For your next party, gathering, or brunch, here are some old favorite recipes for various punches. These punches are best served with the appropriate garnishes, some festive beverage coasters (absorbent coasters work the best to avoid spills), and some kind of specialty drink or wine glass. Enjoy!

Party Tea Punch

• 1 pint pitted sweet cherries
• 2 quarts freshly boiling water
• 3 tablespoons tea
• ½ cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1 quart lemon ice
• Sugar
• Orange slices
• Lemon slices

Pour boiling water over tea; cover. Let stand 5 minutes; strain. Sweeten slightly. Add cherries and mint. Cover; chill sev­eral hours. Pour over ice in punch bowl; add lemon ice. Garnish with orange and lemon. 25 servings.

Lemon or Orange Ice Punch

Put lemon or orange ice in the punch bowl and add ginger ale in the propor­tion of 1 quart of ginger ale to each 6 pints of the ice. Raspberry, pineapple, or any other sherbet can be substituted. Consider pastel colored cocktail napkins and table coasters or a coaster set with images of fruit or trees on them!

White Angel Punch

• ½ pint sugar syrup
• 1 pint lemon juice
• 1 quart strong tea
• 2 quarts white grape juice
• 2 quarts club soda

Prepare like any other Punch, adding the soda at time of serving. 50 servings.

Blue Angel Punch

Same as White Angel, but use black tea and ordinary purple grape juice.

Golden Dawn Punch

• 1 pint apricot syrup
• 1 pint lime juice
• 3 pints orange juice
• 3 quarts club soda

Prepare and serve same as the Angel Punches. One quart of juice from can­ned apricots can be used in place of one pint of syrup. 45 servings.

Ginger Punch

• 1 quart cider
• ½ cup shredded pineapple
• 1 orange, sliced thin
• 3 sprigs of mint, crushed
• 1 quart ginger ale
• 1 pint carbonated water

Mix cider and fruit. Add mint. Before serving add the remaining ingredients. 20 servings.

Reception Punch

• 8 cups sugar
• 2 quarts water
• ½ cup crushed mint leaves
• 2 quarts iced tea
• 2 gallons water
• 2 quarts ginger ale
• Mint sprigs
• Orange and lemon slices
• 3 quarts orange juice
• 1 quart pineapple or grape juice
• 1 quart lemon juice

For 5 minutes, boil sugar with 2 quarts of water. Add crushed mint leaves. Cool and strain. Add tea, fruit juices, and re­maining water. Just before serving time, add ginger ale. Pour over ice into punch bowls and have transparent drink glasses and perhaps matching coaster sets or other bar supplies for guests to use to show off the mint leaves. 160 servings.

Grape-Tea Cup

• 1 cup strong cold tea
• 4 slices canned pineapple
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 pint grape juice
• 1 cup pineapple juice

Blend tea, pineapple and lemon juice in electric blender. Pour all ingredients into a pitcher partially filled with ice and stir. 8 servings.

bowls and have transparent drink glasses and perhaps matching coaster sets or other bar supplies for guests to use to show off the mint leaves. 160 servings.

Grape-Tea Cup

• 1 cup strong cold tea
• 4 slices canned pineapple
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 pint grape juice
• 1 cup pineapple juice

Blend tea, pineapple and lemon juice in electric blender. Pour all ingredients into a pitcher partially filled with ice and stir. 8 servings.

Tags: absorbent coasters | absorbent coasters | beverage coasters | beverage coasters | table coasters | table coasters | coaster sets | coaster sets | coaster set | coaster set | wine glass | wine glass | cocktail | cocktail | drink

Belgian chocolates are similar to any other chocolate made from the seeds of cacao. However, the popularity of Belgian chocolates began when a Swiss family in Brussels created the praline. Afterwards, in 1912, chocolates started to be given as gifts in Belgium, leading to the success story of Belgian chocolate. What is unique about Belgian chocolate? Aside from using the finest African cocoa beans, the praline was the first ever butter cream-filled chocolate. This handmade bite sized Belgian chocolate is filled with nuts and cream or dark chocolate which was a first in the early 1900s. Nowadays, Belgian chocolate is a taste all its own and is being craved by many chocoholics worldwide.

Belgian chocolates are recognized as the gourmet standard at any chocolate confectionery around the world. The praline with its delightful sculpted chocolate shell will surprise you with a burst of different tastes once you bite into it. The praline is made with the highest quality of cocoa seeds from Africa and filled with different tasty treats. Fillings include nuts, nougats or creams, coffee, fruit, or dark chocolate. At present, many Belgian chocolatiers are continuously improving the taste and quality of the praline. Some of the most popular Belgian chocolate praline companies that have been in operation since the early 1900s include Leonidas, Neuhaus, Godiva and Nirvana.    

