4th of July Recipes, Day 2: Martha Washington’s Rum Punch
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Independence Day than with a liquid salute to the first first lady. It’s especially nice because I found this recipe in the Little Black Book of Cocktails, by LUPEC Boston. If you don’t know, LUPEC stands for Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails--as it says in this lovely little book, they are “a classic cocktail society dedicated to breeding, raising, and releasing nearly extinct drinks into the world.” I think this is a mission all the founding fathers and mothers (who were fond of their punches, let me assure you) would be proud of. If you have a cocktail-loving bone in your body (or like reading about cocktails, or just like reading entertaining posts written by witty folks, or like a shaken combination of all of the above), you owe it to yourself to make an Independence Day resolution to start reading the LUPEC Boston blog (at http://lupecboston.blogspot.com/) and to picking up the Little Black Book (you’ll find information on how to pick it up on the blog). As a bonus, the proceeds from the book sale go to charity.
Ingredients:
3 lemons, quartered
1 orange, quartered
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 cinnamon sticks, broken
6 cloves
4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
4 ounces simple syrup
12 ounces boiling water
Light rum
Orange Curaçao
Directions:
1. In a sturdy container, mash together lemons, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Add the
juices and syrup.
2. Pour the boiling water in the container. Let it cool, and then strain out the solids. Heat the juice mixture to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes. Let it cool completely, and refrigerate (overnight is good, but in a pinch, I’ll bet you could use it sooner).
3. In a punch bowl, combine 3 parts of the juice mixture with 1 part light rum and 1/2 part orange curaçao.
4. Serve over ice in punch cups or other revolutionary glassware. Top each glass with a bit more grated nutmeg and cinnamon.
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