DIRECTIONS
Prepare Sangria Syrup by boiling water and cane sugar together with the cinnamon stick, one thin slice of lime, and one thin slice of lemon.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer until mixture becomes thick (simmer no more than 7 min).
Add a splash of cognac or brandy as the syrup cools. Stick in the freezer to accelerate cooling as you prepare other ingredients for the Sangria.
Add slices of citrus fruits to bottom of pitcher. Oranges first, lemons, limes - creating a thick bottom layer of slices.
Use all the orange slices but only 2 lime slices, and 2 lemon slices.
Slice Bannana in 1-inch chunks. Try to keep the bannana clean you dont want it mushing up in the sangria, that will make it cloudy and dirty - and is not attractive.
A lot of people might smirk at the suggestion of using Banannas in Sangria.
But this is one of our family practices that we are happy to share.
Add apples chopped into 1/4 neat inch rectangles and last add a few orange wedges - more for garnish to float around like you usually see in a Sangria pitcher.
Pour cooled syrup over the fruits.
Hold on to the cinnamon stick for the end of the recipe.
Add orange juice, cognac, and brandy.
Stir a bit, and let sit in the fridge covered with saran wrap for about 30 min.
Add wine, up to the top of the pitcher.
You might not be able to add both bottles depending on how big your pitcher is.
But add as much as you can. You can always add the rest of the wine once you start drinking the sangria.
Mix well, trying not to distrub the bottom layer of fruit - or the banannas.
Finally, you want to add the cinnamon stick to the mix but you dont want it to sink to the bottom because you want to remove shortly after the mix is marinating -
without disturbing the rest of the mix. And well you don't want to stick you hand in the pitcher digging around for it.
So take a thick slice of the red apple and kind of drill the cinnamon stick into the apple so it doesnt come out. Dont push it all the way through, or it will break -
just enough so it is secure. Then place the apple and stick on top of the mix so that the stick is submerged. But you dont loose the apple. If you have enough fruit in there - this shouldnt be a problem.
Cover with saran wrap and chill for about 1 hour.
Remove cinamon stick attached to the apple, stir a bit.
It is important to remove the cinamon stick after at least an hour, because leaving it in any longer will make the Sangria very spicy.
Some people like this, but most do not - so pay attention to your cinnamon stick!
Cover Sangria again and chill for about 5 hours.
Seperate the fruit by draining into a colinander catching the Sangria with a spereate container.
Add teaspoon of coconut rum.
Mix well.
The taste at this point should be sweet and thick.
Almost like a tasty liquor.
Pour into a serving flask, and garnish flash neck with bits of orange and apple.
Serve with lots of ice and garnish as desired.
Enjoy 'Sangria-Sangria' Sangria!
NOTE: You can add more wine to the fruit left in the pitcher - and let it sit for some time. It will still make a nice blend. This is what we call Yesterday's Sangria.
