It's Pimms O'Clock

Sam has written in asking about how to make a Pimm's Cup - well, when we mix it up, we just call it a Pimms. The weird brown liquor you buy in the bottle is called Pimm's No. 1 Cup. Pimms makes other cups, including some other number which I can't remember which is a winter version of Pimms. It's pretty good, but it's not the fabulous summer drink we know as Pimms.

What's in Pimms No 1 Cup? Who knows? It's a closely guarded secret. It's gin based and it's brown. I wouldn't drink it straight if you gave me ten bucks. Though apparently people used to drink it neat as a digestif.

But mix up a pitcher of Pimms on a summer day, and yumm, I'll drink that. I'll drink that and then we can mix up another one.

Everybody has their own way of making Pimms - here's mine.

1. Pimms No 1 Cup - poured into your pitcher.
2. Throw in a whole fruit salad's worth of sliced lemons, apples, strawberries (optional) and cucumbers (Cucumbers? You say. Yep. This ingredient is NOT optional) and oranges.
3. Throw in a handful of mint.
4. You should probably put the ice in at this stage, but I always forget.
5. Then add lemonade, British lemonade, which I describe in my previous post as kinda like Sprite but not. It's clear, it's soda and it tastes vaguely of lemons and some unidentifiable chemical compound. Here my preference is R. White's Diet Lemonade.

The liquid should be the color of medium to weak strength iced tea. When I make it, it's medium strength, but it actually tastes better if it looks weak strength. Many people don't use as much fruit as I do, but I think it looks pretty and I like to eat the fruit and cucumber slices that have soaked up the Pimms in the bottom of my glass.

Sam's original question was should he use Sprite or 7-Up as a substitute for British lemonade. Either will do, but if I have to use one as a substitute I generally go for 7-Up. Some people use ginger ale or ginger beer (more gingery and sweeter than American ginger ale) instead of or in addition to the lemonade.

Serve in long glasses, over ice, but not too much ice, make sure some of the fruit gets in the glass, garnish with sliced strawberries if you can be bothered. Ideally Pimms should be consumed outdoors.

I've made Pimms with limes before, but I don't think it works as well, which I think is part of the reason why I prefer 7-Up to Sprite, because it has less lime flavor.

Pimms is such a wonderful summer drink that I'm kind of surprised it hasn't caught on big in the South. The first day it's warm enough for a Pimms in late Spring, is such an exciting day, it means the beginning of summer.

UPDATE: see a more recent post for a lovely picture of my Pimms recipe made real