Muscadine Milk Punch

Muscadine Milk Punch

There is a drink that Benjamin Franklin mailed to a friend in 1763, and it is somehow still the most impressive thing you can hand a guest.

Clarified milk punch works by curdling milk on purpose. You mix spirits, citrus and sugar, pour that into milk, and the milk seizes into curds. Then you strain the curds out. What comes through is clear, silky, faintly creamy, and utterly unlike anything that suggests dairy. It also keeps in the refrigerator for months, which means you make it now and pour it in November.

The historic recipes call for brandy and lemon. I have added muscadine, because in September, in the South, the muscadines are ripe, and because the grape's tannin does real work in this drink rather than just sitting there being regional.

One honest note before you start. This is a punch, not a cocktail, and punches were always adjusted by the person making them. Franklin's proportions are far sharper than most modern palates like, and every batch you make will be a little different depending on how sweet your grapes were. You will need to make this more than once to get it exactly where you want it, and that is not a flaw in the recipe. Taste as you go, write down what you changed, and the second batch will be yours. What follows is my take, and my notes on how to move it in either direction.

A short history, because this one has a real one

The first known mention of milk punch appears in William Sacheverell's 1688 travelogue of the Scottish island of Iona, and later accounts credit its spread, if not its invention, to Aphra Behn, the 17th century English playwright who also worked as a spy for Charles II.

The earliest written recipe belongs to a housewife named Mary Rockett, who wrote hers down in 1711 in a personal recipe book that was not unearthed until 1914. What is remarkable is that her version is nearly identical to recipes recorded 150 years later: brandy infused with lemon rind, water, sugar and lemon juice, scalding milk poured in and stirred until it curdled, nutmeg grated over, left to infuse an hour, then strained through a flannel bag.

Then there is Franklin. On October 11, 1763, preparing to leave Boston for Philadelphia, he wrote to James Bowdoin and enclosed a recipe. His instructions: steep the thin-pared rinds of 44 lemons in six quarts of brandy for 24 hours, strain, add four quarts of water, four grated nutmegs, two quarts of lemon juice and two pounds of double refined sugar, then boil three quarts of milk and pour it in hot, stirring. Let it stand two hours, run it through a jelly bag until clear, and bottle it off.

Jerry Thomas published a milk punch in his 1862 bar guide, How to Mix Drinks, and the technique passed into the professional canon, where it sat quietly until bartenders rediscovered it about a decade ago.

Every part of my method below traces to those recipes. The only thing I have genuinely changed is the fruit.

Why muscadines belong in it

Muscadines are native to the Southeast, and the scuppernong is a large bronze variety of muscadine, Vitis rotundifolia. It became the official state fruit of North Carolina in 2001.

The lineage is almost absurdly old. The "Mother Vine" on Roanoke Island is estimated at over 400 years old, is thought to be the oldest cultivated grapevine in the United States, and was likely tended first by the Croatoans and then by early settlers. The scuppernong was the first named bronze muscadine variety and took its name from the Scuppernong River in Tyrrell County. Before Prohibition, scuppernong wine made North Carolina the most commercially successful winemaking region in the country.

There is a practical reason too, not just a sentimental one. Clarified punch recipes often call for a tannic juice, unsweetened cranberry being the usual suggestion, because tannin gives the drink structure and helps the curds do their job. Muscadine skins are thick and tannic. The grape that signals fall in the South happens to be technically correct for this drink.

What you need

Equipment: a large non reactive bowl or pitcher, a fine mesh strainer, cheesecloth or paper coffee filters, a funnel, and a clean glass bottle or jar with a lid.