But how did Belgian chocolates come to be? The history of Belgian chocolates dates back in 1885 when Leopold II of Belgium colonized the Congo where Belgium imported cocoa beans. Leopold II took advantage of the country’s cocoa beans supply. Despite the monarch’s ruthlessness, the success of Belgian chocolatiers produce what is nowadays considered one of the best tasting chocolates worldwide. The Belgian chocolate praline was created in 1912 which coincided with the tradition of giving chocolates as gifts in Belgium. Subsequently, the Belgian chocolate praline’s packaging was developed. This was called the Ballotin.

What is unique about Belgian chocolate? Even though Belgian chocolates are very expensive, any chocoholic will choose eating pralines than those bought by the pound in Switzerland. The reason is that Belgium chocolates‘ quality surpasses any well-known chocolate. Belgian chocolatiers put passion into their chocolate-making which represents their unwavering national pride. A Belgian chocolate’s shell is handcrafted and bursting with flavors that leave an exciting taste in your mouth. Tasting Belgian chocolate leaves you craving for more. Belgium’s pride in their pralines is evident with the many chocolate stores in every town and village in this chocolate country.

Biting into a Belgian chocolate is not an experience that any chocolate lover can pass up. The unique taste of praline brings chocolate connoisseurs around the world to Belgium where they discover for themselves why Belgian chocolates are the toast of any chocoholic. Many of them take a round of the different Belgian chocolate praline companies and makers to get a taste of their diverse creations. One Belgian chocolate can taste strikingly different from the other due to their fillings and creators. This is far from the early beginnings of Belgian chocolate but today’s sweet creations still keep the tradition of giving praline inside balloting as the best gift there is for any chocolate lovers.

Tags: belgian chocolate dark | belgian chocolate dark | Belgian chocolates | Belgium chocolates | Belgium chocolates | Belgium chocolate | Belgium chocolate | Belgian chocolate | dark chocolates | dark chocolates | fine chocolates | fine chocolates | chocolates

The Government decided to permit the sale of sweetened wine, but in order to warn the public, decreed that each label must contain in capital letters: SWEETENED WITH EXCESS SUGAR. But to the amazement of all concerned, the public, instead of being warned not to buy, welcomed the promise of extra-sweet wines, and bought them freely—apparently not caring whether the sugar came from grapes, cane, beets, or corn, as long as it was there. In fact the EXCESS SUGAR Phrase helped to make the kosher producers millionaires almost overnight.

As they used to say about a certain controversial pianist who was derided by experts for “hamming” the classics, these winemakers cried all the way to the bank.  Finally the Government gave up and dispensed with the “excess sugar” requirement; and the labels now merely read: “specially sweetened.” The kosher-type wines are not the only ones containing added sugar. All fruit wines—such as the blackberry, loganberry, and apple types—are similarly sweetened.  Also, the grapes like Mourvedre and Grenache that are grown in eastern and midwestern states and Canada do not develop sufficient natural grape sugar to ferment into standard wines, and consequently they re­quire a moderate supplement of non-grape sugar.

California, however, has long had a vintner-sponsored state regulation prohibiting the addition of sugar to its traditional wine types—and at last reports the state’s vintners were not entirely happy about it, because they have discovered that when wines do need sweetening for any reason, sugar gives them better flavor than grape syrup does.

Some of the European countries, too, prohibit adding sugar to wine, or require that the labels show that the wines are sugared. But while it is well known that many European wines (especially Merlot, Pinotage, Syrah, and Ger­man Rhine wines) are thus sweetened, I have yet to see a single label that admitted it.

This raises the question of what is meant by the legend that appears on millions of wine bottles, proclaiming their contents are “100% pure.” Since sugared wines are as eligible as any to claim purity, the phrase seems quite meaningless; and I have heard some vintners express the wish that they had never begun using it. It assuredly does not mean that the wines without the “pure” label are in any respect impure.

Historically, some of the earliest pure-food laws were aimed at stopping the adulteration of wines, because syn­thetic versions of the product have been sold in many countries during periods of grape scarcity. The cardinal, most ancient sin—that of watering wines to stretch their volume—has been stopped, however, at least in the United States, by the federal regulation which requires every bottle to state its alcoholic content. When government inspectors find a wine containing less alcohol than the label states, they have a made-to-order case against the offending bottler.

In table wines (sometimes called “light,” “natural,” or “dinner” wines) such as the popular Rioja, Tempranillo, or Pinot Noir, the alcohol is created entirely by the natural fermentation of sugars, and rarely exceeds 14% of the wine’s volume. The dessert wines, on the other hand, contain brandy (pure wine spirits, distilled from wine), which is added to arrest fermentation before the sugars have completely fermented—thus keeping these wines sweet. Most dessert-wine labels give the alcoholic content as 20%.

Tags: tempranillo | tempranillo | pinot noir | pinot noir | mourvedre | mourvedre | grenache | grenache | pinotage | pinotage | grapes | grapes | merlot | merlot | syrah | syrah | rioja | rioja