Homemade fruit punch is an excellent drink for parties because it's easy to dress up and change around and it's relatively inexpensive to make. There are thousands of different ways to make fruit punch and serve the final product, including using ice molds, fresh fruit or frozen sherbet. With a little effort, you can make a homemade fruit punch that will be a hit for your next party.
Traditional Fruit Punch
The traditional recipe for homemade fruit punch involves juice from concentrate, which is available from your local grocery store. You simply add 2-3 cans of frozen juice concentrate, mix with the amount of water specified on the packaging and you're all set. For example you can mix one can of orange juice, one can of lemonade and ten cups of water. However there are endless possibilities to this recipe. Instead of using water, try adding ginger ale, pineapple juice, apple juice or a combination of juice and water. Another option is to replace the water with lemon-lime soda such as 7-Up or Sprite. This is best when working with tropical-flavored fruit punches.
Fresh Juice Punch
The recipe for fresh juice punch is similar to traditional fruit punch, but uses fresh juice in place of the frozen. If you don't have access to fresh juice, using a canned or bottled juice works well. Start with a base of orange juice and add in other juices that you like. Two cups of orange juice with one cup of pineapple juice and one cup of cranberry juice is a good choice, or you can substitute pomegranate juice for the cranberry juice. Additionally you can tone down the fruit flavor and add bubbles by using equal parts of lemon-lime soda or soda water.
Decorations and Serving
A unique way of serving homemade fruit punch is by using an ice ring, mold or block. Make an extra serving of your fruit punch and pour it into a mold, either a ring or another form. Then freeze the mold overnight, drop it in the punchbowl and top with the unfrozen fruit punch. You can also use regular ice cube trays or shaped ice cube trays and freeze your extra punch in those overnight. This prevents your fruit punch from getting watered down and losing its flavor when ice cubes made from water melt in the bowl. Adding small pieces of fruit to the ice cube trays is a cute way of decorating the punch. You can also make skewers of fruit and serve one in each cup, or float pieces of fruit in the punchbowl.
Tags: fruit punch, cube trays, homemade fruit punch, orange juice, cranberry juice