Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with ICE Cocktails

Cinco de Mayo is Friday! A margarita on the rocks can pack anywhere from 450 to 800 calories, but with Sparkling Ice, it's easy to make great-tasting margarita with only a fraction of the calories.

Try some lower calorie, refreshing cocktail options on behalf of Sparkling Ice –
a lightly carbonated, zero-calorie beverage which combines sparkling water,
fruit juice, vitamins, and BOLD flavors
that mix perfect with tequila to create a variety of different Cinco de Mayo cocktails.

Caliente Margarita

Ingredients:

2 parts Blanco Tequila

1/2 part Gran Gala

4 drops Hellfire Habenero shrub or 3 slices of Jalapeño pepper

Juice of 1/8 lime

1 1/2 parts Lemon Lime Sparkling Ice   

Directions: Shake Tequila, Gran Gala, lime juice and peppers with ice. Pour into rocks glass with salted rim and lime wedge. Top with Lemon Lime Sparkling Ice.

Skinny Margarita

Ingredients

3 oz Lemon Lime Sparkling Ice

1 ½ oz Tequila

Splash of fresh squeezed orange

Fresh squeezed lime

Directions: Shake and pour into a chilled rocks glass rimmed in salt. Garnish with a lime slice.

Fiesta Tequila Sunrise

Ingredients:

4 oz Orange Mango Sparkling Ice

2 oz Tequila

1/2 oz grenadine

Orange slice for garnish

Maraschino cherry for garnish

Directions: Mix all ingredients and serve in a tall glass with ice.

Sparkling Paloma

Ingredients:

2 Parts Mescal

Small scoop Grapefruit sorbet

Squeeze of lime juice

Teaspoon Agave

2 parts Grapefruit Sparkling Ice

Directions: Mix in rocks glass with Kosher salted rim.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Spicy Vegan Style!

From pulled pork sandwiches and mac & cheese to perfect pies and biscuits and gravy, how about satisfying vegan comfort foods that are even better than the originals for this Cinco de Mayo? Celebrate in vegan style!

Try Upton’s Naturals’ new line of heat-and-serve, pre-seasoned jackfruit for cooking up mouthwatering and cruelty-free pulled pork sandwiches and carnitas.

Upton’s Naturals is the first company to make pre-seasoned, heat-and-serve, natural jackfruit nationally available to the U.S. market. Using only simple, recognizable ingredients, Upton’s Naturals’ jackfruit offers a good source of fiber, is completely free of cholesterol, gluten, soy, oil, GMO’s, and artificial flavors, and 100% vegan. 

The lineup includes Bar-B-Que and Chili Lime Carnitas, along with new-to-market Thai Curry and an Original variety.

The decision to create a jackfruit product happened when Upton’s Naturals’ founder Dan Staackmann and his girlfriend (also Upton’s Naturals’ vice president) Nicole Sopko were eating at a Nepalese restaurant. They ordered a delicious meal made from jackfruit and thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if the process to cook this at home were easier?” 

Knowing that fresh, unripe jackfruit was hard to come by and that the closest thing to convenience in the category was unseasoned jackfruit in a can, the 20-year vegan power couple set on a mission to bring pre-seasoned, ready-to-eat jackfruit to the U.S.

The new kid on the vegan block, jackfruit is spiky on the outside, but mild-flavored and nutrient dense on the inside. When cooked up young (a.k.a. not ripe) and seasoned right, this tropical fruit is a real-food meat alternative that tastes like the sweet and savory, tender and juicy, perfect pulled pork of your dreams. 

Using only simple, recognizable ingredients, Upton’s Naturals’ jackfruit offers a good source of fiber, is completely free of cholesterol, gluten, soy, oil, GMO’s, and artificial flavors, and 100% vegan. Varieties include: Bar-B-Que and Chili Lime Carnitas.

Once picked, the fruit has a shelf life of only a day or two, so Upton's found a partner in Thailand to do all of its processing before shipping the finished product overseas. The company teams with a network of family farms that have been growing cultivated jackfruit for many years. Dan inspired the group to sell him unripe jackfruit in addition to the ripe fruit they were used to selling. This created extra demand for the farmers, who prior to the arrangement often had unused crops, and resulted in a mutually beneficial relationship for both.

“Doing what we believe in is the best part of this business, and to us, success is creating 100% vegan products that can inspire meat-free meals,” shared Staackmann. “Unripe jackfruit is the source of an incredibly versatile and healthful meat alternative that is relatively foreign to the American market. We set out to make jackfruit easier to enjoy and more accessible to the everyday consumer. The response from vegans and non-vegans alike has been amazing.”

Upton’s Naturals’ jackfruit can be found in the refrigerated section at natural and specialty stores nationwide for an SRP of $4.99 per 10.6oz box. Visit www.uptonsnaturals.com for more information.

 Also visit www.UptonsNaturals.com and find @UptonsNaturals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,and Pinterest.