Minneola Mimosas

This is not your typical mimosa! Traditional mimosas are made with Champagne and orange juice. However, while I was perusing my local grocery store, I stumbled on tangelos, specifically minneolas. Tangelos are a citrus fruit that’s a hybrid of tangerines and pomelos. The bright orange rind, with a slight reddish hue is beautiful and it’s much easier to peel than oranges. There are three main types of tangelos, and are said to be named based on the location in which they are grown in Florida – Minneola, Seminole and Orlando.

These Minneola tangelos looked so much better than the oranges at the store that I took a chance, hoping they would work well for mimosas. I’m so glad I picked these up because the flavor was amazing. Deliciously sweet, gorgeous orange color and it made the mimosas even better than I expected. I learned that these Minneola tangelos are available mostly during the fall and winter months so I hope to take advantage of them while they’re at the store. If you happen to come across some at your local grocery, definitely pick one up and give them a try either as is or as a brunch cocktail…

1 bottle of champagne
1 pitcher of freshly squeezed Minneola tangelo juice

Fill your champagne flute halfway with champagne… and top it off with juice. Garnish with slices of tangelos.

If you want to make a pitcher for a crowd, pour the entire bottle of champagne in a pitcher and fill the rest with juice.