T.T.: A Modern Switchel Recipe

Cubby started football last week, so of course I bought him a case of Gatorade to bring with him to his three-hour practices.

. . .

If you believed that, you have not been reading here long enough.

I don't like the disposable plastic bottles or the ingredients in Gatorade. But there is no denying that it goes down easy for boys who have been running around a football field in the sun for over three hours. They can't drink too much cold water without getting cramps.

So what to do?

Grandma Post knew!

Grandma Post was the MiL's mother. She was the daughter, wife, and mother of farmers, all of whom spent many, many hours haying in punishing upstate New York heat and humidity every summer. She knew how to keep them hydrated. And how she did it was switchel.

My first experience of switchel was at her house in the summer. She had some in her refrigerator for her son who was running the farm. Switchel is the traditional drink for summer hydration because it can be consumed in larger quantities than plain water. 

The primary reason for that is that it has ginger in it. That's what allows a person who is exerting himself to drink it without getting cramps, as he would with plain water.

The traditional ingredients for switchel are water, vinegar, ginger, a bit of lemon juice, and a sweetener like maple syrup or honey*.

 I made traditional switchel for Cubby last football season, and he really didn't like the vinegar in it. 

He never would have made in on a haying crew.

I suspect the vinegar was mostly a lemon juice stand-in for farmers who didn't have access to fresh lemons, anyway, so now I just use all lemon juice. Not from fresh lemons, though, because I also don't have regular access to fresh lemons. Also, you would have to squeeze a LOT of lemons. The bottled stuff is fine.

All of my switchel ingredients come in bottles actually, but if you have fresh ginger and lemons, knock yourself out.

The resulting drink is pretty much like a slightly gingery lemonade. Very palatable for those of us not raised on traditional switchel, and just as refreshing.

So if you, too, have a child sweating their life away on a field somewhere (or it you yourself are the sweater), give switchel a try. No plastic bottle, no food dye, no strange ingredients. Perfect.

Modern Switchel

Ingredients

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup maple syrup or honey (if using honey, you'll probably need less, but I haven't tried it)

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 quart water (warm if using honey, to dissolve it better)

Method

Add all ingredients to a quart-size canning jar and shake it all up. Either keep the jar cold in the refrigerator, or pour the switchel into a big water bottle filled with ice to take to the football or hay field. Cubby has a 32-ounce insulated water bottle that I fill with ice in the morning before adding the quart of switchel to it, and it's still icy for afternoon practice. 

Although I measured so I could write out a recipe for you, it will probably not surprise you that I don't actually measure anything when I make it myself. I just go by taste. As should you. Start with the measurements if you want, but add more or less sweetener, more or less ginger. You can even try some apple cider vinegar in place of some of the lemon juice if you want it more traditional.

Salud!

* Molasses is also traditional, but the one time I made it with molasses, A. was absolutely horrified and actually spit it out. So I guess it wasn't traditional for his family. Molasses does have a very strong flavor, so unless you're a fan of molasses already, I wouldn't recommend it.