Berry Sangria

I have a bunch of fruit left over from my Berries with Lemon Mint Syrup. It’s a lovely warm weekend in Philadelphia which immediately made me think of sangria. What a perfect way to use more of these berries!

I also decided to make fun ice cubes to go along with this. Normal ice cubes are just fine, but this was an easy way to make the drink a little more snazzy. Place some mint leaves and some of the smaller berries (raspberries, blueberries) into an ice cube tray. Mix and match to your taste. I did a little of everything– mint by itself, mint and raspberries, and mint and blueberries. Fill gently with water and freeze. The leaves and berries might float to the top of the ice cube, but who cares! They still look great.

Now, to make the actual drink. Prepare your strawberries by removing the green stem. Add berries, triple sec, cranberry juice and simple syrup to a pitcher and mix gently. Feel free to use any fruit liqueur instead of triple sec. I just happened to have that on hand.

 

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Add the bottle of white wine, ginger ale and ice cubes. Start with 1 cup of ginger ale and add more if you’d like it sweeter. Add a spring of mint to each glass if desired. Stir and serve.

Sangria is originally an inexpensive alcoholic beverage, kind of like a punch, so feel free to use whatever white wine you have on hand. A chardonnay works well with fruit, but I had a sauvignon blanc so that’s what went in. Inexpensive wine is perfect for this type of drink, so don’t waste your good wine on sangria! Any berries you may have will work well with this too. The strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries add flavor to the actual sangria, while the cherries and blueberries are just for show. As with any sangria, the best part is eating all of the fruit when you’re finished your glass!

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