Cocktails with Blood orange juice
Blood orange juice is the juice of a pigmented sweet-orange variety, its flesh ranging from red to deep crimson.
How it's used
Squeeze it to order: the red browns within hours and turns muddy over a long service. Its draw is the color and a berry note on top of orange. Tequila, gin, Campari and sparkling wine take it well.
Substitutes for Blood orange juice
Blond orange juice
The closest swap, in the same amount. It is a touch less tart, so add a few drops of lemon. You lose the red color and some of the berry note. A splash of pomegranate juice or grenadine brings the color back, but with grenadine use less syrup.
Cara Cara orange
Its juice gives a pale pink, not red.
Description
The red comes from anthocyanins, rare in citrus, which form only when the fruit ripens through cold nights. That is why the season is short and falls in winter.
Storage
Fresh juice is a same-day ingredient and loses its color before it loses its flavor. Whole fruit keeps a week or two refrigerated. The redness varies enormously between varieties and even between fruits off one tree, so judge the batch and not the label.
