EVERY CHRISTMAS OF MY CHILDHOOD, WE’D MAKE THE SEVEN-HOUR
trek from Birmingham, Alabama, to Ville Platte, Louisiana, where my mom’s
family—numerous and very Cajun—would gather for a big holiday party,
complete with rabbit gumbo, a hulking turducken, chicken and sausage
jambalaya, and a platter of chocolate-peanut haystacks. I was responsible
for the punch. I’d turn a container of lime sherbet out into the big glass
bowl, pour in two liters of 7UP, and marvel as lemon-lime clouds bubbled up
to create the creamy, vividly green drink that my brother and I would stand
around until all that was left was a layer of foam.
The first recipe for 7UP punch appeared in a 7UP recipe booklet in 1953
(only three years after the company removed lithium as an ingredient). It
calls for just 2 quarts of sherbet and 24 bottles of 7UP. “So pure, so good,
so wholesome,” the recipe extols. It fell out of fashion as cocktail culture
ignited in the ’50s, but many people I queried grew up with it at family par-
ties and other gatherings. This holiday season, inspired by those fun (if not
so wholesome) flavors, you’ll find me next to the punch bowl with its more
sophisticated, adult cousin, Citrus-Champagne Punch (recipe at right).
Laissez les bon temps rouler! —ERIN CLYBURN, COPY EDITOR