Last week, my husband and I hosted Thanksgiving for my family. It was our first time to play host and I was both nervous and excited since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The evening before Turkey Day, my husband nonchalantly said “We should make punch!”
Now, I’m not a big fan of punch of any kind. But his family makes punch for all of their holiday meals. My immediate thought was “I don’t like punch and I’ve already made the sweet tea!” (Sweet tea is my family’s holiday meal beverage of choice). But then I softened a bit and thought perhaps I should be a bit more considerate since this was OUR hosting effort.
Despite my suddenly warm hearted feeling toward punch, I was NOT setting foot in a grocery story on the Day Before Thanksgiving. I have done that before and I did not care for it. So I started an order through the Wal-Mart app.
“So what do we need?”
My husband had the general idea but no specifics. I sent the question to the family group text and waited for his youngest cousin Jon to give me the details. My husband mentioned orange juice in a can which was not available at Wal-Mart. We both reminisced about Donald Duck orange juice. Jon clarified that the vessel that the orange juice comes in is less important than the right quantities. “Just double the amount of orange juice to the amount of pineapple juice.”
Since pineapple juice IS still available in a can, we were able to determine the correct amount of orange juice in ounces. It reminded me of my Hershey Syrup Cake recipe which originally called for a “can of chocolate syrup” which is no longer available. It also made me realize this is a recipe that needs to be preserved in measurable quantities that will outlast food packaging trends.
So with permission I give you:
The Family Punch Recipe
46 oz of pineapple juice (1 can)
92 oz of orange juice
1 liter of ginger ale
20 oz 7-Up
1 quart rainbow sherbet*
Mix all the liquids together in a punch bowl then add sherbet in by the spoonful. Ladle up and enjoy!
We ended up with orange sherbet instead of rainbow and I actually think I liked it better! It’s definitely a prettier color.
Laster that evening, I saw this Tweet and had to laugh because a memory that I’ll always have of family gatherings is the punch ingredients sitting out on the deck Christmas morning. (We used to sit the sweet tea out to cool too).
What’s your family’s holiday beverage of choice?