A quick recipe for mango, peach and apricot fizz

Fruit pureed with a little fizzy ginger ale makes a wonderfully refreshing drink that also offers a healthy serving of fruit. Choose perfectly ripe, fragrant fruit for the smoothest fizz.

• Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes.
• Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe mango
• 1 ripe peach
• 2 large ripe apricots
• 500 ml (2 c) ginger ale
• Fresh mint leaves to garnish

Instructions:

1. Peel the mango and cut the flesh away from the pit. Roughly chop the flesh and put it into a blender or food processor.
2. Cover the peach and apricots with boiling water and leave for about 30 seconds, then drain and cool under cold running water.
3. Slip off the skins. Roughly chop the flesh, discarding the pits, and add to the mango in the blender or food processor.
4. Pour just enough ginger ale to cover the fruit, then process until completely smooth. Pour in the remaining ginger ale and process again.
5. Quickly pour into tall glasses, preferably over crushed ice.
6. Decorate with fresh mint. Serve immediately with wide straws or swizzle sticks.

• Peaches are full of vitamin C; apricots are a good source of the B vitamins (B1, B6 and niacin); and mangoes are an excellent source of vitamin A.
• A wide variety of fruit is now available frozen. This may be a better source of vitamins than some "fresh" fruit that has been badly handled or has languished on the shelf. It is particularly useful for blended drinks.

Each serving provides:

• Key nutrients: 90 calories, 0 calories from fat, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 1 g protein, 24 g carbohydrates, 2 g fibre, 10 mg sodium.
• Blood pressure nutrients: 18 mg vitamin C, 9 mg magnesium, 182 mg potassium, 13 mg calcium.

• Use low-calorie ginger ale to reduce the calorie content.
• So many different fruit and fizz combinations are possible. Using about 500 grams (1 pound) fruit in total, try: raspberry, peach and melon with no-sodium club soda; or strawberry, banana and orange segments with tonic water.
• When soft fruit are not in season, use fruit canned in juice as a substitute. A delicious combination is fresh melon, banana and canned apricots with sparkling mineral water.

Keep this recipe in mind and you can create a delicious drink that will quickly become a family favourite.