add about half of a liter of Apple Cider (you can get this from any convenient store) and add some sliced orange pieces. Stir it! And it tastes awesome! It also only takes about a minute to make.

Are you going to try Ed Hardy’s Sangria Mix? Or are you going to make Sangria from Scratch? If you do make your own Sangria from scratch, send some my way!