Southern Regional Cookery: Beverages

Iced tea (usually sweet) is often the beverage of choice at many meals, but southerners are also fond of sweetened drinks of many types, from elaborate alcoholic punches to lemonade, sangria, and soft drinks. Most of the major soft drink producers began their operations in the South: Coca-Cola (Atlanta, Georgia), Dr Pepper (Waco, Texas), Pepsi-Cola (New Bern, North Carolina), RC Cola (Columbus, Georgia), and Gatorade (Gainesville, Florida). Bourbon is from Kentucky; sour mash whiskey is from Tennessee. Early settlers enjoyed rum, ale, sherry, Madeira, Marsala, port, and claret. Mint juleps and other cocktails such as the Ramos gin fizz and Sazerac of New Orleans remain popular. Eggnog is still revered, though some of the other old spiked English milk drinks, such as syllabub (frothed milk and wine), have disappeared. Many fund-raiser cookbooks from the South, however, still include dozens of recipes for the famous punches that have been served at balls and weddings for centuries. Charleston Receipts, first published in 1950, begins with recipes for four dozen drinks, most of them fruit-sweetened punches; some call for several liquors and champagne. Planter’s punch is a summer favorite of rum, brandy, bourbon, and lime juice served in frosted glasses.