Tropical Boozy Smoothie: Mango Peach Edition

Like most people, I have fond college memories of making pina coladas at the beach—and this time of year, I always crave one. Even though my taste has changed and I now prefer a less sweet, lighter cocktail, the craving continues.

That college pina colada has been in the back of my mind for a couple of weeks now. So it was not that big of a surprise that the peaches at the Farmer’s market made me think first about turning them into a cocktail before eating them over a sink, or making a peach pie.

A frozen peach cocktail immediately came to mind. I thought about a daquiri or a pina colada with peaches but ultimately tossed those ideas in favor of a boozy smoothie bursting with tropical fruit flavors.

First, who doesn’t love a smoothie? The key to a great smoothie is making sure that the fruit is frozen so that you don’t need to add ice. Ice keeps things frosty, but ultimately it dilutes the flavor. If you want it more frozen, you can add a few cubes, but use them sparingly.

This smoothie is made with pressed coconut water instead of dairy. Pressed coconut water is simply coconut water plus a bit of the pressed coconut flesh/puree to give the juice a more coconutty flavor. I like to use it because the pressed coconut water adds a little more substance than clear coconut water. If you can’t find pressed coconut water, you can use your favorite coconut water but I love the richer pressed coconut water, and drink it on the regular.

Instead of sweetening the smoothie with sugar or simple syrup, I like to make this smoothie with mango sorbet which is frozen and already lightly sweetened. The good brands also taste like perfect ripe mangos and although this is not traditional, the end result is delicious. The beauty of using sorbets is that if you don’t like mango, you can use your favorite fruit sorbet. Raspberry sorbet would be great with the peaches and it would taste like a “Peach Melba.”

Rum is the perfect spirit for spiking the smoothie and the perfect rum is Plantation Stiggins Fancy Pineapple Rum. If you aren’t familiar with the rum, it is literally made from fresh pineapple and not pineapple extracts. The unusual and special rum is a collaboration between the brand’s founder Alexandre Gabriel, and author and drinks historian, David Wondrich.

The rum is “a tribute to the character created by Charles Dickens in the Pickwick Papers, Reverend Stiggins, whose favorite drink was ‘pineapple rum,’” according to the brand website.

And, it’s not pineapple in name alone, the two-step process uses the whole fruit; “the barks [rind] of Victoria pineapples are infused in Plantation 3 Stars rum, which is then further distilled. Separately, the pineapple fruit is infused in Plantation Original Dark rum. Both [the] distillate and fruit infusion are finally blended together, creating a rich and delicious pineapple bouquet…”

One sip of the rich, pineapple-infused rum, and you will never use another rum for any of your fruity tropical concoctions. And, incidentally, it’s a great addition to a pineapple upside-down cake.

If you are feeling fancy, you can rim your glass with a seasoned salt like the OSMO Mango-Chile cocktail rimming salt. It is a mixture of sugar, salt, mango, lime and cayenne and adds a savory and sophisticated balance to the sweet smoothie. In fact, if you are enjoying the cocktail with close friends, do yourself a favor and lick the rimming salt off the glass and then take a sip. The fruity cayenne-pepper salt added to the velvety sweet rum drink is a perfect balance—everything you are looking for in a special tropical drink.

The recipe below is for one large smoothie-sized drink, but it is easy to bulk up the recipe. For example, a pint of mango sorbet and 4 large peaches will make 4 drinks. And, if you live somewhere where you can’t find summer peaches, this drink can be made with frozen peaches–or other fruits—as well.

Boozy Smoothie: Mango Peach Edition

If you are making a pitcher of fruit smoothies for a crowd and not everyone drinks alcohol, float the rum on top of the smoothie and let each person decide if they want it spiked or not.

1 large ripe peach, cleaned, sliced and frozen—about 8 good size slices

½ cup Mango sorbet

Juice of ½ lime

½ cup Pressed Coconut water such as VitaCoco

2 ounces Plantation Stiggins Fancy Pineapple Rum

OSMO Mango-Chile cocktail-rimming salt

If rimming your glass, wet the rim of the glass with the lime that you’ve squeezed and dip the rim of the glass in the Mango-Chile rimming salt. Set aside.

Place frozen fruit, sorbet, lime juice, coconut water in a blender or smoothie machine. Process until smooth and add rum. Process to combine and serve immediately in rimmed glass or un-rimmed glass.