For the punch, makes about 3 cups, roughly six servings:

  • 12 ounces brandy, or 6 ounces brandy and 6 ounces bourbon

  • Zest of 3 lemons, pared thin with no white pith

  • 8 ounces muscadine or scuppernong juice

  • 4 ounces fresh lemon juice

  • 3 ounces simple syrup, more to taste

  • 4 ounces strong brewed black tea, cooled

  • 1/2 whole nutmeg, freshly grated

  • 6 ounces whole milk

  • Pinch of fine salt

Notes on ingredients. Whole milk only, since the fat is part of the texture. Fresh juice only, because bottled lemon juice tastes flat once the drink is clear and there is nothing left to hide behind. If you do not have fresh muscadines, home canned or bottled muscadine juice works, and frozen grapes juiced after thawing work too.

Method

  1. Steep. Combine the brandy and lemon zest in a jar, seal, and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. Strain out the zest and discard it. This is Franklin's first step and it is the single biggest flavor difference between a good milk punch and a dull one.

  2. Mix. In a pitcher, stir together the infused brandy, muscadine juice, lemon juice, simple syrup, tea, nutmeg and salt until the sugar is fully dissolved.

  3. Taste it now. This is your last chance to adjust before clarification. It should taste slightly too sharp and slightly too strong, because clarification softens everything.

  4. Curdle. Pour the milk into a large bowl. Then pour the punch mixture slowly into the milk, never the other way around, so every drop of punch meets uncurdled milk. Stir gently once. It will separate into curds and clear liquid almost immediately.

  5. Rest. Cover and let it sit 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight. You will see the curds knit into a soft raft.

  6. First strain. Line a fine mesh strainer with damp cheesecloth or a coffee filter, set it over a bowl, and pour the mixture in slowly. Do not stir or press. The curds themselves are the filter.

  7. Second strain. Pour the collected liquid back through the same curd raft. This is the step people skip, and it is the step that takes the punch from cloudy to clear.

  8. Third strain, if needed. Run it through a fresh coffee filter until it is bright and clear. Patience only. Squeezing pushes solids through and undoes the work.

  9. Bottle. Funnel into a clean glass bottle, seal, and refrigerate.

Serve 3 to 4 ounces in a small chilled glass, over one large ice cube or straight up, with a grating of nutmeg.

My take, and how to move it toward yours

Mine leans dry, because I want the muscadine to read as grape skin and autumn rather than as juice. If yours tastes the way you want on the first try, I would be surprised, so here is the map.

  • Too sharp or aggressive: add simple syrup 1/2 ounce at a time to the finished punch, stirring and tasting between additions. Franklin's original is dramatically more sour than most people expect.

  • Too sweet or flabby: add 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice, which will not cloud a finished punch.

  • Tastes thin or watery: your grapes were mild. Reduce the tea to 2 ounces next batch and increase muscadine juice to 10 ounces.

  • Tastes flat rather than sour: add another pinch of salt before you add anything else. Salt is almost always the missing piece.

  • Not silky enough: your milk ratio was low. Go to 8 ounces of milk next time.

  • Still cloudy after three strains: it was stirred or pressed during straining. It is perfectly good to drink, just less pretty.

Write the numbers on the bottle in pencil. The whole point of a punch that keeps for months is that you can compare batches.

Frequently asked questions

Does it taste like milk?
No. The dairy is entirely strained out, and what remains is a soft, rounded texture with no creaminess or milk flavor.

Why did my punch stay cloudy?
The curds were disturbed, stirred, or pressed during straining, or it was only strained once. Pour it back through the curd raft a second time.

Can I use grape juice instead of muscadine?
Yes, though Concord juice is sweeter and less tannic, so cut the simple syrup and expect a rounder, jammier drink.

How long does it keep?
Months in a sealed glass bottle in the refrigerator, with the best flavor in the first three.

Do I have to steep the lemon zest for 24 hours?
It is the step that makes it taste historic rather than merely clear. Eight hours will do in a pinch.

Is this the same as New Orleans milk punch?
No. That one is creamy and unclarified, closer to eggnog. This is the clear English style.

Sources

Sources

Historical

Muscadines and scuppernongs

Technique

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