I had a couple of requests for Sangria for celebrity events that I catered this summer.  I thought I would share this delicious, refreshing, classic recipe I made, with you.  After all, Labor Day is coming right up.  You may want one last splash in the pool with a delicious drink and a recipe that is sure to wow your crowd.

First off, let me just say that I am not usually a sangria consumer.  Most sangria contains way too much added sugar for me.  When I researched recipes and talked to sangria making aficionados, they told me to add sugar.  Some recipes added multiple cups of sugar (blech!)   Well, I am stubborn and I know how terrible cane sugar is for all systems of the body so I came up with this recipe.

You may notice that I do add lemonade to the mix and lemonade traditionally has sugar.  You can make your own lemonade sweetened with stevia, honey or raw agave.  There are ways around this cane sugar situation.  I invite you to try them.  For the purpose of ease, I suggest adding a lemonade product you can get at Whole Foods called Simply Lemonade.  It’s delicious and refreshing and, more importantly, it has been vetted out by the watchdogs that Whole Foods employs to make sure products are as clean as possible.  The majority of the sugar in this recipe comes from fruit.  Feel free to add more!

First of all, you’re going to need a container like this.

sangria c

Don’t even bother to look at Bed, Bath and Beyond for this kind of thing. You can find these at catering and restaurant supply stores. They should run about $15.00.

Perhaps the most important part of this recipe is the amount of days that it takes to make this. The fruit needs to infuse into the wine and that takes time. I usually allow for at least 2 days but 3 is better. I took out a shelf in my refrigerator to fit this large container in it!

Sangria For A crowd

5 bottles of Red Wine (Cabernet, Malbec or Tempranillo)
1 Cup of brandy (or more to taste and alcohol content)
5 Large oranges (or 8 smaller ones)
5 Apples (I used Fuji)
3 Limes
1 Large bunch of green grapes
1 Half Gallon Container of lemonade (or to taste)
1 Quart of orange juice

Slice the oranges and limes in rounds like so.

sangria sliced oranges sangria sliced limes

Peel the apples and chop them into small chunks.

sangria peeled apples

Halve the grapes. This is a little labor intensive but it is worth the time it takes. You have to cut the grapes or they won’t infuse into the wine.

sangria grapes

Place all of the cut fruit into the container.

sangria fruit in container

Then pour ALL of the liquids over them like so:

sangria wine pouringsangria lemonadesangria add orange juicesangria brandy

Stir the liquid through the fruit.

sangria stir fruit

Make room in the refrigerator and let that container of wine and fruit soak for at least two days. Be sure to stir it and test it at least once a day during that time.

sangria in fridge

When the sangria is ready, you will know. It will be sweet, tart, tangy and full of flavor. The brandy in this recipe gives it a kick and makes the sangria last a little longer because people will tend to drink less of it (well not all people but you know who you are!)  I ended up adding the whole bottle of brandy this time!  It was a small one . . .

This recipe should yield about forty five to fifty servings. You can always double it and have more! Also, if you want to reduce the amount for a small party with a few friends, that’s easy too.

You can get more creative with the fruits you use and add blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, kiwis, strawberries and even mangoes, pineapples and papayas. You can also add spices like cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and whole cloves to the mix. Just be sure to remove the sticks and cloves after and be careful not to over power the recipe. Especially with cloves! That’s easy to do. Stick to about a quarter to a half a teaspoon and maybe 4 cinnamon sticks.

Many recipes for sangria will tell you to discard the fruit when it is done and add fresh fruit. You can do this but I found that the flavor is better with the original fruit. Like I suggest with most recipes, make it your own by doing what sounds great to you!

Dr. Meg Haworth, Ph.D. is a private chef to the stars in Hollywood, cookbook author, instructor at Whole Foods Markets and wellness coach. You can find her on the web at www.deliciousandhealthy.com or email her at meg@deliciousandhealthy.com for menu plans tailored to your needs for food allergies, healing diets for specific conditions and healthy weight loss. For her cookbook, click here.

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