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Ponche Navideño (Christmas Punch)


In my usual weekly blog crawl, I came across a recipe from girlichef that I had to make for my parents' international Christmas Eve dinner: Ponche Navideño, a Mexican Christmas punch made with fruits and spices. It sounded perfect. So I jotted down the ingredients and headed over to our local Mexican market, prepared to go on a ponche scavenger hunt through the aisles. No need. As soon as I walked into the produce section, there was an entire display with all of the ingredients I had on my list...and then some. There was even a printed recipe for ponche - written in Spanish! - that would have been helpful if I actually read Spanish. I stood there for a bit, comparing girlichef's recipe with what I could make out on the market recipe. Then I picked and chose and came up with my own combination. I skipped the prunes and halved the sugar but added quince and dried hibiscus blossoms. Here goes...

12 tejocotes (hawthorne apples)
6 guayabas (guavas)
6 tamarindo pods (tamarind)
3 large sticks canela (Mexican cinnamon)
2 naranjas (oranges, though I used clementines)
2 manzanas (apples)
1 piloncillo (unrefined sugar cone)
1/2 C dried hibiscus blossoms
3 1/2 quarts cold water


I simply halved the fruits though some people cut them into bite-sized pieces. Then I placed all of the ingredients into a large soup pot and brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat and simmered for 30 minutes. It was very disconcerting to have all of these natural ingredients in a pot and, yet, my kitchen smelled like a piece of red hot candy.

To serve, I had Jake trim and make swizzle sticks out of some sugar cane rods. Ladle ponche into mugs and drop in a sugar cane swizzle stick. For adults, top with a floater of rum if you'd like!


Thanks for the inspiration, girlichef. Cheers and Feliz Navidad.

Comments

  1. Feliz Navidad and Salud! I'm so excited that you tried this...doesn't the smell just scream Christmas!? =)
    ~Heather @girlichef

    ReplyDelete

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