SWITCHELL:
Long before soda pop, Gatorade, or can drinks, a common hydrator for field hands, farmers and those working the outdoors during warm summer months was a drink called Switchell. One wrangler rode up upon the chuckwagon to replenish his canteen with water and mumbled at the cook, "What I would give for a cup of switchell"
The drink mentioned in Laura Ingalls Wilder's book, "The Long Winter" describes the switchel beverage that her mother had sent for Laura and her father to drink while haying: "Ma had sent them ginger-water. She had sweetened the cool well-water
with sugar, flavored it with vinegar, and put in plenty of ginger to warm their stomachs so they could drink till they were not thirsty. Ginger-water would not make them sick, as plain cold water would when they were so hot." Since the drink had become common serving during the haying seasons, often, it was called Haymaker's punch.
From Practical American Cookery and Domestic Economy, Elizabeth Hall (Miller, Orton & Co: New York, 1853) The drink was made using the following recipe:
5 cups of cold water
½ cup of blackstrap molasses
¼ cup of apple cider vinegar (preferably raw, unfiltered)
3 tablespoons ground ginger
½ cup of blackstrap molasses
¼ cup of apple cider vinegar (preferably raw, unfiltered)
3 tablespoons ground ginger
It was not uncommon during the 19th century to find ginger spice dried and grounded. Although, the same drink can be make using fresh ginger root. Nevertheless, switchell would be a luxury that most Cowboys on the trail never enjoyed as outfits supplied minimum needs and coffee or water was the common beverage of the trail-hand drover.
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| Young boys stacking hay bales in Barn |
Another Recipe:
Here’s a classic Haymaker’s Punch recipe found in the archives of The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
- 1 gallon water
- 1 ½ cups molasses
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
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