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Depew Ginger Ale
2 lemons 2 oranges 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups ice water 1 pint ginger ale, chilled 1 cup grape juice Add sugar to juice of lemons and oranges; add water, ginger ale and grape juice and stir thoroughly. Pour into pitcher and let stand a few minutes before serving. Serves 6.
A citrus-and-grape punch stretched with ginger ale, of the kind that filled glass punch bowls at afternoon receptions. It comes together in five minutes and needs only a little attention to sweetness and timing.
- Dissolve the sugar firstStir the cup of sugar into the strained citrus juice until it is fully dissolved before anything cold goes in. Sugar dissolves slowly and poorly in chilled, carbonated liquid and can settle as grit at the bottom of the pitcher.
- SweetnessA full cup of sugar to something over a quart of liquid reflects a period palate. Modern ginger ale is sweet, and some bottled grape juice is sweetened as well; a half cup is closer to current taste, and worth judging after mixing.
- Grape juiceThe book says only 'grape juice'; bottled Concord, unsweetened and purple, is the likely intention. It supplies the colour as much as the flavour.
- Juice yieldTwo lemons and two oranges give roughly a third of a cup of lemon juice and a half to two-thirds of a cup of orange juice, depending on size. Strain out the pips and pulp.
- Don't let it stand too longThe instruction to let it rest a few minutes is for the flavours to marry, not longer. Carbonation goes flat quickly in an open pitcher, so mix close to serving.
- IceIce water is called for rather than ice cubes, which keeps the punch from thinning as it sits. Chill the glasses or use a single large block of ice in the pitcher instead of cubes if you want it colder without dilution.
- YieldSix servings of about seven ounces each. It doubles and triples without adjustment for a bowl.