For the past several summers, the frosé—a frozen rosé cocktail (or wine slush, if you prefer) has been served as a winetail (wine cocktail) or an after-dinner drink (liquid dessert).

Here’s our first set of frosé recipes, from two summers ago.

This recipe (photo #1), from the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, adds blueberries that turn a frosé into a thick, toothsome slushie.

The Blueberry Frosé is a high-antioxidant cocktail (now there’s an excuse!).

Blueberries have one of the highest antioxidant levels of all fruits and vegetables. Their chief antioxidants are family of polyphenols called flavonoids.

Among the many benefits attributed to flavonoids are reduced risk of asthma, cancer, heart disease and stroke. They may play a special role in protecting the brain. Here’s more about flavonoids.

Check our Antioxidant Glossarys, and these details on the specific benefit of blueberries.

If the antioxidants don’t convince you, make a Blueberry Frosé to celebrate National Blueberry Month: July.
 
 
RECIPE: BLUEBERRY FROSÉ FROZEN COCKTAIL

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
For virgin drinks, substitute lemon sparkling water for the wine.

Preparation

1. POUR the wine into ice cube trays; freeze for 6 to 8 hours until almost frozen solid. (Wine will not freeze completely because of the alcohol content. The higher the A.B.V. or proof of an alcohol beverage*, the less solid it will freeze.)

2. PULSE in a blender until smooth: the wine ice cubes, 2 cups of the frozen blueberries, the sugar, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of basil leaves.

[1] Blueberry frosé, a frozen drink or blueberries and rose wine (photo © U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council).

[2] Bosman Family Vineyards, a Fair Trade Certified winery in South Africa. The salmon-colored wine is made in the dry Provence style, and has notes of strawberry and peach.

 
 
CHECK OUT THE HISTORY OF BLUEBERRIES

Plus, more blueberry recipes.
 
 
ABOUT BOSMAN FAMILY WINERY

We made our Blueberry Frosé with a bottle of Bosman Generation 8 Rosé, from South Africa.

The first Bosman emigrated to South Africa eight generations ago, in 1798. He grew grapes on his land to make wines for his own consumption.

The practice continued through six generations until the seventh decided to join the South African wine renaissance and make wine for sale. Hence: Bosman Family Vineyards.

There’s a ninth generation, far too young to help with production. You can see the generations here, and guess how long it will take the youngsters to join the family business.

If you’d like to “visit” the vineyard, head to BosmanWines.com.

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*A.B.V., alcohol-by-volume, the number of milliliters of ethanol expressed as a percentage. Here’s more about it. Another way to specify the amount of alcohol is the alcohol proof, which in the U.S. is twice the alcohol-by-volume A.B.V. Systems of expressing proof can vary in other countries.

[1] Ready for his close-up: Our crustacean friend is holding a piece of lime, to be squeezed into the soup at the HM Grand Central Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (photo courtesy Pexels).

[2] You can serve a larger bowl or a smaller bowl. We recommend a larger service plate under the bowlm so the crayfish tail can be pulled apart and eaten.

Pièce de résistance, a French term, originally referred to the principal dish of a grand meal, or a dessert, created to be a showpiece.

While the term literally translates as “piece of resistance,” the reference is to the most important or remarkable feature.

You don’t have to work too hard to create a pièce de résistance.

Here, a simple bowl of seafood soup is turned into a memorable dish by the simple addition of a crayfish*.

The crayfish looks like he’s ready to start a conversation (e.g., “Let me out of here!).

His tail is a tasty addition to the other seafood in the soup, and his claws are utilitarian: They hold a piece of lime to squeeze into the soup.

The take-away: Keep your eye out for a “piece of resistance” element for whatever you’re serving.

The book Play With Your Food is just one tome with lots of ideas.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF SOUP
 
 
TYPES OF SOUP
 
 
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*A crayfish is also known as a crawdad, crawfish, freshwater lobster, mountain lobster, mudbug, or yabbie. It is a freshwater crustacean resembling a small lobster to which it is related.

Before taking off for the holiday weekend, we share this delicious recipe for red, white and blue blondies from King Arthur Flour.

Well, they’re sort of red white and blue, if you count the beige blondie as the white color.

Otherwise, we have an addition to suggest:

 
 
RECIPE: RED, WHITE & BLUE BLONDIES FOR JULY 4TH

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square pan, line it with parchment paper or foil, and grease the paper or foil.

