Episode 4 - Cocktail Hour! Fruit & Rum Punch Recipe - a podcast by Vanessa Shepherd & Terrica Strozier of Shes Got Vision

Episode #004 - Cocktail Hour! - Fruit/Rum Punch

Show Description

This episode is our monthly cocktail episode! Tune in as Terrica shares a favorite fruit punch recipe that you can turn up a notch with some rum, beach ready anybody?

Show Notes

[00:00:00] Welcome to the marketing cocktails podcast. We're your hosts. Terrica Strozier, that's me a brand designer and sugar attic and Vanessa Shepherd and launch strategist and content creator. With the love of all things business each week, you're here, our behind the scenes conversations and expert advice on marketing and launching your next offer while doing it all ethically and organically.

And given that bro marketer advice, the book. Thanks for spending some time with us today. Grab a drink and let's jump into today's episode.

Terrica: Hey, everybody. Welcome to a cocktail episode, which is my favorite episodes. I love giving you marketing and business advice cocktails have, have my heart, so we're not going to make this long. but I am going to just dive right in. So this cocktail episode, the basis is going to be this fruit punch that I kind of created on accident a bit.

I'm [00:01:00] not sure where all of you all reside or what restaurants look like in your area, but I am born and raised and still live in Atlanta. Well, now the Metro Atlanta area and here a lot of the local wing places, and even some of the Jamaican restaurants always have the combination of punches.

So in the local, and when I say wing, I mean like chicken wing places. So the local chicken wing places, they have these almost fountain type. Drinks. I, don't not quite sure what they're called. They're in the same container that you have, like the really big frozen daiquiris dispense out of. And they have different flavors like peach and lemonade and fruit punch.

And. They even combine them, . So my kind of go to is like a little bit of peach juice and a little bit eliminate and it's like, perfect. It's like sweet. And then you get the salty wings and it's, Oh, it's the best. So recently my husband and I had a [00:02:00] hankering for some wings. So I went to our local wing place, but unfortunately they don't have the juice thing anymore.

since COVID, they've gotten rid of it. So I really wanted it. Like a good fruit punch. I haven't purchased one in the store that I really love. But as I said before, I like locally, they have some of the Jamaican restaurants. They make their own fruit punches and Oh gosh, they're so good. And again, if I couldnt' the recipe for it, so.

I at first, I was like, Oh, don't worry about it. I came home, we ate the wings, I just had some water. And I was like, I really want a fruit punch and I'm going to figure this out. So I did a little bit of research. So I combined a little bit of what I know from my palette. Some YouTube videos, Google searching and just what was available in my local store.

So this is my [00:03:00] base for my fruit punch. And, you will have, there will be a link in the show notes to a blog post, and then I'll have the whole recipe written out, now with this fruit punch, you can add your spirit of choice. I have a love of all things, rum and subsequently Tiki drinks and anything that has rum in it I have tried, I've lost count the amount of rums that I tried.

And when I went on my honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, I was in heaven with the open bar and all of those rums. if you're, uh, had ever been to the Dominican Republic, one of their go to brands is brugal, and it's a really solid, rum, but I have just so many that I love my plantation rum, diplomatico will like, Oh, so many good things.

So. And a really good addition for this is rum, I use just a simple [00:04:00] silver rum. You can use an aged rum if that's what you have. And if you're not a big rum person, this would do really well with another what I consider a little bit of a neutral spirit. So, so you could add in vodka or maybe even gin, but I would not go into any other categories other than those, those are gonna.

Be your best combinations. So the fruit punch is a combination. And so I started with a quarter of a watermelon. So I didn't want to buy a ton of watermelon because I didn't even know how much this will yield. So it was just easier to go for a quarter. So I took the quarter of a watermelon, and then just slice that up and cube did scooped it out, threw it in my blender and. I just went ahead and blended that down.

And then I used a strainer, a mesh strainer, and just strained out the extra pulp and seeds. And [00:05:00] so that was my base t0 that I added. one of the frozen concentrates is a, was an orange and pineapple juice. I then added that into the watermelon. So, going in between a huge mixing bowl and my blender.

So every time I would blend something, strain it, I put it into the mixing bowl and then just keep adding things. So, in my blender I put the frozen concentrate and then I added in two bananas and then blended that down, just pulsed it. It really good. Straighten that out as well. I also added the juice use of one Naval orange, two limes and a lemon.

