Fresh Ingredients

White Peach Purée

White peach purée is the flesh of ripe white peaches, peeled and stoned, then blended smooth and sieved, with no added sugar. It is the fruit half of a Bellini: 50ml under 100ml of prosecco in our recipe. Fresh, in our experience, it lasts a day chilled, with a little lemon against browning; frozen, it keeps for months.

Quick Facts

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Flavour Strengthmild

SeasonWhite peaches: June to September in Italy (Cipriani). Frozen white peach purée: all year.

Our keeping timeA day refrigerated; months frozen.

Storage

Our rule: press cling film onto the surface and refrigerate; use within a day, or freeze in an ice-cube tray.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About White Peach Purée

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

White PeachFloralDelicate

Tasting Notes

Soft, floral white peach with gentle acidity; paler and more fragrant than yellow peach.

Harry's Bar tells the story through its peaches

Cipriani’s own site dates the Bellini to Harry's Bar in Venice in 1948. In their account Giuseppe Cipriani had a liking for white peaches, plentiful across Italy from June to September, and he puréed small ones and added prosecco. He named it after Giovanni Bellini, the Venetian painter of the fifteenth century. That is the bar's own telling; our recipe keeps its fruit.

Skin, stone, blend, sieve

Score a cross in the base of each ripe peach, blanch it for about 30 seconds and cool it in cold water; the skin then slips off. Stone and chop the flesh, blend it smooth and press it through a fine sieve so nothing grainy reaches the glass. Ripe fruit needs no sugar. Firm peaches will soften on the counter in a day or two, since peaches carry on ripening after picking.

White peach, frozen purée or liqueur

Peach purée against the other ways to bring peach to a glass (the liqueur’s sugar floor from Regulation (EC) 110/2008; strengths and keeping times are ours)

White peach purée, fresh

What it is: Skinned, blended, sieved fruit
Sugar: Fruit sugar only
Alcohol: None
Keeps: A day, chilled
In a Bellini: The fruit Cipriani used

White peach purée, frozen

What it is: The same, frozen
Sugar: Some packs are sweetened
Alcohol: None
Keeps: Months, frozen
In a Bellini: The practical choice out of season

Yellow peach purée

What it is: Yellow-fleshed fruit, same method
Sugar: Fruit sugar only
Alcohol: None
Keeps: A day, chilled
In a Bellini: Deeper colour, a different drink

Peach liqueur

What it is: Sweetened peach spirit drink
Sugar: At least 100g a litre
Alcohol: About 20% in the bottles we use
Keeps: A year or more once opened
In a Bellini: Not a swap

	What it is	Sugar	Alcohol	Keeps	In a Bellini
White peach purée, fresh	Skinned, blended, sieved fruit	Fruit sugar only	None	A day, chilled	The fruit Cipriani used
White peach purée, frozen	The same, frozen	Some packs are sweetened	None	Months, frozen	The practical choice out of season
Yellow peach purée	Yellow-fleshed fruit, same method	Fruit sugar only	None	A day, chilled	Deeper colour, a different drink
Peach liqueur	Sweetened peach spirit drink	At least 100g a litre	About 20% in the bottles we use	A year or more once opened	Not a swap

It browns in hours

Cut peach darkens in air. Our rule: press cling film onto the surface of the purée, keep it cold and use it within a day; lemon juice slows the change. For longer, freeze it in ice-cube moulds. Pour it cold into the flute before the prosecco, never the other way round.

Using it

Using White Peach Purée

Usage

Pour the 50ml of purée, cold, into a chilled flute and add 100ml of cold prosecco slowly, in two or three stages, folding gently with a bar spoon between each. Out of season, use frozen white peach purée of decent quality.

Pro Tip

Chill the purée as well as the prosecco and the flute, as our recipe asks. A Bellini has no ice, so the temperature the two ingredients start at is the temperature it is served at.

Top Tips

Leave firm peaches at room temperature for a day or two. Unlike berries, peaches go on ripening after picking.
Score a cross in the base, blanch for half a minute, then cool in cold water, and the skin slips off.
Sieve after blending, so no fibres or flecks of skin reach the flute.
Freeze spare purée in ice-cube moulds; a few cubes make one drink.

Possible Substitutions

Peach Liqueur: Not a straight swap: 10 to 15ml with less purée adds peach scent, sugar and alcohol

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is a Bellini made of?

Two ingredients in our recipe: white peach purée and prosecco, 50ml to 100ml, in a chilled flute. Cipriani’s own site dates the drink to 1948, when Giuseppe Cipriani of Harry’s Bar in Venice puréed white peaches, added prosecco and named the result after the fifteenth-century Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini.

White or yellow peaches for a Bellini?

White. They are the fruit Cipriani preferred and the one our recipe names. White-fleshed peaches give a paler, pinker purée with a softer, more floral taste. Yellow peaches still make a pleasant peach fizz, but it comes out deeper in colour and sharper, and it is a different drink.

How do you make white peach purée?

Score the base of each ripe peach, blanch it for about 30 seconds and plunge it into cold water, then slip off the skin. Stone and chop the flesh, blend it smooth and push it through a fine sieve. Stir in a little lemon juice if the purée will wait before use.

Can I use frozen peach purée for a Bellini?

Yes, and outside the summer it is usually the better choice, since a hard supermarket peach makes a thin, sour purée. Choose a white peach purée and check the pack, because some are sweetened. Thaw it in the fridge, stir it well and keep it cold until you pour.

Do you add sugar to peach purée?

Not if the fruit is ripe. A ripe white peach brings all the sweetness a Bellini needs, and sugar added to a ripe one only flattens the fruit. If the purée tastes sour, add sugar a little at a time and stir it in fully, since grains will not dissolve once the wine is in.

How long does homemade peach purée keep?

About a day in the fridge, kept under cling film touching its surface, with a little lemon stirred through. Cut peach browns quickly in air, so the colour goes before the flavour does. Frozen in ice-cube moulds, in our experience, it keeps for months and portions itself.

Can I use peach liqueur instead of purée in a Bellini?

Not as a swap. Peach liqueur is around 20% ABV and sweetened, so replacing the 50ml of purée turns a light drink into a strong, sugary one. A little liqueur alongside a reduced measure of purée adds peach scent; on its own it makes a different drink.

Sources.

Correct as of 18 October 2026.

Cipriani, “Bellini” (the family’s own account: 1948, Giuseppe Cipriani, white peaches, named after Giovanni Bellini).
legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, Annex II (retained)” (category 32 liqueur: at least 100 g/L sugar).

Make something

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Updated 18 October 2026

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