If you know anything about Caprilands, you know this punch uses herbs. This is the June Punch I mentioned the other day when discussing borage.
Here’s the recipe, taken from Seasonal Herbs from Caprilands: Step-by-Step in the Herb Garden by Adelma Grenier Simmons, photographed by George Gregory Wieser, 1991, Mallard Press. It’s a lovely book that out’s of print.
June Punch
1 cup rosemary leaves
3 stalks borage, stem, leaves and blossoms
1 gallon grape or apple juice or mixture
3 limes, juice of
1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 lime, sliced for garnish
borage leaves and blossoms, for garnish
Steep rosemary and borage in juices, honey and sugar in large jug, three hours at room temperature or preferably 24 hours or longer in the refrigerator. At serving time, pour mixture over block of ice in punch bowl. Decorate with lime slices, fresh blossoms and leaves. Hint: In late summer we heap the cake of ice with peace [sic?] slices and ladle a slice into each cup. Makes 1 gallon.
What I did: I only made a half-gallon and I did a mixture of juices. In the book, the punch is darker than mine, so I bet they used all grape.Their picture looked all medieval woods, very brooding while mine looked light and sunny. I’d probably do that next time. I steeped mine in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The recipe didn’t specify to discard the steeped herbs but I assumed you would so I did.
I have no idea what “peace slices” are unless this is a misprint for “peach.”
Hubby said the punch was surprisingly mild and very good.
It looks just beautiful, nothing like the punches you see these days. How cool!
It’s a very honest taste, if you know what I mean. Nothing cloying about it.