Milk punch in colonial Ceylon

Punch had been drunk by Europeans in Asia since the seventeenth century, and it was a familiar part of colonial social life in Ceylon. Arrack was the obvious base: the island produced coconut arrack in quantity, and under Dutch and then British rule it was a major traded and taxed spirit.

Punches were served at gatherings, in clubs and in private homes, made in bowls with arrack or imported spirits, citrus, sugar, water and spices. Gin, brandy and rum were imported, but arrack was cheap and local and remained a staple.

Clarified milk punch was a refinement of this habit. It required more work, but produced a smoother drink that could be bottled and kept, which made it useful for entertaining and for the long weeks of a planter's life far from town.

Keeping drinks fresh was a constant challenge in colonial Ceylon. Before refrigeration, milk soured quickly, fruit juices fermented and many drinks had to be made fresh each day. Clarified milk punch solved several problems at once.

The milk curds took solids and impurities out of the drink, and what remained was protected by alcohol, sugar and acid. A well-made batch could sit in a cool corner of the house for months, ready for guests.

That same keeping quality is why milk wine is made weeks before Christmas today. Families can prepare it in November, rest it and bring it out for the steady stream of visitors over the festive season.

Ceylon gave milk punch some distinctive ingredients. Coconut arrack has a mellow, woody character unlike rum or brandy. Limes from household gardens replaced lemons. Cinnamon, the island's most famous spice, and cloves, nutmeg and cardamom were all to hand.

Sugar was available from cane, and jaggery from kithul and palmyrah palms was a local sweetener, though most milk wine recipes today use white sugar and caramel. Vanilla, grown in Sri Lanka, became a common flavouring in later recipes.

These substitutions slowly gave Ceylon milk punch its own character, more spiced and aromatic than the English originals.

In British households, punches and cordials were often made by cooks under the direction of the household, using recipes brought from home or copied from friends. In Burgher homes, where English was often spoken and European habits were strong, such recipes were adopted and written into family notebooks.

Burgher and other Christian families gradually made milk punch their own. It moved from being one of many cordials to being a dedicated Christmas preparation, made alongside Christmas cake and love cake, and served to visitors.

Records from the period are thin. Recipes rarely appear in official papers, and family notebooks are private. What can be said with confidence is that the method was present in colonial households and became central to Christian Christmas in Sri Lanka.

Somewhere along the way the drink stopped being called punch. In Sri Lankan household English, sweet home-made festive drinks were called wines, including ginger wine and fruit wines, and the bottled milk punch joined them as milk wine.

The change of name matches a change of role. Punch was a drink for a bowl and a gathering; milk wine is a drink for a bottle and a visitor. It became sweeter and more concentrated, closer to a liqueur.

Modern cocktail bars in Colombo that serve a clarified milk punch are, in a sense, reviving the colonial name, while families keep the later one.

Visitors interested in the colonial setting of milk punch can explore the old administrative and commercial district of Colombo Fort, the Dutch-era streets of Galle Fort and the planters' world of the hill country around Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.

Lankan Stays & Trails can combine those places with a December stay in Colombo, where milk wine is most easily tasted, so that the history and the drink come together on one trip.