People’s Punch

My family’s glass punch bowl was a table centerpiece filled with fresh fruits. The real punch, preferably red, stayed in the fridge.

On the cusp of saccharine, Kool-Aid got the party started even when there wasn’t one. Since then, I’ve moved on to chilled unsweetened hibiscus tea, a story for another mocktail. Anyway….

I wasn’t surprised to find spirit-free drinks in one of my Bryant Terry cookbooks. I groove on his interpretations of our cuisine, so I went with his Planter’s Punch because it’s a classic that I never tasted during my drinking days.

Why I never made punch at home was because the recipes I came across were meant to serve a crowd. With no interest in doing the smallest bit of arithmetic for a drink, I unregretfully skipped over punch recipes when mixing by my lonesome.

Thanks to the 2-serving yield for this Planter’s Punch, I finally went for it.

Planter’s Punch from Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen

• Orange juice
• Pomegranate juice
• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• Agave syrup
• Sparkling mineral water (I used half of what was called for #KoolAidKid)
• Orange slice garnishes

Equipment: pitcher, spoon

Me: Fruity, but indistinguishably so. The tartness had that zing of old-school formula Hawaiian Punch, except Terry’s punch instantly shook my sour taste buds awake.

GJ: Sour, citrusy. Is there ginger in this? Agave? That’s what it is. Yeah.

Another round? Daily for GJ. Weekly for me. Replacing the mineral water with ginger beer was considered for next time.