I’ve been expanding my orange repertoire this season and have fallen hard for blood oranges and Cara Cara oranges. At the market you might mistake either for a regular old orange, but both have vibrant flesh and are an entirely different kind of sweet than your normal Navel version. Along with tossing these varieties into salads and salsas (or eating them alone), I’ve become a wee bit obsessed with Italian Blood Orange Soda, found at Trader Joe’s. I may have stocked with three bottles last weekend…
While the soda is delicious all on its own, it’s even better in cocktail form: Fill a glass with crushed ice, pour in 1/3 vodka and 2/3 blood orange soda and stir. Top with a Cara Cara (or blood orange) slice. As they say, it’s 5 p.m. somewhere. Bottoms up!