Makes about 24 cups Pam Zdenek’s family in Houston, Texas, has held a very traditional Czech Christmas Eve dinner for the past 38 years: pork roast, sauerkraut, gravy, dumplings, potatoes, and apple pie or strudel. Though many Czech traditions have been lost by descendants living in America, she keeps the Christmas food ways alive by offering guests spiced teas laced with honey (for good luck), cookies, homemade fudge, spiced yeasted holiday bread, “and especially, the wonderful tradition of Czech kolache,” a yeast bun filled with fruit or cream. Any time of year, her door is open to people who need a little hospitality. “We invite any and all: college kids, especially ‘strays’ who need some surrogate parenting, old friends, new friends. It’s all about the storytelling, gathering hearts around home and hearth, and making sure guests always know they have a good hot meal and a safe harbor,” she says.
18 ½ cups water, divided
6 or 7 peach-flavored or regular tea bags
2 cups cranberry juice, apple juice, or apple cider
3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1 (16-ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 (12-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
¾ cup white sugar, or to taste
¼ cup brown sugar, or to taste
3 cinnamon sticks, broken into halves
1 ½ teaspoons whole cloves
Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tea bags. Brew the tea for about 5 minutes. Mix the cranberry juice, pineapple juice, orange juice concentrate, lemonade concentrate, and 10 ½ cups water in a large pot. Discard the tea bags and add the tea to the lemonade mixture. Add the sugars. Tie the cinnamon and cloves in a cloth bag or place in a metal tea strainer and add to the pot. Bring to a simmer over low heat and allow to simmer very gently for about 20 minutes. Do not boil. Remove the spices before serving.
Makes about 24 cups