2. MELT the butter and sugar together. Add the vanilla and let the mixture cool to lukewarm.

3. MIX in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined, then fold in the berries.

4. SCOOP the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes if using fresh berries; 35 to 40 minutes for frozen berries, until the edges of the bars just begin to pull away from the pan.

5. REMOVE from the oven and cool for 20 minutes before lifting carefully out of the pan (see “tips,” below) and setting on a rack to cool completely.

6. STORE, refrigerated, for up to 1 week.
 
 
TIP FOR CUTTING THE BARS FROM THE BAKERS AT KING ARTHUR FLOUR

Cutting bar cookies in the pan can be cumbersome. Solve the problem by lining our bar pans with parchment before baking, with the extra paper coming up the long sides of a 9″ x 13″ pan. Secure the paper to the pan with metal spring clips.

After the bars are baked and cooled, free up the short ends with a dull knife or bowl scraper. Unclip the paper and use it to lift the bars up and out of the pan to a cutting board, where they’re much easier to portion neatly.

[1] Red, white and blue blondies (recipe and photo © King Arthur Flour).

[2] Dandies mini marshmallows have a bonus: They’re vegan. Check out all the varieties of Dandies (photo © Chicago Vegan Foods).

[3] Guittard’s white chocolate chips (photo © Lake Champlain Chocolate).

*NOTE: If you are using chips or marshmallows, change the portion of blueberries and raspberries to 1/3 and 1/3, respectively.

†Using fresh berries rather than frozen will keep the berries from shedding their juice. The juice from frozen berries can make bars look muddy.

[1] It’s red, white, blue and crunchy, for lovers of crushed ice drinks (photo © Due West | NYC).

[2] Due West used this rum in the drink. It’s 126 proof! We stuck with the 80 proof (photo © Worthy Park Estate).

When Due West, a popular gastropub in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, sent us this photo (#1), we had to have one ASAP.

We couldn’t get downtown to Due West, so ran to the corner supermarket and bought pomegranate juice (we had all the other ingredients on hand). We dragged our ice crusher from the back of the cupboard and set to work.

All of the crushed ice turns this red, white and blue charmer into a frozen drink: perfect for a hot summer day.

Try it yourself, for a festive Fourth. After the weekend, you can play with the recipe. We’re thinking Aperol on the bottom and blood orange juice on top.
 
 
COCKTAIL RECIPE: RED, WHITE & BLUE FROZEN DRINK

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. ADD the blue Curaçao to a collins glass. Then fill with crushed ice.

2. SHAKE the rum, banana liqueur and lime juice together. Carefully strain over the ice.

3. PACK the glass with more crushed ice and slowly pour the pomegranate/hibiscus juice on top.

4. CELEBRATE responsibly.

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*Due used Worthy Park Rum Bar Overproof Rum (photo #2). That’s 63% A.B.V., or 126 proof. Whew. Overproof rum is used to raise the alcohol content in a drink. We’ll stick with conventional rum, 40% A.B.V., 80 proof, thank you very much.

July 2nd is National Anisette Day, celebrating a clear, anise-flavored liqueur that became popular in Italy in the 1800s.

It is usually made from aniseed, although it can also be made from fennel, licorice, star anise, or a blend.

Before commercial production, people made their own liqueurs (and made their own wine, brewed their own beer, etc.).

The first commercial anisette was introduced by Marie Brizard in 1755.
 
 
IT’S EASY TO CONFUSE

Many people confuse anisette with sambuca, another clear liqueur that is made with both green anise and star anise.

Other sweet anise-based liquors from France include Pernod and Ricard Pastis. Pastis is sometimes confused with anisette, but it is made with both aniseed and licorice root.

Confused yet?

While all licorice-like liqueurs are popularly served with after-dinner coffee:

 
Similar-tasting spirits, which can be sweet or dry, include:

 
 
USES FOR ANISETTE

Beyond cocktails, anisette is used in conventional foods, including:

 
> Check out these savory recipes for anise.
 
And by all means, try it in your coffee or espresso, hot or iced.

Lemonade with anisette is also a treat. Try it!

[1] A glass of anisette, garnished with star anise—which is used in some distillations (photo © Belchonock | Panther Media).

[2] Floranis, also known as Anis Gras, was created in 1872 in Algiers, Algeria, by the Gras brothers, using the anisette recipe that had been in their family for generations (photo © La Martiniquaise).

[3] Marie Brizard sold its first bottle of anisette in 1755. Two hundred years later they released this bottle, from the 1950s. You can buy it from The Whisky Exchange.