While we’ll also be making snacks at future, in September we are focusing only on libations due to time constraints.

First, a little something about Annie. Annie is a Chicago-based designer who designs and produces a line of high end clothing for women. Her label is called frei designs, and focuses on sustainable practices. There is a lot of green-washing going on in the market right now, but its important to know and understand that Annie is the real deal. She pays her employees a living wage and uses mostly organic fabric. She is truly committed to the cause of bettering the world through design.

Fall has felt imminent here in Chicago for most of the summer, so we thought an Autumnal Punch using the last of summer’s ingredients would be appropriate. We decided to make it using plums, apples, pears, lemon, cardamom and plum syrup, basil, and Peychaud’s bitters. Due to Annie’s commitment to sustainable practices, we tried to use organic ingredients.

We started with plums.

We pitted and quartered them.

Next we juiced the plums… this recipe would be quite difficult without a juicer.

Plum juice!

When you make juice, you are left with a lot of pulp.

We combined the pulp (about 1.5 cups) with 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water and heated it until boiling.

We smashed some cardamom and combined it with 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water.

While the syrups were cooking we juiced pears, lemons, and apples. We didn’t take a picture of this, but we did take a picture of straining the plum syrup

We also took a picture of straining the cardamom syrup.

We got all of our ingredients lined up.

(From our left: Rum, Bitters, Apple/Lemon/Pear Juice, Plum Juice, Plum Syrup, Cardamom syrup, and Basil)

Over ice, we combined 2 shots rum, 1 shot lemon/apple/pear, 1/2 shot plum juice, 1/2 shot plum syrup, & 1/2 shot cardomom syrup. We shook that mixture vigorously over ice, strained it into a martini glass, put in a dash of bitters, and garnished with a basil leaf.

It’s important to note that we are substituting clear rum for the dark rum. We experimented with the dark rum and found the flavor too strong for the subtle aromatics of the fresh fruit and spices we are using.

Also, we will be serving the punch in a 2 gallon dispenser.

Therefore, the recipe is adjusted accordingly, which also explains the quantity of the ingredients that we are using.

Cheers, hope to see you at Frei Designs Open Studio at 818 w. 18th St in Chicago at 6pm, September 11, 2009.