Some posts ago, I did a punch not many people knew about and that was green fig punch. Many people thought it was interesting, some even thought I was talking about figs, the other fruit, and I had to clear it up a bit and explain that in Trinidad and the Caribbean, we call banana, fig. This time I decided to put banana in brackets so as not to confuse my international readers. So whenever I write fig from now on I am referring to bananas.
Now that I've cleared this up, I present to you today one of the most popular punches on the island, fig punch. This one is even more widely known than it's counterpart the green fig punch. In fact I myself was baffled the first time I heard about green fig punch, I thought it was a mistake. This punch (banana punch) is made with the ripe bananas and tastes very delicious when blended with the other ingredients. The recipe is my simple way of making this punch, but those punch men who make this on the streets, have their own twist to it. When you're finished drinking one of their punches "yuh good to go!"
This punch will have it's variations depending on personal taste, for example, instead of using sugar, some will opt for condensed milk, so in the end, you use less evaporated milk, but,you may have to add water because the condensed milk is very sweet. Other things I've tasted in different fig punches were essence (vanilla or pear or mixed essence etc.) and cinnamon. So you see the world of opportunities exist, when making fig punch.
One thing to note is that fig punch changes colour after a while, it changes from white, like in the picture, to a cream colour. With this change in colour I find that the punch tastes sweeter than when it was first made. That's a phenomenon I can't explain, so when I make fig punch I try not to make a lot, just enough. Anyhow, I'm talking too much, here's Fig Punch "trini style".
Now that I've cleared this up, I present to you today one of the most popular punches on the island, fig punch. This one is even more widely known than it's counterpart the green fig punch. In fact I myself was baffled the first time I heard about green fig punch, I thought it was a mistake. This punch (banana punch) is made with the ripe bananas and tastes very delicious when blended with the other ingredients. The recipe is my simple way of making this punch, but those punch men who make this on the streets, have their own twist to it. When you're finished drinking one of their punches "yuh good to go!"
This punch will have it's variations depending on personal taste, for example, instead of using sugar, some will opt for condensed milk, so in the end, you use less evaporated milk, but,you may have to add water because the condensed milk is very sweet. Other things I've tasted in different fig punches were essence (vanilla or pear or mixed essence etc.) and cinnamon. So you see the world of opportunities exist, when making fig punch.
One thing to note is that fig punch changes colour after a while, it changes from white, like in the picture, to a cream colour. With this change in colour I find that the punch tastes sweeter than when it was first made. That's a phenomenon I can't explain, so when I make fig punch I try not to make a lot, just enough. Anyhow, I'm talking too much, here's Fig Punch "trini style".
Fig Punch
2 cups milk
5 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. Angostura bitters
Peel the banana and chop before placing it in the blender with the liquid milk.
Blend the liquid milk with the chopped bananas until smooth.
The banana and milk is blended smooth.
Add the bitters and again blend for a minute.
Add sugar to taste and blend again for another minute.Although it's true that I said that the recipe was my simple way, you realize that I like Angostura bitters in my punch. But then, the amount I use, I don't really taste it! Hope you enjoyed the post. As always, keep the comments and questions coming, it is a pleasure to read your emails. I have to go now, I have a ton of work to do. Bye!
