Shelly's Recipe

SPICY RUM PUNCH

Category: Beverages and Cocktails

1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
2 tbsp black peppercorns
6 star anise
4 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
2 (64-oz) bottles cranberry-pineapple juice drink
2 cups dark rum
4 (12-oz) bottles ginger beer (such as Stewarts)

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; let stand 30 minutes.

Strain cranberry mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Chill thoroughly. Stir in rum and ginger beer just before serving.


NOTE: You can steep the juice in advance; add the ginger beer and rum just before serving so the punch will be fizzy. Ginger beer, which actually contains no alcohol, tastes like a spicy ginger ale.

Yield 20 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup)