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Apricot Punch
Cook two pounds of either ripe or dried apricots until soft, with a pint of sugar. Mash through a sieve and then strain. Put the juice on ice to chill thoroughly, and when ready to serve add two bottles of ginger ale and one of Apollinaris. Decorate with mint leaves.
A syrup-and-fizz punch of the sort that filled temperance books. The only real work is the apricot purée, and the only real risk is over-sweetening, since the sugar is measured by volume in the old style.
- A pint of sugarSugar was routinely measured by volume in this period: a pint means two cups, roughly 14 oz. With ripe fruit that is already generous; taste the strained juice before you commit to all of it.
- Dried apricots need waterThe recipe assumes you know this. Two pounds of dried fruit will scorch dry — cover with water and simmer 30-40 minutes until collapsing. Ripe fresh apricots release enough of their own juice with only a splash to start.
- Sieve, then strainThe two steps are not redundant. Pushing through a sieve gives a thick purée; straining that through cheesecloth or a fine mesh gives the clear juice the drink needs, so the ginger ale stays sparkling rather than turning cloudy and foamy.
- ApollinarisA German sparkling mineral water, widely sold in the United States and frequently called for in drink books of the period. Any strongly carbonated mineral water or plain seltzer stands in; bottle sizes varied (quarts, pints and small splits were all sold), so a pint is a reasonable working assumption rather than a certainty.
- Bottle sizesBottled ginger ale was sold in several sizes, from splits to quarts; if the two bottles here are pints, that is about 4 cups. Modern 12 oz cans are smaller — use three, or a 1-litre bottle.
- Add the fizz lastChill the juice thoroughly on its own, then combine with the carbonated water at the moment of serving. Mixed ahead, or poured over a mountain of ice in the bowl, it goes flat within minutes.
- YieldImpossible to fix exactly, since the recipe never says how much juice the fruit gives up; somewhere in the region of two to two and a half quarts once the bottles go in.
- MintBruise the leaves lightly between your fingers before floating them, or they contribute nothing but colour.
On Uncle Sam's Water Wagon belongs to the wave of American drink books published as national prohibition arrived: collections of punches, cups, shrubs and ciders assembled to prove that a hostess could still fill a bowl. The title is the period idiom " u to be "on the water wagon" was to have given up drink " u and the contents lean heavily on ginger ale and bottled mineral water. Apricots suited the format well: cheap dried, intensely flavoured, and available year-round in a way fresh fruit was not, and the recipe offers ripe or dried as equals. The decoration with mint recalls the julep and the claret cup, the sort of alcoholic drinks these punches were meant to displace.