Want to replace electrolyte drinks in your diet? Or do you simply want to learn to make your own? Beat the heat this summer with homemade switchel, also known as haymaker’s punch. This is the best switchel recipe for hot weather – it’s so delicious! Using peach leaves and water kefir, this switchel recipe is delicious for both you and the kids! 
What is Switchel Drink Good For?
Haymaker’s punch, aka switchel, has been drunk during the dog days of summer for generations. The drink was toted around to fields of grain that were harvested by hand in the Victorian era, as well as the cotton fields of the Depression-era American South.
Switchel always included fresh vinegar (we typically use apple cider vinegar today), which contains probiotics from the lacto-fermentation process that produces it.
Many switchel recipes today include:
- Apple cider vinegar
- Ginger
- Honey, molasses, or maple syrup
I also like to add fresh lemon, a dash of cayenne and sea salt, and a bit of water kefir for some bubbles (kind of like sparkling water). The water kefir also adds more probiotics!
More Delicious Drink Ideas for Later
Cranberry Punch or Natural Soda for the Holidays
Pumpkin Hot Chocolate or Smoothie
Best Switchel Recipe for Hot Weather
Make this switchel recipe for hot weather with fresh peach leaves, water, and a few other basic ingredients. If you’re watching your carbs, you can substitute the sweetener with stevia drops.
Best Switchel Recipe for Hot Weather
Equipment
- 1 Blender
- 1 Fine Mesh Sieve
- 1 Gallon jar or pitcher
- 1 Citrus juicer
Ingredients
- 2 Handfuls Fresh Peach Leaves, Rinsed
- 1/2 Gallon Unchlorinated Water
- 3 Tbsp. Molasses, Maple Syrup, or Raw Honey May also use 4-8 drops of stevia
- 1/2 tsp. Powdered Ginger May use 1 tsp. shredded fresh ginger
- Dash Cayenne and Sea Salt, optional
- 3 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice, optional
- 1 Cup Bubbly Water Kefir, optional
Instructions
- Strip the peach leaves from the branches if using the blender method. If you're making sun tea or a hot water decoction, you may include the twigs.
- Shake the leaves to rid them of debris. Discard any discolored leaves. Rinse.
- Add 2 handfuls of peach leaves to your blender body and fill with 1/2 gallon of unchlorinated water.
- Blend on high until thoroughly macerated and chopped into tiny bits. It should be a bright green color and smell like slightly sweet almonds.
- Strain out the leaf bits with a fine mesh sieve and place the peach leaf "tea" into a half gallon jar or pitcher.
- Add the 3 Tbsp. of Molasses or preferred sweetener. Taste test and add more, if needed.
- Add the 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (or 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger), along with the pinch of cayenne and sea salt. Stir vigorously until combined fully (especially if using powdered ginger).
- Add the 3 Tbsp. of fresh lemon juice and 1 cup of active water kefir. Stir. Taste test.
- Refrigerate for an hour to cool and serve over ice. Or swig it from the jar.
Notes
- The most mild leaves are harvested in the spring after they appear fully on the tree. However, the more mature leaves of summer are delicious, as well.
- Use half the amount of dried leaves as you would fresh leaves.
- You may want to add a little bit more sweetener to your children's version of this recipe if they find the peach leaves a bit bitter.
- Drink this switchel recipe one cup at a time to see how it goes down and to see if you have any adverse reaction to the peach leaves. Peach leaves have historically been used as both a laxative and a relaxing tea.
- You may always omit the peach leaves and simply include all the other ingredients to make a traditional switchel recipe.
Switchel Recipe Notes
The peach leaves have a natural almond smell and flavor. Taste test this recipe several times and tweak it to your taste.
- If you’re using dried peach leaves, cover 1 handful with boiling water and allow it to steep for 4-6 hours. Or you may use dried peach leaves in a sun tea, as well.
- Use half the amount of dried leaves as you would fresh leaves.
Feel free to use your favorite sweetener. If you like coconut sugar or raw sugar, experiment with them and see how you like the flavor.
- If using a granulated sugar, be sure to stir the switchel until the sugar dissolves.
You may want to add a little bit more sweetener to your children’s version of this recipe if they find the peach leaves a bit bitter.
