Beat The Heat - I

The dreaded India summer is upon us once again. The heat, the dust, flared tempers and frayed nerves crackle in the air like electric outbursts. But, the Indians are an ancient culture that has seen many a summer rise to its nadir, only to be washed away like so much of jetsam by the cooling precipitation of the monsoons. And we've learnt to beat the heat in ways that don't depend entirely on nature too.

India's gift to the world - punch; yes believe it! For two thousand years before the British descended upon the Indus Valley, Indians enjoyed a drink with five ingredients: arrack, sugar, spices, citrus and water. In the sixteenth century, British sailors seized this basic formula to make any local firewater palatable, and called it punch, after the Hindi word for five - paanch.

Through two centuries of modifications and names like Artillery, Bombay Dragon and Fish House, punch did duty as the standard special occasion drink; until the advent of the cocktail...which is another story in itself.

Punch that heat out with these awesome coolers from the mystic east.

Tropical Fruit and Rum Punch

Ingredients

24 oz. mango nectar (Mafco's is ideal)
24 oz. guava nectar
2 cups canned, unsweetened pineapple juice
1 1/2 cups canned coconut cream, well mixed
1/4 cup fresh llime juice
2 cups black rum / amber rum
lots and lots of ice cubes
fresh pineapple wedges

Method

Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher and mix well. Refrigerate it for eons. To serve, combine a cup of puch and 2cups of ice cubes in a blender and blend into a thick, slushy...well...slush! Pour it out into tall glasses and garnish with a wedge of that pineapple.

Time out! I have to go get me one of these!

Bombay Punch

Ingredients

3 cups lemon juice
1 cup superfine sugar
1 large block ice
1 quart brandy
1 quart medium-dry sherry
1/4 pint maraschino
1/4 pint curacao
4 quarts champagne
2 quarts soda
fruits in season

Method

Stir the lemon juice and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Taste for sweetness and pour into a large punch bowl. Add the block of ice and all the remaining ingredients in the order that they are listed except the fruits.

Stir gently to mix. Decorate with floating fruit and serve in 4 ounce punch glasses.

And then...to the more traditional

Planter's Punch

One of sour, two of sweet;
three of strong, four of weak!

Ingredients

1 oz. lime juice
2 tbsp. superfine sugar
3 oz. dark rum
4 oz. crushed ice
dash of angostura bitters

Method

Pour lime juice into a cocktail shaker and add sugar. Stir until it dissolves. Add rum, ice and bitters and shake vigorously. Pour the mixture, unstrained, into a 9-ounce goblet.

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