Chill out with an Apricot Piña Colada

By Sandy Hu

Summer is a time for fruity drinks – preferably gussied up with a fancy garnish and sipped through a straw. If you have a blender, it’s easy to whip up delicious, Fresh Apricot Piña Coladas in minutes. Serve each drink immediately because the ingredients will separate upon standing.

Fruits are not uniformly sweet, so you may have to adjust the recipe with more simple syrup, depending on the quality of your fruit. Use simple syrup Instead of sugar to sweeten because sugar will not dissolve readily in cold liquids.

To make simple syrup, just combine equal parts of sugar and water and boil gently for a minute or two until sugar is dissolved. Store any leftovers in a glass jar, refrigerated, up to a month. You can use simple syrup to sweeten iced tea, sangria, lemonade and other cold drinks.

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Fresh Apricot Piña Colada

2 fresh California apricots, halved and pitted, plus additional half for garnish
2 tablespoons frozen pineapple juice concentrate, unthawed
3 tablespoons simple syrup (see note below)
3 tablespoons canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons light rum (optional)
4 to 8 ice cubes
Mint sprigs
Plastic straw

In a blender jar, combine 2 halved apricots, pineapple juice, simple syrup, coconut milk and rum. Whirl until blended. Taste and add more simple syrup to sweeten, if needed. Add ice cubes and whirl until smooth and slushy. If drink seems thin, add a few more ice cubes and blend again. Pour into a stemmed glass.

To garnish, make a slit halfway into the remaining apricot half and slip the apricot onto the rim of the glass. Add the mint sprig and straw. Serve immediately.

Makes 1 drink (about 1 cup).

Note: To make simple syrup, mix equal parts sugar and water and boil gently for a few minutes, stirring, just until sugar is dissolved. Leftovers can be stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator up to 1 month.

Note: Ice cubes from an automatic ice maker tend to be smaller, so you may need the larger quantity of ice cubes, while ice cubes from a manual ice tray are bigger and may require just half the number.

Recipe adapted from Apricot Producers of California

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