Applebee's White Peach Sangria

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Fresh peaches in a jug of wine look right for about twenty minutes. After that they brown at the cut edges, soften, and sink.

Frozen peach slices do the job better on every count. They do not brown, they stay firm for hours, and while they thaw they chill the sangria without diluting it the way ice does.

They also cost less and are available all year, which matters for a drink most people want in summer using fruit that is only good for about six weeks.

Why they do not brown

Browning is an enzyme reaction that needs oxygen and a working enzyme. Commercial freezing blanches or treats the fruit, which deactivates the enzyme before it ever gets going.

That is why a bag of frozen peaches thaws to orange fruit and a cut fresh peach goes brown on the plate in ten minutes.

Peach schnapps as well as wine

The wine gives you a fruity white base. It does not give you peach.

60 ml of peach schnapps puts an unmistakable peach note through the jug that the fruit alone cannot. Peach flesh is mild and its aroma does not extract well into cold wine — which is why a peach sangria made with fruit alone tastes of wine and looks confusing.

Pinot grigio or a dry white

Something crisp and not oaked. Chardonnay's vanilla and butter fight the fruit, and a sweet white on top of the schnapps and the peaches makes the whole thing sugary.

Dry white, and let the schnapps and the juice bring the sweetness.

The four hours

Long enough for the fruit and the wine to exchange flavour, and for everything to be properly cold.

Anything over about twelve hours and the citrus starts going bitter — the pith leaches into the wine. Take the citrus slices out if it will sit overnight.

What you need

• 1 bottle (750 ml) dry white wine, chilled
• 450 g frozen peach slices
• 60 ml peach schnapps
• 60 ml white rum (optional)
• 120 ml white grape juice
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 orange, sliced
• 240 ml lemonade or soda water, to serve
• mint, to garnish

Method

1. 1. Put the frozen peaches straight into a large jug. Do not thaw them.
2. 2. Add the wine, schnapps, rum, grape juice and citrus slices.
3. 3. Stir gently.
4. 4. Refrigerate 4 hours.
5. 5. Top with lemonade or soda as you pour, not before.
6. 6. Mint on top.

The soda goes in last

Added to the jug at the start it is flat within an hour. It exists for lift at the moment of serving.

Pour the sangria into glasses and top each one, rather than topping the jug.

Do not add ice

The frozen peaches are the ice. Adding actual ice on top of them over-chills and then over-dilutes as it melts.

If the jug has been in the fridge four hours and the peaches went in frozen, it will be cold enough.

Storing

Two days in the fridge without the soda. Take the citrus slices out after about twelve hours or the drink turns bitter.

The peaches are good to eat afterwards and are worth spooning into the glasses.