Switchel

Switchel, also switzel, swizzle, ginger-water or haymaker's punch, is a drink made of water mixed with vinegar and molasses, and seasoned with ginger. Honey, sugar, brown sugar, or maple syrup were sometimes used to sweeten the drink instead of molasses. In the U.S. state of Vermont, oatmeal and lemon juice were sometimes added to the beverage.

Switchel originated in the West Indies and had become a popular summer drink in the American Colonies in the late 1600s. By the 1800s, it had become a traditional drink to serve to thirsty farmers at hay harvest time, hence the nickname haymaker's punch. Herman Melville wrote in I and My Chimney, "I will give a traveler a cup of switchel, if he want it." In The Long Winter Laura Ingalls Wilder describes the beverage that her mother sent for Laura and her father to drink while haying: "Ma had sent them ginger-water. She had sweetened the cool well-water with sugar, flavored it with vinegar, and put in plenty of ginger to warm their stomachs so they could drink till they were not thirsty. Ginger-water would not make them sick, as plain cold water would when they were so hot."

Switchel was sometimes kept in a hollow ring-shaped canteen which could be carried over the shoulder or arm or on the belt; compare gueuze.

See also

• Energy drink
• Gatorade

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