Sangria recipes that use blueberries?

July 5, 2024 11:26 AM

We picked too many berries, and we're going to see friends tomorrow, so I said we would bring a blueberry dessert and blueberry sangria. But I can't find my blueberry sangria recipe! Do you have a favorite? Or suggestions?

The recipe that I had used white wine, blueberries, cinnamon, peaches, and maybe brandy or Cointreau. I think it was from Jaleo or La Tasca. It was so good! But I'm open to other recipes (peaches aren't in season here anyway - or is frozen fruit ok?). I have prosecco and a sparkling rose, and would love to use one of those up, but also open to other wines and/or alcohol.

posted by amarynth to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

The source I found is now just a spam link, but thanks to a 15-year-old email, here’s the best known approximation I could find of the Jaleo sangria blanco, in case it’s the one you’re referencing:

750ml - a standard full bottle - of Spanish Cava wine. Jaleo most likely uses Segura Viudas Brut Reserva ($8), but any standard dry Cava can work. We've tried two even less expensive ones, Cristalino Brut ($7) and Freixenet Blanc de Blancs Brut ($6), and they're fine. All of these can be found at Premier Group's stores.

3 ounces of Licor 43 (aka Cuarenta y Tres), a vanilla liquor. We purchased a 375ml bottle for $8.

3 ounces of brandy. We purchased an inexpensive 375ml bottle of Paul Masson Grande Amber for around $6.

3 ounces of white grape juice.

3 fresh strawberries, cropped into either thin, small slices or diced

1/2 fresh peach, chopped into either thin, small slices or diced

Either a handful of fresh mint leaves, very finely chopped, or a full sprig, left complete.

300ml of ice cubes

Optional: 1 teaspoon of sugar, and/or 4 white grapes, diced.

An empty 1.5L glass pitcher

Directions:

First, place the ice cubes into the pitcher. Second, add all the chopped fruit to the pitcher. Third, pour the entire bottle of Cava, extremely slowly, down the side of the pitcher rather than directly onto the ice or fruit. This is the single most difficult element in this recipe - and one that may or may not work properly when you try it the first time; the Jaleo version is distinctive from an improperly assembled recipe in that it continues to bubble after being served.

Fourth, assemble the Licor 43, brandy, and white grape juice in a separate cup, plus the sugar if you want to use it, then pour them into the mix of Cava, fruit, and wine. Fifth, add the mint, and sixth, stir. Serve in a manner that distributes a little of the ice and fruit amongst each glass - this recipe makes enough for 4 regular-sized portions.

Our recommendations would be to skip the sugar and the grapes, use the sprig of mint rather than the leaves, and choose dicing if you want to drink the fruit in bits, or slicing if you prefer to fish the fruit out at the end to snack on.

I always skip the sugar, and I have never once purchased Licor 43. I usually substitute Cointreau for the Licor 43 and I use a decent brandy instead of Paul Masson, because we usually have decent brandy on hand. And I think I’ve made it more with strawberries and blueberries than with a peach, for the same reason you’re asking (“oops, we have too many berries”). It’s always good with that substitution.
posted by fedward at 12:30 PM on July 5, 2024 [2 favorites]

I made a blackberry margarita of 4oz tequila, 1 T each of blackberry jam and st Germaine liquor, juice from 1 lemon and 1 lime, add fruit and soda water as desired. I think a switch of tequila for prosecco or rose, blueberry jam for blackberry, blueberries for the fruit would be really good, scale up 5x for whole bottle of rose/prosecco. I would dial back on the lemon and lime with the lighter wine over tequila, adding more only to taste. Whisk the blueberry jam fully into some liquid, melting if needed, so it is not clumpy. Sub the st Germaine out for another liquor if you don't want to buy it, but it adds a really nice floral note

Another sangria recipe I made recently was a 750 ml bottle of sweet vermouth, 8 oz of fruit, 1/2 c each fresh lemon juice and fresh orange juice, plus 1 1/2c soda water as desired. This was really good too. Prosecco or rose would make it lighter.
posted by RoadScholar at 1:40 PM on July 5, 2024

I know you said sangria but blueberry margaritas are delicious imo.
posted by VyanSelei at 4:18 AM on July 6, 2024

Mine is actually pretty simple. This is from last summer (when I could still drink). Got a bottle of sangria (Barefoot brand, cheapest at the store—it's still damn good, promise!), then mixed it in the blender with ice and fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Blended it until it made for a delicious slushy. Perfect for a hot, humid summer day.
posted by dubious_dude at 6:57 PM on July 6, 2024

I'm incredibly lazy, so allow me to recommend the easiest option:

Mix whatever white or sparkling wine you have on hand with some white cranberry juice, add fruit, stir.
posted by champers at 3:25 AM on July 7, 2024

Response by poster: Thanks, all! Those all sound delicious! What I ended up doing was making some simple syrup with blueberries and honey, adding fresh blueberries, blackberries, lemon slices and limoncello and letting that sit in the fridge for a few hours. Added the prosecco before serving and that was that! It turned out pretty well.
posted by amarynth at 11:11 AM on July 9, 2024 [1 favorite]