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Cherry Punch
Pit and mash one pound of cherries and place in bowl with the juice of three lemons, two oranges, and a slice or two of pineapple, covering with one pint of sugar. Let stand an hour when press and strain. Heat this and add a quart each of carbonated water and claret, a sliced banana and one fourth pound of very ripe cherries or the candied or (whole) preserved fruit.
A cold fruit punch built on a macerated cherry syrup, from the era when "punch" meant a bowl on a sideboard rather than a single glass. The instructions are compressed, and one step needs rethinking before you follow it literally.
- Heat the syrup, then cool itThe direction to heat comes before the carbonated water and wine are added, and its purpose is most likely to dissolve the sugar fully. Warm the strained juice only until the sugar is gone, then chill it thoroughly; adding sparkling water to a warm base drives off the carbonation immediately and heating the claret will flatten its aroma.
- A pint of sugarSugar was often measured by volume in this period. A pint is 2 cups, roughly 14 oz or 400 g, against one pound of cherries and the juice of five citrus fruits. That is very sweet by current taste; a cup and a half is closer to modern palates, and you can top up after tasting.
- ClaretIn American and British books of this date claret means dry red Bordeaux, or any similar dry red. A modest Merlot or Cabernet blend does the job. The finished punch runs about one part wine to one part soda plus fruit juice, so it is closer to sangria in strength than to a cocktail.
- Carbonated waterPlain seltzer or club soda, unsweetened. Add it last, straight from a cold bottle, and stir once rather than beating the bowl.
- CherriesSour cherries give the brightest result but need the full measure of sugar; sweet dark cherries work and let you cut the sugar back. Frozen pitted cherries, thawed, mash and macerate perfectly well out of season.
- The pineapple"A slice or two" means from a whole fruit. Fresh or canned in juice both work here since the pineapple is pressed and strained out rather than eaten.
- StrainingPress the macerated fruit through a fine sieve, working the pulp firmly; cherry solids hold a great deal of juice. A jelly bag gives a clearer punch but a lower yield.
- Yield and serviceAbout 2.5 quarts before ice. Chill the bowl and use a large block of ice rather than cubes so the punch does not thin out as it stands.
Fruit punches of this kind sat at the sober end of a long tradition: the word punch is generally traced to South Asian usage taken up by English traders, and the classic form combined spirit, citrus, sugar, water and spice. By the turn of the twentieth century the American punch bowl had shifted toward wine and carbonated water, lighter and more respectable for afternoon receptions, weddings and club teas, where a claret cup could be offered to a mixed company without comment. The recipe also reflects what a well-supplied grocer could sell by then: oranges and lemons year round, pineapple by rail or can, bananas landed regularly from Central America, and candied or preserved cherries in a jar. A recipe could assume all of it on hand, which would have been unthinkable a generation earlier.