Holiday Fruit Soup

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 cup peach juice or nectar (like Kern’s brand)
3 1/2 tablespoons minute or quick-cooking tapioca (not large or small pearl)
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 cans (11 ounces each) mandarin oranges, undrained
1 quart bottled or canned sliced peaches, drained (cut the peaches into smaller chunks, if needed)
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup blueberries

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, peach juice/nectar, and tapioca. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 12 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl or other container. Stir in the orange juice and cover the dish. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours until completely chilled or up to several days.
Stir in the mandarin oranges, sliced peaches, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Chill until ready to serve (no longer than an hour or so once the fresh fruit has been added).
NOTES:

Use fresh fruit for the strawberries, raspberries and blueberries but you could definitely try subbing frozen fruit. You could also change up the fruit you’d like to use. My sister-in-law, Erin, loves to add bananas and I believe she uses frozen raspberries which gives the soup a pretty red color.

The base of the soup can be made several days in advance and refrigerated. Simply stir in the fresh fruit before serving. Also, the overall sweetness of the soup will be determined by the peach juice/nectar you use as well as the type of fruit (and how ripe or in-season it is). I’ve reduced the sugar from the original version but if you feel like it may not be sweet enough, up the sugar to 3/4 cup.

If you want a thinner consistency, cut the tapioca down to just 3 tablespoons and/or add additional peach nectar or orange juice at the end.