Sangria Smoothie

Intro: Sangria Smoothie

So you’re having a pre-summer party and need a drink that says summer, what screams summer more then sippin' icy cold Sangria. Fruit is chopped, hooch is opened and the concoction mixed with a little bubbly. As the night progresses the sangria pitchers begin to empty, leaving behind booze soaked fruit. It is pretty tasty, but everyone has all ready had way too much to begin with, sangria is one of those sneaky drinks after all. It goes down so easy and the next thing you know you’re on the garage roof passed out with a lampshade on your butt. Anyway, enough of that pretty picture. So before passing out, muster up the courage to gather up the fruit and leftover sangria from the pitchers. Pour them into ice-cube trays and stow away to freeze. The next day we were having more people over for lunch and since it’s the weekend after all, let the debauchery continue! The birth of the Sangria smoothie was born! (Technically I found out later other people have done this all ready, but as I had no idea at the time, and did not consult the Google gods over it, I am claiming this version as my own!)

If you haven't made Sangria before don't worry, its super easy. The ingredient list can be as long or as short as you like. The key is a nice mix of fruit like strawberries, apple, pear, honey-dew and most important a variety of citrus like lemons, limes and oranges. Most any fruit works except for things like bananas and kiwis, they kinda get too mushy. Priority would be the apple with the citrus. All these fruits are peeled and chopped into bite size pieces and thrown into a big bowl of very cheap sweetish wine about 01. Let the fruit and wine exchange pleasantries for about 2 hours if you can in the fridge. Top of with some fizzy 7-up type pop and ice cubes in big clear pitchers. Some people add other fortified spirits like vodka or gin, but just the wine alone with the sugars leaching out of the fruit will do you in.

.............................Please excuse the lack of pictures for the making of the sangria, the smoothie below is the real intent of this instructable. The pictures start up from the frozen sangria ice cube stage!....................................

For 3 big pitchers or 1 large punch bowl of Sangria

• 3 apples, peeled, cored and cubed
• 2 oranges, 2 lemons & 2 limes cut into rounds ( if you are planning on making sangria smoothies after though, save yourself some time and peel them first, citrus peels don't blend so well...)
• 1 honeydew peeled, de-seeded and cubed
• 3 pints of strawberries, washed, stems removed and quartered
• 4 liter jug of hooch red wine. I found this stuff labeled "red table wine" in this institutional looking green 4 liter jug. It was rated 01 on the sugar scale. I have done this with higher quality wines and oddly enough the scary hooch always tastes the best!
• Combine all the above and let sit in a bowl for 2 hours in the fridge or freezer for that manner, just before serving pour into a pitcher till 2/3 full. Top up with fizzy clear lemon citrus type pop and serve. At the end of the night, pour all the leftover fruit and wine into ice-cube trays and freeze solid!

Sangria Smoothie Recipe
Quantities of this really will vary depending on how much sangria you have left over from the night before. A good ratio of fruit to wine should be 8:1. If you are just making these smoothies and not bothering with the Sangria aspect, then you will have to allocate your self some time to get this ready in advance. The fruit should sit within the wine for at least 4 hours before freezing in ice cube trays to let the flavors really mingle. 1 ice-cube tray makes about 2 Sangria smoothies, so do the math... and get your smoothie on!

1. In a blender add 1 ice-cube tray of frozen sangria mix.
2. Top up with about 1 cup of 7-up type pop
3. Hit the liquefy button
4. Pour into tall gaudy cocktail glasses and top with some equally awesome tacky tropical garnish complete with bendy straws
5. Hand out to your friends and watch within an hour watch as they start dancing around like Sandra Bullock dancing to the "coconut song" in the movie "practical magic. You’ve been warned

And yes, you could make this with non-alcoholic wine. Grape juice however is not the same thing though as dealcoholized wine though, the wine whether dealcoholized or not provides a much need touch of bitterness that completes the drink !

Comments

[kat_the_vamp]

for a virgin version of this could you use prebottled sangria (the soft drink not the real stuff) freeze it into ice cubes and do the same?

[iminthebathroom]

Pre-bottled sangria? sigh, times like this i realize how secluded I am. But, usually not a fan of things like that. The freshness of the fruits flavour would be somewhat compromised. I have made this with dealcoholized wine though and it turned out great.

[kat_the_vamp]

they sell it at every walmart and dollar tree as far as i know

[e-gr2learn]

Excellent idea, "iminthebathroom"! (Cool User Name, too..., and lively writing!) Much better use of the sodden sangria fruit than consigning it to the compost or worm bins :-)
I'm crude enough that I'd try the recipe with un-hulled strawberries (I'm used to them from making "green smoothies" - the muddy-looking kind made with raw greens.) I'll also probably sub. sparkling water /a.k.a. club soda /a.k.a.seltzer for the citrus flavored, since we've got a lemon, a lime, an orange & a grapefruit tree in the garden, which produce juicy fruit. But probably I ought to follow your recipe as written the first time. Thanks for sharing it.

[iminthebathroom]

no problem, sangria is kinda vague. As long as you have citrus with something like apple or pear it doesn't seem to matter when it mixes with the red wine and 7-up