Citrus Sherbet #2 & Hot Ruby Punch

/ Dani DeLuna

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Happy Holidays y’all! Citrus season is upon us and it’s time for the next experiment in my quest to find the best Citrus Sherbet ever! For my second Citrus Sherbet, I wanted to focus on the flavor of Grapefruit but that poses a bit of a problem in this country.

“Why?” You may ask?

Ideally, White Grapefruit would make an excellent Sherbet but every damn market only sells Ruby Red and Ruby Red contains entirely too much sweetness for proper cocktailing! So what’s a Home Bar Gurrrrl or Dude to do? Simple, add Lemon.

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In order to make Sherbet, we must first make Oleo-Saccharum.

Citrus Oleo Saccharum #2:

  • the peel of 1 Ruby Red Grapefruit
  • the peels of 3 Lemons
  • 10 oz Demerara Sugar
  1. Combine ingredients in a jar or other sealable container and muddle so that the oil is released from the peels.
  2. Let sit in the jar overnight, shaking occasionally. You want a syrup to form from the Citrus oil and Sugar.

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Then it’s time to make Citrus Sherbet #2.

To the Citrus Oleo Saccharum you will add:

  • 6 oz Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
  • 6 oz Lemon Juice

Add juices to jar with the Oleo Saccharum, cover, and shake until sugars have dissolved in juice. Remove peels from jar and strain Sherbet into an airtight container. Will keep for approx 2 weeks in the fridge.

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Wahoooo! Now you have a Grapefruit forward Citrus Sherbet! What to do with it? Well, since Oleo Saccharum and Sherbet are traditional Punch ingredients, the obvious answer is PUNCH.

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I was already thinking “Hmmm Grapefruit would really slam with Batavia Arrack.” And then I had a shower thought (literally in the shower), “What about a hot tea punch?” I looked in David Wondrich’s Punch book for inspiration, lo and behold, there is a hot tea punch with Batavia Arrack!

Ruby Punch (Recipe from 1862, measurements according to my best calculations)

  • 48 oz Green Tea (6 tea bags)
  • 16 oz Sugar
  • ~12 oz Lemon Juice
  • 16 oz Batavia Arrack
  • 16 oz Ruby Port
  • Garnish: as much Nutmeg as you can stand

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Here’s my adapted recipe to go with Citrus Sherbet #2. No lie, it’s fucking fabulous and is one of the easiest drinking Punches I’ve ever tried.

Hot Ruby Punch (adapted for Citrus Sherbet #2)

  • 6 oz Hot Sencha Green Tea
  • 1 1/2 oz Citrus Sherbet #2
  • 2 oz Batavia Arrack
  • 1 1/2 oz Ruby Port
  • Garnish: a shit ton of Nutmeg

Add ingredients to mug with the hot tea being last. Garnish with a metric ton of fresh nutmeg.

There you have it! Happy Holidays and enjoy your Citrus Sherbet adventures!

2 thoughts on “Citrus Sherbet #2 & Hot Ruby Punch”

  1. Hi! I was really overwhelmed when I saw that my local grocery store had a huge heap of white grapefruits on display yesterday. They were three for $2 so I just had to get some. I haven’t seen any in years. So would you use say two grapefruits to make the oleo saccharum? How much of the juice would you mix in? Thank you for a simply wonderful blog😋

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    • Hmmm, really you want to use the same amount of sugar as juice. Take the peels of those two grapefruit, juice the fruit, see how much it is, then add the same amount of sugar to a jar with the peels

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