Rhubarb Sangria Kits

Thinly-sliced rhubarb, tossed with sugar and a bit of salt create a syrup that, when combined with lemon, orange, and lime—and wine, of course—make a fantastic sangria to enjoy this summer. Thing is, rhubarb is around only in the spring, so you need to preserve it to last the season. Enter Rhubarb Sangria Kits.

For each kit, I fill a freezer bag with 1 pound of rhubarb, 1/2 cup of sugar, and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. This is enough to transform a full bottle of red table wine into your favorite hot weather drink. The rhubarb macerates in the sugar as it freezes, and when it thaws, yields a ready-made syrup. The sangria recipe, which includes three kinds of citrus, is from my cookbook, The Nimble Cook.

Below, I’ve frozen the remains of random bottles of red wine. These are portioned in pint containers, so I can mix sangria for two at a moment’s notice.