Punsch is a traditional liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

 in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and to a lesser extent some other Nordic countries

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

 produced from arrack, neutral spirits, sugar, water, and various flavorings. Arrack, originally a strong India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n liquor, was imported from Java and became the base ingredient for making punsch.

Although they both refer to certain kinds of mixed beverages with liquor as a base ingredient, traditional Swedish Punsch is different from punch

Punch (drink)

Punch is the term for a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from India to England in the early seventeenth century; from there its use spread to other countries...

. Both names probably come from the same source: a Hindi loanword for five, referring to the traditional number of ingredients. The Swedish Historical Museum of Wines and Spirits (see below) states that it is more probable that the word came to Swedish via English, than as a direct loan from Hindi.

History of Punsch in Sweden

The Swedish East India Company

Swedish East India Company

The Swedish East India Company was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with the Far East...

 started to import arrack with the arrival of the ship Fredricus Rex Sueciae to Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 in 1733. It quickly became popular, especially among the wealthy, who could afford the price of imported goods. Later it spread through all levels of society.

A testament to the widespread popularity of punsch or rack (arrack) is the songs of Swedish eighteenth century poet and composer Carl Michael Bellman

Carl Michael Bellman

was a Swedish poet and composer. Bellman is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a very important influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature in general, to this day....

. It is often mentioned in his three works Bacchi Tempel (1783), Fredmans Epistlar (1790) and Fredmans Sånger (1791) about a group of fictional characters, drunkards, bohemians and prostitutes in contemporary Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. (See for example song no. 48 or epistle no. 41.)

The high point of the Punsch consumption in Sweden came during the nineteenth century and focused on the students and teachers in the universities of Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

 and Lund

Lund

-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...

. Many traditional songs from that time are about the consumption of punsch or are meant to be sung during the collective festivities that were part of the cultural life in the universities' student associations at the time and still is.

Hot or cold?

Early on, arrack was mixed with the other ingredients and heated, immediately before consuming it. Therefore it was served warm. From ca. 1840, when the drink's popularity was spreading, ready-mixed punsch was sold. From that time on, the habit of drinking it heated was gradually replaced by serving it chilled in the same way that Brännvin

Brännvin

Brännvin is a Swedish word for liquor distilled from potatoes, grain, or wood cellulose; it may be flavored or unflavored. The term includes vodka and akvavit, but akvavit is always flavored....

, Swedish flavoured vodka, is traditionally served. Especially during the winter, when served in combination with Swedish pea soup

Pea soup

Pea soup or split pea soup is soup made, typically, from dried peas. It is, with variations, a part of the cuisine of many cultures. It is greyish-green or yellow in color depending on the regional variety of peas used; all are cultivars of Pisum sativum.Pea soup has been eaten since antiquity; it...

, it is still served hot.

Common Nordic brands

• Carlshamns Flaggpunsch (founded by L.O. Smith
  Lars Olsson Smith
  Lars Olsson Smith , also L.O. Smith, was a Swedish spirits manufacturer and politician. He was called "The King of Spirits" because of his domination of the of spirits production in Stockholm during the end of the 19th century...
  
  )
• Cederlunds Caloric
• Facile Punsch
• Trosa Punsch
• Helmi Arrakkipunssi

Defunct Nordic brands

• Grönstedts Blå
• Bil-Punsch (Car Punsch)
• Hushålls-Punsch (Household Punsch)
• Kavalleri-Punsch (Cavalry Punsch)
• Sport-Punsch (Sports Punsch)
• Telefon-Punsch (Telephone Punsch)
• Lunda-punsch

External links

• Punsch - at the Swedish Historical Museum of Wines and Spirits