Now for something a little bit different... Milk punch

This week's recipe is adapted from a book that arrived from a day trip to Margate, along with Mr Beetroot, an addition to our small but growing family of incredibly ugly pots with faces:

The book, Recipes from the Dairy, was published in the 90's, but the recipes themselves go back to the 1600's, so I reckon that counts as "old"! The front cover is amazing - from the dairy at Ham House - look at those legs!

Our day-trippers requested the milk punch, described as "an incredibly smooth and delicate lemon-flavoured liquor which is deceptively strong and should be treated with respect". In other words, you feel like you've drunk a glass of cold milk, then been punched in the face. In a good way...

Ingredients:

3 lemons

200g granulated sugar

500ml water

375ml rum (I used Sailor Jerry's for a spicy kick)

125ml milk

Method:

- Peel the zest from the lemons using a vegetable peeler, place in a large bowl and squeeze over the juice

- Stir in the sugar, water and rum

- Heat the milk to boiling point and pour over the ingredients. This forms a curd (the white lumps) which help filter and clarify the punch, while the whey adds flavour and smoothness.

- Cover and leave somewhere cool for 24 hours

- Line a sieve with two or three layers of muslin - I folded a single piece of muslin in half - and filter the punch into a large bowl or jug

- To store, pour into a clean bottle and keep in the fridge

- Serve cold, with respect

Delicious for a warm summer day picnic, as long as no one has to drive, or function normally in any way for a few hours. Cheers!