A cut-glass punch bowl of pale amber cider with banana slices, red cherry pieces and a large lump of ice, with a ladle in it, beside four glasses of the same punch on a white linen runner. — Cider punch with banana slices and cherries in a bowl.

New Year’s Punch (1920)

Name: New Year's Punch
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 80 fl oz (2.4 L) fresh apple cider, pasteurized, chilled; 2 ripe bananas, sliced thin; 6 maraschino cherries, drained and cut into bits; 1 large lump of ice

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Fresh cider with sliced bananas and cut cherries, served in tall glasses from a bowl with a lump of ice: the loving-cup New Year’s punch of Mrs. Wilson’s Cook Book of 1920.

By The Forgotten MenuPublished Nov 2, 2026

Recipe makes: 6 tall glasses
Prep: 10 min
Total: 1 hr 10 min

Chill the cider for at least an hour first, and slice the bananas just before serving so they do not darken.

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Cider punch with banana slices and cherries in a bowl.

The story behind the recipe

For the midnight at the end of the year, Mrs. Wilson’s New Year’s page asks for a “loving cup”: a punch for fifteen of one and a half gallons of cider, half a dozen bananas sliced thin and a small bottle of cherries cut into bits. “Place a large lump in the ice bowl and stir to blend,” she writes. “Serve in tall punch glasses.”

Is it a cocktail?

Not by what she writes. The only liquid in the recipe is cider, and she says nothing about wine or spirits in it. The recipe is printed in 1920, the year national Prohibition began, but the page does not mention the law. What the page does say is a note under the menus that “a punch may be made with part grape juice and part lemonade and then the fruit added.” She does not say whether her cider was sweet or hard; we use fresh, pasteurized apple cider.

Who was it for?

The party. The New Year’s entry is headed “For eight couples,” and the punch is for fifteen people. That is why the amounts are large, and we cut them to about two fifths so that one pitcher serves six.

Making it today

We use two bananas and six cherries, which is about one banana to every 40 fl oz of cider, and we read her “ice bowl” as a punch bowl holding one big lump of ice, which melts more slowly than small ice and waters the cider less. Slice the bananas just before serving, since they darken. She names no spice or sugar, and neither do we. It goes with either of her menus, the Newburg one or the creamed chicken Delmonte one; the whole page is in the article on the last New Year’s Eve before Prohibition. Forgotten Drink, our sister site, keeps more bowls from the books that printed them, with and without alcohol, in its historic punch recipes (opens in a new tab).

To prepare a loving cup for welcoming the new year for fifteen persons: One and one-half gallons of cider, ...

Mary A. WilsonMrs. Wilson’s Cook Book (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1920), New Year’s Punch, p. 484; the menu, p. 485

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Ingredients

For 6 tall glasses. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for 6 tall glasses.

Fresh apple cider, pasteurized, chilled80 fl ozAuthor measures: 2.4 l.
Ripe bananas, sliced thin2
Maraschino cherries, drained and cut into bits6
Large lump of ice1

Ingredients as written here

80 fl oz (2.4 L) fresh apple cider, pasteurized, chilled
2 ripe bananas, sliced thin
6 maraschino cherries, drained and cut into bits
1 large lump of ice

Equipment

Large punch bowl or pitcher
Sharp knife and cutting board
Long spoon
6 tall glasses

Instructions

The day before, freeze about a quart of water in a bowl to make the lump of ice.
Chill the cider for at least an hour.
Put the large lump of ice in a punch bowl and pour the cider over it.
Slice the bananas thin and cut the cherries into bits. Add both to the bowl and stir to blend.
Serve in tall glasses, with some of the fruit in each.

Nutrition

190calories per serving

Recipe makes: 6 tall glasses
Servings: 6

Estimated per serving from USDA FoodData Central values for apple cider, banana and maraschino cherries.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

Keep about 1 banana and 3 cherries for every 40 fl oz of cider.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

Wilson says “cider” and gives no sweetening, spice or alcohol. We use pasteurized apple cider, scale her amounts to about two fifths, and read her “a large lump in the ice bowl” as a lump of ice. Serve it within a few hours of mixing. Contains banana.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment.