Brad, I prefer just oranges, lemons and limes in my Sangria. Also, I wouldn't add straight sugar to the mix. I make a sugar syrup. Equal parts water and sugar. Bring to a boil and stir just until the sugar is dissolved and then cool and refrigerate.

There is nothing wrong with adding other fresh fruits to a Sangria, but I would never add bananas. Bananas tend to over power other fruit flavours. And the last thing I would want is banana flavoured wine.

I use a decent red wine. Doesn't have to be expensive. Just good enough to drink on its own. And after I pour the sangria into the glasses, I top each with a little soda water. I don't add the soda water to the pitcher.

This is my favourite Sangria recipe.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Spanish Sangria
===============
Source: Barbara Hansen's Mexican Cookery (1981)

1 bottle, dry full bodied red wine
2 tablespoon orange liqueur (Grand Marnier or Triple Sec)
1/3 cup of simple syrup
1 lime thinly sliced
1 orange thinly sliced
1 lemon thinly sliced
Juice of one orange
1 cup club soda

Combined wine, syrup, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec and orange juice and stir. Add sliced fruit and just before serving add the soda water.

Do not let the fruit slices sit in the Sangria for more than one hour before serving as the peels can cause the drink to be bitter.

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Bring water and sugar to a boil and simmer until liquid is clear and the sugar has dissolved. Pour in to jar and refrigerate. Keep for 3 weeks.

I'd also skip the bananas.

I've never heard of bananas in sangria, so I second (third?) ann_t and johnliu.

I just got a huge box of peaches. I'm going to try this peach sangria which was posted in the Peaches Cookalong 2 years ago. It was posted by duocanoe (Linda) buy she credits lucyny for the recipe.

White Peach Sangria

1 bottle white wine
3 ounces brandy
2 ounces triple sec
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
2 ounces simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water brought to a boil for 2 minutes in a small saucepan) and cooled.
1 peach, cut up & pureed in blender w/the simple syrup
Fresh sliced peaches, oranges, and apples

Place all ingredients in a pitcher and stir to mix. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or up to 48 hours. Serve over ice.
Posted by lucyny 6/07

Thank you everyone! Okay, I'll omit the bananas in my recipe. I was just throwing around ideas in my head when I read the recipe. Both recipes sound delicious!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

The part where you "dissolve" one cup sugar in 1 cup water is making the simple syrup. To get the sugar to completely dissolve you heat up the water and keep stirring the sugar until you don't see anymore crystals. But don't heat too much or the sugar will caramelize and that will add an additional not wanted flavor. I skip that whole part and use 7-up. It is basically a simple syrup with lemon and lime juice and soda.

I agree, no banana on this round!
Have fun though, that's why I love Sangria, it is so much fun to use whatever fruit looks good and is in season.

Thank you lpinkmountain!

Hmm, maybe instead of the bananas, I'll add something like pears, blueberries or cherries? Keep in mind this is a recipe I'll make in the not too immediate future, just wanted to get other people's input and advice. I'll have to write down the part about the 7-up too.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Sangria is a tropical drink, so I'd stick with the tropical citrus fruits. Or at least try that first. Once you get the basic recipe (like Ann's) mastered, you might play around with it. But it's not a wine-fruit drink, it's a wine-citrus drink.

Serve the fruit in your salad or for dessert!

Thank you, sushipup!

Okay, I'll just stick to citrus fruits for now. I'll keep looking for recipes too!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Brad, my basic theory of cooking is that you take a tried and true recipe and then master that, then you can make adjustments. Maybe it's my scientific training, but you want to make controls in your experiments and not make more than one variation per attempt. Once you learn what you like/don't like, then you make some adjustments. Many cooks are more adventurous than I, and many have good results. But I prefer to know what the classic recipe tastes like, and then make my alterations.

Heck, sangria? It's all good!

Brad, you can't go wrong following Sushipup's advice.

Enjoy!!!

~Ann

Sushipup, you gave me and everyone else wonderful advice! Thank you!

Ann, I will enjoy some sangria someday! How soon, I don't know but I will have to try it one of these days.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Here's the wiki definition :
Sangria (Spanish: Sangr�a) is a wine punch typical of Spain and Portugal. It normally consists of wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener, and a small amount of added brandy. In the case of fruits, they are chopped or sliced such as orange, lemon, lime, apple, peach, melon, berries, pineapple, grape, kiwi and mango. A sweetener such as honey, sugar, simple syrup, orange juice is added. Instead of brandy, other liquids such as Seltzer, Sprite or 7 Up may be added.

I wouldn't mix red and white wine, choose one or the other - which ever you like best. You're going to have to do some test tasting! Have fun!

