Refreshing Blood Orange Spritzer #recipe by Leslie Karst

Summer is officially here—time for mouth-watering spritzers!

Blood oranges are more common in Italy than the United States and can be difficult to find for sale at grocery stores here. But if you’re lucky enough to locate them at the farmers’ market or have a friend with a tree, they make for a beautiful and delicious addition to any dish or drink requiring oranges. (If you can’t find blood oranges, feel free to use pink grapefruit or cranberry juice for this drink, which will make for a similarly tart and ruby-red substitute.)

I made the tasty beverage pictured above with gin, for a delectable pre-dinner summer cocktail. But for a refreshing non-alcoholic spritzer, merely omit the gin and add a bit more soda water. And you’ll be surprised at how much the woody-perfumy rosemary sprig adds to the flavor!

Blood Orange-Gin Spritzer

2 oz. blood orange juice (or substitute pink grapefruit or cranberry juice)

2 oz. regular orange juice

2 oz. gin (if using; or substitute vodka)

2-4 oz. soda water

1 sprig fresh rosemary

Juice the oranges, and measure out 2 ounces of each.

Fill a highball glass with ice, then pour in the gin (if using).

Add the orange juice and the blood orange juice.

Top with soda water, stir, and garnish with the rosemary sprig. 

Cin cin! Alla salute!

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Sally Solari Mysteries, a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California. An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

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Leslie also blogs with Chicks on the Case