Green Your Holiday Party: Drinks

Dreaming of a green Christmas? This week we'll show you ways to make your Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa party eco-friendly, from using the Sunday comics to wrap your gifts to buying LED holiday lights.

Tip #1: Serve Green Drinks

Studies suggest that warm drinks promote good feelings, so turn up the cheer with homemade eggnog or vegan eggnog.  Give premixed hot chocolate with fair trade cocoa powder and marshmallows in mason jars as a party favor. Scrap the gift wrap entirely and give gifts in reusable tote bags.

Share your tips: What are your favorite holiday drink recipes?

The Green Life will take a holiday break starting on Dec. 24, but we'll be back with new posts on Jan. 5. In the meantime, peruse our archives for a wealth of green-living tips.

Comments

[Sara B., Norfolk]

Don't forget the homemade moonshine given in mason jars!

Things Needed:
20 gallons water
5 lbs cornmeal
20 pounds sugar
1.25 oz yeast
Pressure Cooker
Copper Tube
Vessel (to collect moonshine)
Charcoal (or a Brita filter!)
Instructions

Put water in a pot and place it on stove. Keep on boiling it until it reaches a rolling boil. Add cornmeal. The resultant mixture will be known as "mash".

Keep aside the mash and let it cool down, till it is warm to the touch, then add sugar and yeast to the warm mash.

Again, keep it aside and let it ferment for 4 to 5 days. Keep on checking the mash and when it stops bubbling, it means that it is ready. At this stage, the mash is known as "sour mash" or beer.

Put the sour mash into the pressure cooker and keep it on fire, until it goes up to 173 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the alcohol content of the mixture will start rising to the surface.

With the help of a coiled copper pipe, passed through cold water, trap vaporized alcohol in a separate vessel. As the vapors from the cooker pass through the cold copper tubing, they will slowly condense into the liquid called moonshine.

Finally, filter the moonshine through charcoal, making it absolutely fit for consumption.

Put cooled moonshine into mason jars and add fruit if desired.

You can google other recipes, though most will be geared to bathtub quantities.

[Lehua]

Unsweetened hot organic green tea mixed with acai berry juice and a half teaspoon of natural raw honey in a large mug is just fine with me.

[Juliet Jones]

Last summer, I picked lots of mint and dried it by hanging a bunch of it upside down in the kitchen. When completely dry (I allowed a week), I pulled off the leaves and stored them in a glass jar. Now I am enjoying the BEST mint tea ever! Now that I know it's good, I plan to do the same thing next summer, in greater quantities, and give as gifts. (Mint grow like crazy in my backyard here in Memphis.)