Spanish Sangría Recipe
A refreshing and stimulating Mixture of Red Wine and Fruits
Are you thirsty? Try sangria, a popular drink from Spain It does not matter if it is hot or cold outside. All you need is red wine, sugar, fruits and your imagination!
There are as many sangria recipes as sangria enthusiasts! Sangría is an alcoholic drink made with few necessary ingredients, but after some trials, you will add you own “touch” to this popular recipe. The sangria is very popular in Spain, in fact it is a Spanish recipe, but there are a lot of people around the world who already know and have tasted this refreshing drink.
First of all, here we have the basic ingredients to prepare sangría:
- Red wine
- Cold lemonade OR lemon soda OR orange juice (depending on your preferences)
- Sugar
- 1 orange
- 1 peach
- 1 apple
- Some ice cubes
Sangría Preparation and tips:
You may be thinking right now there are no quantities for wine and lemonade / soda / juice. It is because it depends on how much alcohol (wine) do you like in this mixture. Usually, the ideal proportion is 1 part or red wine and 2 parts of lemonade. But there are also people who prefer half wine, half lemonade. Personally, the first time you prepare this recipe, try 1/3 of wine with 2/3 of lemonade.
You will need a pitcher, don’t worry about its capacity, as we’ll be working with proportions, but be careful, as we’ll have to add pieces of fruit and glass cubes to the drink mixture!
So, the first step will be cutting the fruits (orange, peach, apple) and / or any other you prefer: kiwi, pineapple or grapes) into chunks. Remember you have to use fresh fruits and be creative.Try different fruits until you find the best combination for you. Add them to the wine (don’t worry if it is not a very expensive one, although a good red wine will be better for the sangria) in the pitcher and let this mixture soak. This way, the wine will absorb the flavours of the fruits and give the sangria a tasty flavour.
Now we can add the sugar and the cold lemonade, or lemon soda, or the orange juice. In case you prefer orange juice, 3 cups per bottle of wine (of 750 milliliters) will be ok.
Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Put it into the refrigerator and when you’re going to serve it, add some ice cubes to it.
As said above, this could be the basic recipe as, depending on the country, region or even the tradition of a concrete family, this recipe has a lot of variations.
For example, you can add, apart from the mentioned ingredients, some liqueur as brandy, Cointreau or rum.
Other recipes also include cinnamon or white wine, instead of red wine.
That’s why everybody loves sangria, because is easy to prepare and, above all, creative and in accordance to one’s own preferences. Enjoy it!
