Lemon Punch

Ingredients

• 1 gallon fresh water
• 1 tablespoon tea
• 12 whole large lemons
• 2 pounds lump sugar
• 1 pint rum
• clear ice
• Maraschino cherries or hulled strawberries or pineapple or bananas
• 1 wineglass yellow chartreuse
• peach or apricot brandy

Instructions

1. Bring a gallon of fresh water to a bubbling boil in a wide kettle. When it reaches full boil, add one tablespoon of tea and let it boil for exactly one minute—no more, no less. Strain the boiling hot tea upon the juice and thin yellow peel of twelve large or eighteen small lemons, along with two pounds of lump sugar. Stir hard until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add one pint of rum. If desired, add a wineglass of yellow chartreuse just after the rum, or a very little peach or apricot brandy.
2. Stand the mixture on ice for twelve to twenty-four hours to allow it to blend and ripen. When ready to serve, place a small block of clear ice in the punch bowl and pour in the punch. Add either Maraschino cherries, hulled small ripe strawberries, pineapple or bananas peeled and cut in tiny dice, or a mixture of all these fruits. Serve in chilled punch cups with after-dinner coffee spoons for the fruit. Alternatively, the fruit can be left out and the punch served with sandwiches the same as iced tea.