Every party deserves a great punch, and I dare say nobody does punch like a good Southern cook. This is a fun recipe I got from my sister-in-law’s mother after hearing such rave reviews about it. I guess she eventually wrote out the recipe for my mom, who gave it to me. Isn’t that the best way to come by a recipe, through some convoluted path? This amazing punch is perfect for any baby shower, bridal shower, wedding, get-together….why not?
Here is the original recipe as she wrote it out. I’ll be adding my own modifications at the end, to see if I can cut down some of the insane quantities of sugar.
Party Punch
from the kitchen of Ruth Calahan
3 3-oz packages of fruit-flavored gelatin (I use 2 strawberry and 1 orange)
3 cups white sugar
13 cups boiling water
2 46-oz cans pineapple juice
1 16-oz bottle lemon juice
2 2-liter bottles ginger ale, chilled
Directions:
1. In a large pot, combine gelatin and sugar. Stir in boiling water until mixture is dissolved. Stir in pineapple juice and lemon juice. Divide into about 3-4 containers and freeze solid.
2. To serve, place frozen mixture in punch bowl and chop into pieces. Add ginger ale.
Note: for my own batch, I tried to eliminate as much sugar as I could. I used sugar-free gelatin, diet ginger ale and used only 1 cup of sugar (instead of 3 cups), and it could probably have done without it entirely. Deliciously sweet, slushy and tangy! You can experiment with the color of the punch by choosing your gelatin flavors accordingly. Also, the number of containers frozen does not matter. Obviously if you have a small freezer like me, you’ll be finding every little bowl that will possibly fit!
This post originally appeared on www.erikafollansbee.com
