“P” is for Punches

“P” is for Punches. Punches have been prominent at South Carolina social gatherings for centuries. When Eliza Lucas Pinckney recorded her favorite receipts (recipes) in 1756, she included a potent rum-laced punch. Though men often drank at home, they also enjoyed drinking in the rowdy atmosphere of the city's many taverns. Women also drank socially, at the parties and balls that were frequent in Charleston and on the neighboring plantations. Punches, which were much favored throughout the colonies, were made to serve a crowd, and individual recipes were named for particular social clubs such as the St. Cecilia Society. The tradition has continued for three hundred years. When the Junior League of Charleston published its fundraiser cookbook Charleston Receipts in 1950, it began with sixteen pages of recipes for beverages, many of them for punches that serve hundreds.