- A hot infusion is more likely to produce a stronger flavor, which is why I prefer cold infusion for this switchel recipe.
Holistic Health Herbalist can teach you how to make a cold infusion peach leaf tea – it’s super easy!
Other Ingredients in the Switchel Recipe
The ginger historically was added for zing – it gave the switchel a little bite, along with the vinegar. Ginger is also a fantastic wellness herb – it’s a powerful antiviral!
- I like to use both fresh and powdered in this switchel recipe. If you use powdered ginger, be sure to mix it in thoroughly to break up any little bits of it that remain.
The cayenne is a pain reliever and the sea salt provides precious trace minerals that get depleted as we sweat. (The ginger is also an anti-inflammatory, like the cayenne.)
Fresh lemon juice adds flavor but it also has beneficial effects in the body, not the least of which is cutting thirst.
Mountain Rose Herbs can provide a recipe for a similar peach leaf elixir that you might like to try, as well.
- Refrigerate for up to a week. After that, the ingredients begin to ferment, which will make it less palatable. Also, the peach leaf tea starts get a little bitter for my taste.
Peach Leaf Concerns?
If you’re concerned about amygdalin in the peach leaves, perhaps the following will help. Hydrocyanic acid is part of the compound that makes up amygdalin, which is naturally occurring in several plants (like almond and apple), including peach.
It’s currently being studied as a possible anti-cancer agent and has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties.
Lisa M. Rose notes in her fabulous book, Midwest Medicinal Plants, that
The leaves and pits of the peach contain high amounts of hydrocyanic acid. Based on the traditional use of the plant, reasonable consumption of the flowers, leaves, and young twigs for medicine-making should not harm humans.
As always, I encourage you to use your own brain, do your own research, and take responsibility for your own health by researching any ingredient that gives you pause.
Drink this switchel recipe one cup at a time to see how it goes down.
- Peach leaf teas have historically been used as both a diuretic and laxative, as well as a relaxing drink. If your body needs the bathroom right away or needs to lay down and sleep, then you know you can only sip (not gulp!) this switchel recipe.
In my body, it produces a soothing, cooling effect but you’ll need to see what it does in yours. If you’re allergic to peaches, I would advise against making this recipe.
- You may always omit the peach leaves and simply include all the other ingredients to make a traditional switchel recipe.
If you’re looking for a quality switchel recipe, just open up your copy of Homestead Holidays to the Summer section – there’s a great one there! While you’re in the book, look over all those fun summer holidays and special days you could be celebrating to make these days memorable and important. There’s a lot of scary nonsense happening in the world today; beat it back with simple family times and holidays!
What is the Difference Between Switchel and Kombucha?
Switchel is a drink that is mixed and drunk right away; although it has ingredients that are fermented, like the vinegar. Kombucha is a fermented drink (similar to water kefir) that requires feeding and culturing time.
You may add kombucha to this switchel recipe in place of the water kefir, if you prefer. The House and Homestead can teach you how to make komboucha.
Is Switchel a Probiotic?
Switchel contains probiotics if you use fresh (unpasteurized) vinegar, like raw apple cider vinegar with the mother in it.
I like to add water kefir to mine, as well, increasing the amount of probiotics per sip.
Peach Leaf for Poison Ivy
Apart from making the best switchel recipe every summer, peach leaves can also be used for combating the horrible rash that results from poison ivy exposure.
I have a daughter that has an epic response to poison ivy – she ends up almost looking like a burn victim in places the tissue damage is so bad.
My friend Marqueta, who runs Blossom & Birdsong Herbal Delights here in the Ozarks recommended peach leaf cold infusion for my daughter’s skin. For my purposes, a run through the blender and a sieve was enough to render a usable peach leaf wash.
My daughter has been using it this year to draw out the weeping sores of poison ivy rash and it’s been very effective. After we pat it dry, we use Mom’s Stuff Salve on the worst wounds to help the skin recover.
I later found this same information in the aforementioned Midwest Medicinal Herbs! Ms. Rose gives direction for making skin relief spray for rashes of many kinds, as well as insect bites.
FYI, the details Ms. Rose gives are specific to wild peach but cultivated peach will behave the same way because they’re the same family of plants, Prunus persica.
Do you have a favorite use for peach leaves? Please share in the comments!
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