And then here and my local store, they have a juice that is a passion fruit base, but it's like a tropical juice or as passion, fruit juice, guava and papaya, I believe. And pineapple juice. And I just added overall probably about. A [00:06:00] cup to a cup and a half of that, just to add it in with the different fruit I was using, as I was blending that up to kind of create it a more of a liquid base.

additionally, if you cannot find, like a tropical juice that you really love, and I really liked this one because the ingredients are minimal and you really get a fruit flavor. if you can find the fruit nectars. we have those around, especially, and some of your local, international stores.

if there's anywhere in your city where they have a large, Caribbean population, then you tend to find those, really frequently. So if you do that and I would, I would, purchase, a passion fruit or guava or papaya or mango. nectars and add a combination of those in those cells would be like really good as well.

I additionally felt like I needed a little bit more fruit flavor, so I had some frozen fruit and my freezer and I had some mixed berries and [00:07:00] mango. So I blended that in the blender with the little bit of the passion fruit juice though. One cup to one and a half cups is going to include all of these is additional additions.

Anytime you need to add, like just a little liquid, I added the passion fruit juice. and then I blended that up, straighten that out, added that in there. And what are the YouTube videos that I found? it was for a Jamaican fruit punch and he added mixed essences  while I've seen it in the store. I wasn't quite sure what that included.

So I did a little bit of a research and mixed essence is a combination of  vanilla  Almond and lemon extract,  so he suggested as a recommendation, if you couldn't find mix essence was to use almond extract for once.

And I can't tell you how long, cause I bake a lot. I was completely out of almond extract. But another alternative to almond, almond and vanilla go hand [00:08:00] in hand and play like a really nice part with, additions and baking and things like that. Almond with really, strong, taste still, you have to be really careful with the almond extract.

So even in his whole punch, he was only using. About a half of a teaspoon. So I substituted that with some vanilla, stirred that up and that was my juice and it was, Oh guys, it was so amazing. Now what you can adjust depending on your preference.

So as you've seen it in a lot of recipes, they always tell you to season to taste. And I would say the same for fruit punch. So you're not adding any salt or pepper guys. So as you finish the punch, just taste it along the way. Some people like a sweeter flavor. So depending on where you are, that may work perfectly for you.

Additionally, some may like a little bit [00:09:00] more. Of tartness and not like an equal balance. So I kind of went back and forth as I was tasting. And I was like, Oh, it's a little too sweet. So I'll add a little additional lemon or lime juice just to kind of pump up that tartness to give, a good flavor balance that was in tune with what I like to drink.

Cause we went through this punch super quick guys. So to make your cocktail. You're gonna pour, the punch into a glass. I just put it into a normal bout 16 ounce glass. And I did about half of it for that. So eight ounces of the juice. If you want to make a larger  mix then by all means, add more alcohol let's punch.

Just kind of play with it a bit. So. I added in about eight ounces of the punch and then two shots of rum and stirred that together. And then what always is an amazing [00:10:00] addition to run punches. Cause I made rum punches separately that I did not make a complete fruit punch base and. Is the addition of Angostura bitters.

So I had about three to four dashes of Angostura bitters. And guys it's such a, just refreshing cocktail makes you feel like you've been transported to the beach. I know many of us can't really get to some of our friends. Favorite destinations, but it's like Calgon. It takes you away just for a little bit.

So that's the cocktail guys. I'm just going to sum it up and call it terrica's fruit punch. And you can add in, like I said, any addition of alcohols that you would prefer,  Where I used the two shots of rum then you can add in vodka or gin in his course are going to give you a lot more floral notes.

So the [00:11:00] addition of the bitters in using vodka and gin was probably not needed, but based on your personal preference, please like try it out. If you have them in your home. If you make cocktails often, try a little bit taste it, see what it, see what it does for you. So a little bit too. You know, heavy on the bitters and just add a little bit more juice to balance that out.

So hope you enjoy guys. If you decide to make the fruit punch, even if you don't add in a cocktail and you just want to non-alcoholic version, please let me know how it turned out. Let me know what you think, tag us on Instagram or Facebook or any of this social platforms. If you want to share it at she's got vision.

And until next time, guys, there's always time for cocktails.

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