As for what fruits go good in Sangria, well it is basically a wine punch so you have to know something about wine to figure that out, since wine already has "notes" of flavors in it which is what the fruit enhances in the punch. And I agree, go with just one type of wine unless you know a whole lot about blending wines. There are blended wines out there that you can buy, such as "Menage a Trois" which is a blended red wine that I like. I'm interested in blended wines and I have tried a few and found that a lot of them I don't like, so that's why I say you have to be careful and if you're new to Sangria I would agree with Sushipup, start with the basics and you can branch out from there.

Also, there are certain fruits that seem to go more with red wine and others that go with white wine, which is why there are recipes out there for both types of Sangria. It has to do with the flavor notes of the wine. For example, I would say that kiwi would be good with some white wines but I can't imagine it with a complex red wine, but I can imagine blueberries going OK with a red. Another example is peach, which I think goes extremely well with white wine but just gets lost in a red wine. Same with strawberries--they are great with wine but would be lost with a strong red wine. Cherries and apples and blackberries, on the other hand, would go well with a red. I love to eat grapefruit, but in my experience with trying it in mixed fruit things and salads, etc., it just doen't play well with too many other tastes. It is one of the flavor notes of some wines though, but I'm not sure which ones.

But if you're not a wino and don't know all the nuances of the different wines, best to start and stick with the tried and true.

I agree, I wouldn't add banana either. I don't really stick to citrus fruits, though, my family likes citrus and pineapple or strawberries and peaches, but not many different fruits, just two or three per batch so that the flavors don't get too confusing.

I don't care for red wine, so I always use a sweet white, like Moscato or Riesling, add some Triple Sec for the fruit flavor. I also use 7-up or ginger ale for the soda/sparkly part.

My favorite so far, though was one I made with a bottle of late harvest Riesling, ginger ale, some raspberry vodka and fresh raspberries and strawberries, very summery although sweet.

It's fun to experiment with whatever fruit is currently ripe and good, though.

Annie

Wow, I'm learning a whole lot just by reading these posts! :-). Whenever I do make sangria, I will use a tried and true recipe.

Annie, that sangria recipe sounds delicious!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Brad, this article made me think of you. Summer fruits in cocktails. YUM!

Here is a link that might be useful: summer fruits in cocktails

I agree, anything but bananas. I don't think it has to be just citrus. Almost all the sangria I get has apples in it. I think any of the other fruits mentioned would be just peachy (get it? :-D). It's more important to have good fruit than the right fruit. Whenever I make it, it's whatever is cheap and looks good. I usually use orange juice (preferably fresh squeezed), zest, and wine, and a bunch of fruit, like enough to fill the pitcher halfway. I don't add the ice and club soda until I'm ready to drink it. I don't usually add sugar, but I would probably heat up the orange juice and dissolve the sugar in that if the oranges were sour. I don't usually add liquor, but a lot of people do.

Just made this yesterday for a barbeque and just used what I had on hand which was lemons, limes, oranges and plums. I did juice all the citrus first into the wine and left the plums to slices. I added two teaspoons of sugar and a 1/4 cup of brandy. I used Menage de Tois blended wine and it was very tasty. Also added a topper of club soda:)

Thanks for that article, Sushipup! So many different ways to use fruits in drinks.

Jessica, lol I got your joke :-D. Your recipe gave me some good guidelines to remember when I make sangria.

CKGM, mmm, that recipe sounds good! Never thought about plums before in sangria, but I'm glad it was a success!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

There was once a great restaurant here (Tampa) named Cafe Pepe. They were known for their sangria and warm brown bread....here is the recipe for Sangria the way it was made at Pepes. Easy and sooo good.

1/2 bottle red or white wine

1 1/2 T sugar

Lemon and orange slices

1 1/2 ounces brandy

1 ounce triple sec

2 dashes cinnamon

Crush with a wooden spoon lemon and orange slices with sugar in bottom of pitcher. Add other ingredients and ice, stir and enjoy.

If you like to make white sangria with say--peaches and citrus--if you get Lonely Cow, Sauvingnon Blanc, you'll have a head start. It smells so deliciously warm peach and the taste is grapefruity. It's my current favorite sangria. I couldn't remember the name for the life of me. I just knew it was a ew New Zealand wine from Marlborough. I had to see it before I could remember it. It's really inexpensive, but still good. I have been wracking my brain since you first posted it, but only stopped to find out yesterday. Sorry it took so long Brad!

From their website: "Lonely Cow Sauvignon Blanc jumps from the glass with aromas of white peach and lime, the mouthwatering palate is a juicy mix of candied pineapple and tangerine flavors followed by a crisp but lingering finish of wet stone and white pepper accents. As the label suggests, Lonely Cow stands alone in its field!"