If you’ve ever been to any type of party then you’ve probably had some punch at one point or another. It’s usually a big bowl of juice that’s colored red and has random pieces of fruit floating on it. It may or may not contain alcohol, depending on the occasion. Now, what specific kind of juice is in punch? That’s the beauty of punch, any juice can be used. As long as it is sweet, has fruit floating on it, and tastes good super cold. In commercial applications in the United States, the word “punch” is used to describe drinks that do not contain fruit or fruit juice of any significant concentrations.
Punch Trivia
- National Rum Punch Day is on September 20.
- The word “punch” came from the Indian word “Panch” which meant five. Five stood for the original ingredients which were: spirits, sugar, lemon, water, and tea.
- Most punch that is ready to drink contains only a total of 5% fruit juice.
- The largest punch bowl was created by Courvoisier and Bompas & Parr, they transformed a room containing 4,000 liters with a mix called The Emperor’s Shrub.
- The fruit
Punch Buying Guide
There isn’t really any wrong or right way to buy punch. Since most pre-made punch on the market is just full of sweeteners and food coloring, the only way to get some quality punch is to mix it yourself. Just pick the type of juice that you want, get some alcohol (optional) and mix it up with water and the sweetener of your choice and you’ll have better punch than store-bought ones.
Punch Production & Farming in Texas
There’s no one standard for punch, but there are caterers and juice bars that have artisan fruit punch available. Of course, that’s using the term artisan loosely because punch is a hodgepodge of juices and fruits. By artisan punch, what we mean is that the punch is made from all-natural organic juices and fruits.
Chemicals and Additives:
To highlight how instant punch is basically colored sugar, we’ve gone across three of the top punch mixes and have gone through the common additives found in them.
- Maltodextrin – This increases the shelf life of the punch
- Citric Acid – This is added to give instant punch that tart taste.
- Natural and Artificial Flavors – Nothing is specified as to what the flavor is and what is composed of. So your punch is basically “Flavors”
- Aspartame – This is an artificial sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sucrose and is commonly used as a sugar substitute. This compound has been shown to have a lot of side effects in some people like headaches, depression, cancer, and a whole lot more.
- Red 40 – A food coloring that gives the punch its punchy, pun intended, red color.
- Silicon Dioxide – This serves as an anti-caking agent to keep the powder from sticking together and making it easier to mix. There haven’t been enough studies done on silicon dioxide to determine the long term effects on the body.
Enjoying Punch
Punch is punch, it is best consumed on ice. There’s not much to say about punch except that a party isn’t complete with a nice big bowl of punch in the middle.
Making Your Own Punch:
Having a party soon and you want a nice tasting punch without all of the additives of store-bought punch? We’ve got a recipe that you can use that’s not only easy to make but is quite tasty as well.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups concord grape juice or any locally made grape juice
1 ½ cups of organic orange juice or freshly squeezed navel oranges (if you can get local navel oranges that would be even better)
1 ½ cups apple juice or raw apple cider
4 cups of water
1-2 cups of rum or alcohol of choice (optional)
Assorted local fruits, cubed and frozen. Use this in place of ice to avoid watering it down.
Step 1:
Mix all ingredients in a big bowl and store in the fridge until ready to serve.
Step 2:
Enjoy!
