Over the Garden Fence: Little know fact about punch and the fabulous five
If ever given a time machine opportunity, more than likely my choice would be to retreat. Stepping into the future which might hold a fascination for many people, but the pre-holiday period tugs me back to colonial roots.
Punch bowls entered my mind last week as we prepared for the Harvey School open house. In today's world, slow cooking crock pots manage to keep a warmth in the spiced cider.
Often we use the glass punch bowls but the British culture has used porcelain and silver ones. Punch bowls were called "flowing bowls." They served as symbols of hospitality since great conversations took place near these vessels of warmth. The fluids were offered before, during and even after the meal.
The word punch was borrowed from the East Indian "pauch" which meant five. The fabulous five was composed of liquor, water, lemons, sugar and spices. It mostly carried a whollop.
Punch has been synonymous with rum. It was a low cost liquor in both Europe and America. Some off-shoot concoctions included grog, hot-buttered rum, rum flip, and rum rousal which carried a splash of bourbon.
Listen to this celebration of 1785. When Reverend Joseph McCean was ordained, the guests numbered 80. There were 30 punch bowls provided by the tavern owner whose bill reflected that six people had had tea to drink. (I wonder if that included the Reverend.)
In another piece of history the Green Mountain Boys along with Ethan Allen slurped up considerable punch before thumping the British at the Battle of Bennington. Colonists who got caught while sneaking in duty-free molasses for their dark rum recipe may have been a bigger spark in the Boston Tea Party dumping escapade than anyone will ever know. John Adams referred to molasses as an essential ingredient in American Independence.
My own personal holiday drinking experiences are limited — a bit of spiced cider, eggnog and wassail. As innocent as this may sound, mulled cider's base when colonists made it was hard cider.Eggnog holds liquor and was speckled with nutmeg.
As for wassail, it emerged from an Anglo-Saxon background. Celebrations held wishes for good health so it's not surprisingly to hear that that "waes hael" means "health to you." It was included as a ceremonial toast with a drink for good luck included. Wassail ingredients included spices, sugar, water, burgundy wine and, rather than lemons, baked apples.
Before concocting a drink to mellow out, I will take a walk over the garden fence to my holly which has berries and cut a sprig to float in the glass punch bowl. This will be offered during our garden club workshop this weekend.
Merry holidays lie ahead with chosen drinks for health and luck.
Mary Lee Minor is a member of the Earth, Wind and Flowers Garden Club, an accredited master gardener, a flower show judge for the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs and a former sixth grade teacher.
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: A holiday punch history lesson that carries a whollup