South Pacific Islands Rum Punch

Ingredients

• Servings: 125
• 12 -15 bottles light rum
• 12 bottles dark rum
• 2 lbs raw brown sugar or 2 lbs dark brown sugar
• 5 whole vanilla beans
• 6 dozen oranges
• 6 dozen lemons
• 6 limes
• 6 large grapefruits
• 10 bananas (ripe)
• 2 pineapple (ripe)
• 6 bottles dry wine, chilled
• 1 15 gallon container
• to taste orange, slices (for decoration) (optional)
• to taste lemon, slices (for decoration) (optional)
• to taste lime, slices (for decoration) (optional)

Recipe

• 1 pour rums into container.
• 2 add sugar and vanilla beans.
• 3 stir until sugar is dissolved.
• 4 cut the citrus fruits in half.
• 5 squeeze juice into the rum; then toss in the shells.
• 6 peel and slice the bananas.
• 7 peel and slice the pineapple. add banana and pineapple to rum.
• 8 cover container and let stand in a cool place for two to three days.
• 9 stir several times during each day.
• 10 on the day of the celebration, remove pulp, vanilla beans and citrus rinds.
• 11 pour rum mixture over ice in a large punch bowl and let chill fo r a few hours.
• 12 just before serving add chilled wine. decorate bowl with sliced citrus fruits and float a few slices in the punch.
• 13 if you don't have a large punch bowl, add ice to the container; let chill.
• 14 add wine just before serving - float citrus slices in the punch.
• 15 ----------- notes: i recommend a new 15 gallon plus plastic garbage can with cover.
• 16 wash and rinse well before using.
• 17 a new canoe paddle makes an excellent stirring device. (the bonus is they can be saved and used for this again, or can be used for their original purpose.) do not use a metal container (unless it is stainless steel). due to the interaction of the rum and citric acids on metal - it would ruin the punch with a metallic flavour and the dissolved metals could poison your guests.