Ponche de Frutas de Pátzcuaro

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Lead-free clay olla from Capula or Tzintzuntzan, or a heavy 8-quart stainless pot
• •Paring knife for peeling tejocotes
• •Long wooden spoon and deep ladle
• •Tzintzuntzan red clay jarros or Patamban black clay cups

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the olla

   If you are using a lead-free clay olla, set it over low heat with 6 cups of room-temperature water already inside. Clay does not like shock. If you are using a stainless pot, you still begin low because ponche is built by patience, not by bullying the fruit. Add the rinsed tejocotes and simmer 8 to 10 minutes, just until the skins wrinkle.

   Use only lead-free glazed clay for cooking. Old clay from a flea market may be beautiful and still not belong on the stove. Beauty does not excuse lead.
2. 2

   Peel the tejocotes

   Lift the tejocotes out with a slotted spoon and let them cool until you can handle them. Peel off the loosened skins with a paring knife and leave the fruit whole. Save the blanching water in the olla. That water already carries the highland perfume of the tejocote, and throwing it out is throwing out part of the drink.

3. 3

   Dissolve the piloncillo

   Add the remaining 12 cups water to the olla, then add the chopped piloncillo, canela sticks, cloves, and tamarind. Simmer gently for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring until the piloncillo dissolves. Press the tamarind against the side of the pot so its acidity enters the punch. The liquid should smell like canela, dark sugar, and fruit skin, not like candy.

4. 4

   Cook the hard fruit

   Return the peeled tejocotes to the olla and add the sugarcane batons. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until a tejocote can be pierced with the tip of a knife. In the lake towns, the pot sits near the leña, not in the rage of the fire. On a modern stove, that means low heat and attention. Así se hace y punto.

5. 5

   Add orchard fruit

   Add the apple wedges, pear wedges, prunes, and raisins. Simmer 10 minutes more, just until the apple edges soften but the pieces still hold their shape. Ponche is not fruit puree. The fruit should be tender enough to eat from the jarro with a spoon.

6. 6

   Finish with guayaba

   Add the quartered guayabas and the nurite sprig if you have it. Simmer 5 to 7 minutes, no more. The guayaba should perfume the kitchen and keep some shape. If it collapses into mush, the boil was too hard. Remove the nurite after five minutes so it does not take over the canela.

   Nurite is a Michoacán mountain herb, not supermarket mint. If your market does not sell it as nurite, omit it. A substitution is a compromise, and here the best compromise is restraint.
7. 7

   Rest the ponche

   Turn off the heat, cover the olla, and let the ponche rest for 15 minutes. This rest lets the canela and piloncillo settle into the fruit. Taste the liquid. Add a little more piloncillo only if the guayabas were tart. The punch should be warm, sweet, and fragrant, with enough acidity from the tamarind to keep it from becoming heavy.

8. 8

   Serve with charanda

   For adult servings, pour 1 ounce of charanda into a clay jarro or jícara, then ladle the hot ponche over it with pieces of tejocote, guayaba, apple, and sugarcane. For children and elders, serve the ponche without charanda. The family pot stays for everyone. Put pan de muerto or corundas on the table and let people eat slowly. This is Noche de Ánimas, not a hurry.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the guayabas by smell. If they have no aroma, they have no business in this pot. A ripe guayaba should announce itself before you touch it.
• •Tejocote is hard to find outside Mexico except in Mexican markets during late fall, sometimes fresh, sometimes frozen. Crabapple or hawthorn can stand in, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Use Mexican canela, the thin, brittle Ceylon cinnamon sold in Mexican markets. Thick cassia bark is harsher and makes the punch taste medicinal. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Charanda belongs here because this is Michoacán. Add it to each adult jarro, never to the olla. The pot belongs to the whole family.
• •If you are holding the ponche through a long vigil, keep it covered over the lowest heat and add water by the cup if the piloncillo syrup concentrates too much. The fruit should stay suspended in a drink, not sit in jam.

Advance Preparation

• •The ponche can be made one day ahead without the charanda. Refrigerate it in the pot if it fits, then reheat gently over low heat. The guayaba will soften, but the flavor deepens.
• •The tejocotes can be blanched and peeled one day ahead. Keep them refrigerated in their blanching liquid so they do not dry out.
• •Cut the sugarcane one day ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Do not cut the apples or pears ahead unless you enjoy brown fruit. You do not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)