Today is National Punch Day, which should be celebrated from the Hamptons to Helsinki as far as we’re concerned. Now, inasmuch as we can tell, there’s no violence, no fisticuffs, no jabs nor haymakers on the menu today. It’s simply a day to celebrate the wonder that is punch. Rum punch, champagne punch, we’re not picky. Just a little confused as to why it’s called punch.
So we searched. And according to Punchbowl, the name originates from the Hindustani word panch, which means five—as in the five ingredients used to make the original beverage that the British East India Company brought back to England in the early 1600s: spirits, lemon, sugar, water and tea.
