I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but we are finally, finally getting a few hot days mixed in with the cooler ones. Summer is enroute! And, so is the desire for something tasty to drink on those hot days. While we all know water is healthy and important, does anyone else feel like it sometimes sits so heavy in your stomach? Especially when you are outside?
Enter in, the perfect 1800s beverage. Haymaker’s Punch! Popularized in the 18th-century American Colonies as the drink of choice for workers in the field, it’s also called Switchel or ginger water or swizzy. It’s said that in the early days of Congress, there was an enormous bowl of this refreshing and cooling drink that they’d help themselves to liberally, though theirs was quite heavily laced with Jamaican rum.
So, just what is this drink? It’s one that’s easy to make, and was designed to keep a person hydrated while working in hot conditions, like in the fields. It was commonly made for laborers of all trades, or even at home. In fact, if you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books, you’ll remember that Ma made some ginger water while Pa was out working in the fields, and the girls took it to him.
It might be most known as Haymaker’s Punch, however, as it was commonly served during those hot summer days, when the hay was being cut in the fields. I know around here, they have at least two cuttings during the summer. I can’t imagine doing that by hand! The drink was sorely needed, I am sure.
1890 PG 90, Clifford M. Ott Collection, University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives, http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/%5B/caption%5D
Want to try your own hand at it? It’s quite simple. Just mix the following ingredients:
1 gallon of water
1 to 1 1/2 cups of molasses or maple syrup
1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
After all of the ingredients are mixed together, allow it to sit for 2-4 hours. We have the luxury of refrigeration, and this drink can be refrigerated while all of the flavors blossom.
When it’s ready, you’ll have a wonderful thirst quenching beverage, and you’ll also have filled your cup with a bit of history!
Speaking of history, I’d love to do a giveaway! This month, I’m giving one reader an ebook copy of Elizabeth, Shenandoah National Park Bride. This book is chock full of romance, suspense, danger, and history! Here’s a little more about it.
Elizabeth Lawrence is ready for her trip to Shenandoah National Park with its cascading waterfalls, fields of colorful wildflowers, and wooded hollows with trees that stretch to the sky. Sketchbook in hand, she expects to capture the park’s serene beauty, never imagining the hidden dangers that lurk within its depths—or the unexpected jolt her heart will experience.
Counting down his final weeks as a park ranger, Kyle Struggs expects to deal with the usual threats of the rugged terrain, not the whims of privileged visitors he’ll be serving as a private guide. Yet, as he gets to know the inquisitive Elizabeth, he realizes she’s nothing like he’d anticipated, and he quickly can’t imagine life without her.
But when a vengeful poacher kidnaps Elizabeth, their blossoming relationship is threatened. Now, Elizabeth must depend on her wits to buy time to survive, while Kyle searches the vast park to save her from the very dangers he swore to protect her against.
You can click here to learn more, and, if you’d like to enter to win an ebook copy, just answer my question: What’s your favorite drink on a hot summer day?
Sarah is wife to an amazing teacher and mom to two boys who are growing up just a little too fast. She spends her days working and writing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
my favorite drink in summer is water
I need to be more like you!
My favorite drink in the summer is iced tea or lemonade.
I’m iced tea too!
I like iced tea or lemonade.
Bring on the iced tea for me too!
lemonade – thanks!
Mm! I need to make some of that soon!
I’ve heard of switchel. I’ve never had it. My grandparents just kept a huge metal bowl of water with a ladle on their farm.
I love water or iced tea.
I am an iced tea girl too!
My favorite drink on a hot summer day is lemonade. I remember in the Little House books where Ma made ginger water for Pa when he was in the fields. I was always intrigued by it and wondered exactly how to make it. I will definitely be trying this recipe this summer. I wish my dad was still alive, I would make him some during haying season. It’s definitely hot, dirty, sweaty, itchy work, even with modern technology!
I bet it is. Our house backs up to a field, and so I watch them make hay each time, and every single time, I just think my gosh, how did they do this by hand?! I mean, there was no choice, but still…such incredibly hard work. I didn’t think about the itchy part!
I mostly drink diet sodas or carbonated flavored waters. I like the citrus packets to add to water when I’m at my sister’s in Florida. Worked much better to quench that thirst from all the heat.
I bet so!! My oldest son just loves those citrus packets too!
I like Snapple apple juice
Ohhh I’ve not had their apple juice!
I love the crisp taste of diet cranberry juice. Especially on the rocks!
LOL My mouth just puckered! I’ve never been able to handle straight cranberry juice, though I’ve tried!
Ice cold freshly made lemonade.
Yes! That fresh made stuff is the best!
Lemonade
That’s a good summer drink!
I like iced tea, half and half
So does my oldest!
My favorite drink on a hot summer day is an iced Diet Coke with a splash of cherry:)
Thanks,
Patti
Oh my gosh! Me too! Though, I do regular Coke, as the artificial sweeteners give me bad migraines. But a cherry Coke…the best.
tea
Never a wrong time for tea!
I used to drink cold sodas, but now I’m drinking mostly water, with a glass of milk after dinner with whatever I have for “dessert” since I’m still trying to lose weight and keep off the weight I’ve lost.
That’s very smart. I’ve learned a lot of the fruit herbal teas actually brew in cold water, so I’m trying to drink more water by dropping one in there.
I like ice tea of diet mountain dew
Iced tea is the best!
Lemonade for me
It’s a perfect summer drink!
I like a slightly sweet iced tea mixed with lemonade over ice. It is refreshing and delicious.
Elizabeth, Shenandoah National Park Bride sounds like a good book. It is a lovely area, vast, with lots of places to hide or get lost. It should be a good read.
I have never mixed tea and lemonade, but my oldest loves it that way! And thank you! You are right about the park having a lot of places to get lost in! With my sense of direction, I don’t wander off the path, haha!
Either Sun Tea made from mint or other herbs from my yard, or Lemonade!
My favorite drink on a hot day is sweet tea, although I don’t drink it much due to my diabetes.