Taste of Life: The charm of infamous milk punch

Milk punch, no doubt, was very popular in Poona in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was often called the “great drink of Poona” by the soldiers training and living in the city

On April 2, 1912, “Advocate”, the English newspaper published from Bombay, reported that a European Club in Poona was making and selling “milk punch”. The news itself would have seemed to be a notice, or some kind of an invitation, had selling and manufacturing liquor without a valid permit would have been legal.

The first written recipe for the beverage could be found in a little recipe book written by Mary Rockett in 1711. ((Pic for representation))

However, other English and Marathi newspapers soon picked up the news. Complaints against the club were filed immediately. According to Abkari law, manufacturing liquor without a permit was a punishable offence. All businesses selling alcohol required government permits and licences to operate.

European clubs were authorised to sell liquor to members after procuring permission from the Abkari authorities. The members were allowed to enjoy their drinks on the premises. But selling alcoholic products to non-members was banned. It soon emerged that the club had been selling milk punch in bottles and barrels for years to non-members before the news broke out. It was also regularly supplying the drink to shops in Poona and Kirkee. The drink sold well and generated a large profit for the club.

However, the first written recipe for the beverage could be found in a little recipe book written by Mary Rockett in 1711 - Add two gallons of hot milk to a gallon of brandy, five quarts of water, eight lemons, and two pounds of sugar. Let the mixture sit for an hour, and then strain it through a flannel bag.

The “American” milk punch is citrus free and includes milk. In “English” milk punch, or clarified milk punch, milk is usually hot when added to a mixed cocktail, which curdles the milk. The punch is then strained through cheesecloth to remove the curds. This removes most of the colour and cloudiness from the drink. American milk punch is sometimes flavoured with vanilla extract, while English equivalent employs nutmeg and cinnamon.

Because it did not need refrigeration, milk punch quickly became popular in the eighteenth century. It could be bottled easily and did not go bad for months. Benjamin Franklin was a fan and wrote his version of the recipe in a letter in 1763.

In 1863, Nathanial Whisson & Co sold the first commercialised version of the drink in bottles in England. Queen Victoria loved the beverage so much that she appointed the firm as Royal Purveyors for the drink. Bottles of milk punch were found in Charles Dickens’ wine cellar after he passed away.

Around the same time, milk punch was at the zenith of popularity in India. After the mutiny of 1857, more soldiers landed in India from Europe and milk punch was among the very few familiar beverages waiting for them in the country. In “The Indian News” published on February 19, 1858, a “moffussilite” wrote about his life in Kirkee – “Our distant friends must know that it is a rare thing to see two plates of the same pattern on any table, and none but those upon who fortune has smiled indulge in glass tumblers. Tin pots are the height of ambition! Port, sherry, brandy, Allsopp, and Bass, are beverages generally unknown to this community as they were to Robinson Crusoe, and few among even the oldest inhabitants have but a very dim recollection of the flavour of these things. Canteen rum and draught beer are the only potations generally partaken in genteel society, though in some well-managed households a fascinating compound yclept (called) milk punch, of which the principal ingredient is the spirit aforesaid, is offered to visitors whom the hostess delighteth to honour.”

Within a couple of decades of milk punch being sold in bottles in England, Cursetjee Nuservanjee & Sons started manufacturing and bottling the drink in Ahmednagar. It won a certificate and medal of honour at the Calcutta International Exhibition in 1883-84. When Cursetjee & Sons opened their shop in Kirkee, milk punch was one of their best-selling products.

It could be made in advance. Housewives and bartenders garnished it with lemons and mangoes in summer. The beverage was not only served to guests at home and parties, it was considered beneficial to those suffering from indigestion. In an article titled “Diet for the Sick” published in 1895 in “The Medical and Surgical Reporter”, Miss Helen Louise Johnson advised the nurses of members of the household who were called upon to cook the “sick diet”. She elaborated on the benefits of beef juice and beef tea while sharing the recipes. Farina gruel was another dish she found suitable for the sick. According to her, milk punch and eggnog should be served where a person needed considerable nourishment; also, where a patient needed a stimulant.

She cautioned that skim milk should never be used to make milk punch for the sick. The sick wanted food which gave energy and skim milk did not give energy. Johnson’s recipe for milk punch asked for scalding a cupful of milk and adding two teaspoonfuls of sugar to the milk. Milk was stirred until sugar dissolved, and then a tablespoonful of brandy was added. According to Johnson, wine was not to be used unless a physician told so; invalids must take stimulants entirely under the advice of a physician, never according to their ideas; the glass was not to be filled so it ran over; a small glass was to be had which was to be filled almost full instead of filling a large glass half full.

Hence, it was not surprising that the club would reap profits by selling the beverage. After newspapers started questioning the authorities for not taking any action against the club, shops were raided in Bombay and Poona. A man was apprehended with a barrel of milk punch at Poona railway station.

But the Government did not question or punish the manager of the club. The members comprised the British elite, both civilians and from the army. It simply “requested” the club to pay the licence fee for all those years the club was illegally manufacturing and selling milk punch. The club happily obliged.

“Kesari”, the Marathi newspaper, was furious. “The government would have punished every single person associated with the liquor trade had it been an Indian club”, it said. The newspaper continued campaigning against the British liquor policy and did not forget to mention the club in Poona for a few years at least.

Milk punch lost its charm gradually and soon the illegal liquor trade was wiped out of public memory.

Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com