Woodruff Punch Recipe for Delicious May Drink

Name: Recipe Woodruff Punch
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: fresh woodruff 30 stems; semi dry or dry white wine 1 l; Prosecco or dry sparkling wine 1 l

Jump to the recipe Comments

Woodruff punch Recipe Image © Thomas Sixt

Author:
Thomas Sixt is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger.
Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.

Here I show you my woodruff punch recipe.

The season for woodruff and woodruff punch is in Germany and Austria from April to the end of May.

During the last woodruff walk on a beautiful, sunny day at the end of April I could not resist and I started collecting woodruff.

The May punch is a typical spring punch from fresh woodruff.

It is a delicacy that will surely taste good to your treasure or your guests.

This is how “homemade” goes – we welcome spring!

Table of Contents

1. Recipe Woodruff Punch
2. Calories and Nutritional Values
3. Preparation and Ingredients for the Woodruff Punch
4. More Ideas

1. Recipe Woodruff Punch

Below I show you my guide for the classic May punch with cleaver.

This is woodruff punch with and without alcohol.

Let’s greet spring with a delicious drink…

Recipe Woodruff Punch

Cooked, photographed and written down by chef Thomas Sixt.

Servings 6

Calories 247

Total Time 45 Min.

Preparation Time 15 Min.

Cook Time 0 Min.

Simple instructions for making punch with woodruff in the variants with and without alcohol.

Rate Now!

5.00 from 919 ratings

Ingredients

30	stems	fresh woodruff (picked by yourself from the forest or purchased)
1	l	semi dry or dry white wine
1	l	Prosecco or dry sparkling wine

Instruction

Let woodruff wither before use. — Woodruff wilts and releases coumarin.

Prepare ingredients

Roughly select and clean the woodruff, pat dry and leave to wilt for a few hours.

Woodruff upside down to pull in the wine. — Wilting woodruff upside down in the vineyards. and let it go.

Prepare essence

Pour into a tall glass of dry white wine and dip the wilted woodruff upside down.

The ends of the stems must not be in the wine.

Time definition

Let the woodruff infuse the wine for max. half an hour.

For the storage a brown glass bottle is suitable or one uses the woodruff essence immediately completely in the punch.

Woodruff pouring essence into wine — Woodruff bottle with essence in wine in a dark glass bottle with funnel.

Filling

Fill the wine brew with the spirit of the woodruff into the glass bottle and put it in a cool place or use it immediately for the punch.

Fresh woodruff punch in a glass — Woodruff punch, a fresh May punch that celebrates spring!

Enjoy

Woodruff wine essence in a bowl or individual glasses.

Fill with well chilled dry sparkling wine, prosecco or champagne.

2. Calories and Nutritional Values

3. Preparation and Ingredients for the Woodruff Punch

The woodruff’s name is cleaver.

Typical are the square smooth stems with several whorls on the elongated leaves.

The woodruff prefers to grow in the humus soil of a deciduous forest.

From about May onwards, the woodruff flowers with numerous white flowering stars.

I have seen woodruff not only growing wild but also already in sales.

Maybe you will find what you are looking for at your vegetable dealer…

A short explanation of the use of woodruff/cleaver:

Don’t take too much of the woodruff wild herb.
Let the woodruff wither a little, then the characteristic smelling and tasting coumarin is released.
Let the woodruff steep in the wine for a maximum of 1/2 hour.
Do not put the stems into the wine, but turn the plant upside down.
Woodruff is known as a medicinal plant – too much of the coumarin can cause headaches, but too much alcohol as well 😉

Wine Info:

Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio…

Alcohol-free Version:

As an alcohol-free alternative you can also use naturally cloudy apple juice.

As a non-alcoholic alternative for Sparcling Wine and Prosecco you can use non-alcoholic sparkling wine or mineral water.

The lancet-shaped leaves of the forest master form small wreaths around the square stems of the woodruff.

Woodruff grows along the roadside in deciduous forests and forms a delicate green carpet of many woodruff plants under the trees.