Apple And Pear Sangria BlancaA Great Way To Celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

Sangria is a wonderful drink for warm weather entertaining.

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Sangria
Although this wine and fruit drink is often served in Spain and Portugal, it was pretty popular in Austin where I attended college and worked for 18 years. Especially during Cinco de Mayo celebrations!

Sangria is usually made with red wine, giving it a deep red color (hence the name. Sangria means "bleeding, blood-letting" in Spanish). But my friend Enrique showed me this wonderful Sangria Blanca recipe that I will share with you today.

Enrique's Sangria Blanca is made with white wine, chopped fruit, some bubbly water, a little Triple Sec to sweeten, and the magic ingredient - passion fruit juice concentrate! The nice thing about sangria is that it can always be made with inexpensive wine, making it a very affordable drink to serve a large crowd.

I love the flavor that passion fruit juice gives
to this Sangria recipe. I found it  on Amazon.

Just a tablespoon or two of passion fruit concentrate
in bubbly water makes a refreshing drink any time.

I have never had such a light and lovely sangria. It's especially enjoyable in the heat of the summer and it's only a little over 100 calories per glass.

Although we are using apples and pears today, you can use other fruits as well. Sliced seedless green grapes goes particularly well in this drink. And if you can't find passion fruit concentrate, you can use peach or mango. 

Apples and pears give a nice crunch to this sangria blanca.

Liquid ingredients.
Do not mix the sparkling water in until you are ready to serve.

This makes a party-sized batch so feel free to cut it in half.


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Sangria Blanca with Apples and Pears
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 23 (5 ounce) servings

2 cups diced and sliced apples
2 cups diced pears
1 cup passion fruit, mango or peach concentrate
2 liters white wine
1/2 cup Triple Sec
1 liter lime-flavored club soda
Ice to fill glasses

Mix the apples, pears, passion fruit concentrate, wine and Triple Sec in a very large glass pitcher or punch bowl. Let sit for as little as 30 minutes or place in the refrigerator and let sit for several hours.

When you are ready to serve, mix in the club soda. If you are not going to use all of the sangria at one sitting, you may not want to mix the club soda into the sangria since it will go flat. You can, instead, top each glass with some. 

To serve, fill a white wine glass with ice. Pour 5 ounces of the sangria blanca in each glass and top with 3 tablespoons of sangria-infused fruit.

Per serving (5 ounces sangria with 3 tablespoons fruit): 108 calories

Salud!
Thanks for the recipe Enrique!