In honor of this week's
wine festival I'm posting a recipe for Israeli sangria.
Sangria is typically red wine, mixed with lemonade/sprite and various cut up fruits. You mix all of the components together, let it all sit for a while, and and it tastes really, really good.
To make sangria "Israeli" my first thought was to replace the lemonade with limonana. Limonana (Hebrew for lemon and mint) is a very popular drink in Israel that is basically lemonade with lots of mint added to it. The mint makes the drink very refreshing, and its one of the better coping mechanisms for the summer heat.
The fruits I would use for the Israeli sangria would be determined by the season. Plums, oranges, nectarines are all classic fruits for sangria and you can't go wrong with them. To mix things up a little you can also add
Lychee, a seasonal summer fruit in Israel. While overall a sweet fruit, the natural small amounts of acidity in the Lychee add a nice element to the drink.
Sangria is a great drink with almost any meal and will sure to go over well at your next summer picnic.
Israeli Sangria Recipe
Ingredients:
Bottle of dry red wine
Lemons
Mint
Sugar
Plum
Orange
Nectarine
Lychee
Instructions:
1. Cut up one plum, one orange, one nectarine, and a handful of lychees. You can make a small dice or keep them as larger sized pieces.
2. To make the limonana squeeze the juice of four lemons into a liter and a half bottle. Add 10 mint sprigs and 3 spoonfulls of sugar. Fill the bottle with water and add a tray of ice cubes. Chill.
3. Mix a whole bottle of wine, half a liter of limonana and fruit together. Let sit for at least 2 hours and up to overnight in the fridge.
4. Sangria is best served chilled, but you can let the temperature return to room temperature if that's your preference.
5. Once it runs out, make some more!
Savor Israel
Israeli Sangria Recipe
