Healthy Recipe, Non-Alcoholic Holiday Sangria

Refreshing as it is in the heat of summer, a pitcher of sangria fits right in with a holiday spread as well by adjusting the fruits and flavors to the season. This recipe shows how you can easily turn that concept into a healthy mocktail by swapping pomegranate juice for the red wine and supplementing with freshly brewed tea and cinnamon sticks. Vary the fruits to your desires: cranberries, grapes, pears, pineapple chunks. Cranberry juice could be used instead of pomegranate for the base, as could apple juice for a mock white sangria. Mix in ginger beer instead of club soda for extra depth. Served in a clear-glass pitcher, it makes a beautiful presentation with a taste as complementary to the menu as any wine selection. Serves 8-10. – Susan Puckett

Ingredients

2 cups water
2 black tea bags, or 2 teaspoons loose-leaf tea in an infuser (decaf, spiced apple or other fruit-flavored herbal tea will also work)
2 cinnamon sticks
½ cup granulated sugar
3 cups pomegranate juice
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 thinly sliced orange
1 thinly sliced lemon
1 thinly sliced lime
1 medium apple, cored and sliced thin or cut into small chunks
3 cups cold sparkling water or club soda

Instructions

Place the water in a small pot and bring it to a boil. Remove it from the heat, add the tea bags and cinnamon sticks, and let them steep for 5 minutes. Discard the tea bags (but not the cinnamon sticks) and stir in the sugar to dissolve. Allow the spices to steep a while longer in the warm tea if desired. They will infuse the cold liquid as well – just not as quickly.
In a large pitcher, combine the tea, cinnamon sticks, pomegranate juice, orange juice, and cut fruit. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
Just before serving, stir in the sparkling water. (Or set out a bottle of sparkling water and let guests add their own.) Serve in glasses over ice.

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