The feeling of love is like being enlivened with punch. Samuel Johnson --British author and bon vivant

I returned home last night (April 23) from four days in Colorado for an extended board meeting.  To celebrate the conclusion of the board meetings, we partied with punch—of course!

While I was up there I realized another great thing about punch – it is not affected by high elevation. We were at a beautiful home in Castle Rock (elevation 6800).  The potatoes I cooked for dinner took longer than at home in Kansas City (elevation 800 or so feet),   but not so much with punch.

I love sangria but anyone who watches Chopped on the Food Network as much as I do knows the importance of transforming ingredients (deconstructing punch might be a challenge further down the road)!  So I decided to transform a pitcher of sangria into Rocky Mountain Punch, really a very elementary undertaking.

Rocky Mountain Punch

·         1 ½  cups simply syrup (3/4 c. granulated sugar mixed with 1 ½ cups water, boiled for 3-4 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved)

·         4 large oranges

·         4 lemons

·         4 limes

·         2 cups orange liqueur (I used Triple Sec – it’s not that expensive and just fine for punch)

·         3 bottles red wine

·         1 bottle Pellegrino

·         2 apples

1.       Cool the simple syrup until room temperature.  Slice the oranges, lemons and limes into thinly sliced quarters.  Add half the citrus fruit to the simple syrup (in the pan you made the syrup is fine).  Save the remaining fruit for the punch bowl. With a wooden spoon mash the fruit into the syrup.  Set aside of at least one hour or up to 3 hours to infuse the syrup with the fruit juice.

2.       About 1 hour before serving add the remaining fruit slices to the punch bowl.  Core and slice the apple into thin slices, add to punch bowl.

3.       Pour the infused syrup into the bowl, using a strainer to keep out the infused fruit.

4.       Add the 2 cups orange liqueur to mixture along with the red wine.  Stir well.

5.       Right before serving add the red wine and Pellegrino, and ice (to your liking)

Don’t worry about the ice – it’s a pretty strong punch, it could use a little more watering down.

It was a big hit, even among a punch naysayer, our good friend Morgan.  I few glasses of Rocky Mountain Punch and he became a believer…another convert to the world of punch.

I’m home in Missouri until we go on a family vacation to California in late May, so I’m ready to delve into the annals of punch lore.  I’m hoping to tackle a classic punch from the days of yore.  I have two books on the history of punch (I’m not joking) so I’m looking forward to learning more.

As always, if you make the punch, please send me your comments and ideas for improvement.