Sanguina {Rum, Blood Orange and bitters cocktail}

Sanguina. The first time I saw and tried a blood orange, was in Italy, in Brescia to be precise, where they call them sanguinelli. Coming from a country where there were only two varieties of orange: the ones to make juice (Valencia) and the ones we ate in wedges (California), that red blood orange fascinated me, like its juice that Italians suggestively call sanguinella.

Years later, while living in Southern California, I wanted to have my own blood orange tree. This never happened and I ended up living in South Florida, where blood oranges are an exotic fruit imported from California and Texas.

In Italy, blood oranges grown in Sicily, in the fertile lands of the eastern provinces of Catania, Enna, Racusa and Siracusa are known as Arancia Rossa di Sicilia and are protected by a denomination of origin (Indicazione Geografica Protetta.)

When I recently saw blood oranges at the grocery store, I didn’t think twice and bought a bag of these oranges characterized by the dark red pigmentation of its pulp, which is attributed to its high content of anthocyanin, a flavonoid which is a wonderful antioxidant.

History, geography and chemistry aside, it had been years, literally, since I wanted to make a drink with the unique Sanguinelli oranges. So, here I go.

This concoction is made out of Ron de Venezuela and of course blood oranges. Since I love bitters and amaros, I added some bitter liquor (I used Luxardo Bitters) and Angostura orange bitters too.

I think this is the perfect well balanced aperitif I hope you like my recipe. Cheers to blood oranges!