Ponche de Piña Comiteco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large clay olla or heavy 6-quart pot
• •Long wooden spoon
• •Small paring knife for peeling tejocotes
• •Clay jarritos or thick glass cups

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the base

   Put the water, reserved pineapple core, piloncillo, canela, cloves, star anise, and salt in a large olla or heavy pot. Bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat and stir until the piloncillo dissolves. The pineapple core is not trash. It gives perfume and acidity before the fruit goes in. My mother used to say the cook who throws away flavor pays twice at the market.

2. 2

   Soften the tejocotes

   Add the tejocotes and simmer for 15 minutes, until their skins loosen and the fruit gives slightly when pressed with a spoon. Lift them out, let them cool just enough to handle, then peel them. Return the peeled tejocotes to the pot. Do not skip the peeling. The skin can turn tough and bitter in the cup, and a good ponche should be generous, not irritating.

3. 3

   Add the fruit

   Add the pineapple chunks, sugarcane, guavas, apples, and orange slices. Keep the heat low enough that the fruit moves gently but does not break apart into mush. Simmer 40 to 45 minutes, stirring once in a while, until the pineapple turns deep gold, the guava perfumes the kitchen, and the sugarcane has given its sweetness to the liquid.

   If the pineapple is pale and sharp, use another one or wait. This ponche is built on pineapple. Bad pineapple makes thin ponche. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
4. 4

   Correct the sweetness

   Taste the liquid. It should be sweet, tart, and spiced, with pineapple leading and canela behind it. If it tastes flat, add a small piece of piloncillo and simmer 5 minutes more. If it tastes too sweet, add a squeeze of lime at the table, not in the pot. The punch must stay balanced because the comiteco will bring its own agave edge.

5. 5

   Add the comiteco

   Turn off the heat and wait 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup comiteco, taste, and add more only if the pot needs it. Do not boil the comiteco. You paid for that aroma, do not send it into the ceiling. This is a punch, not an excuse to drown fruit in liquor.

6. 6

   Serve in jarritos

   Ladle the ponche into clay jarritos or thick glass cups, making sure each serving gets pineapple, tejocote, guava, and a piece of sugarcane to chew. Serve warm, with lime wedges only for the person who wants a brighter cup. The fruit is part of the drink. A cup with only liquid is a stingy ponche. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy pineapple by smell, not by color alone. A ripe piña should smell sweet at the base. If it smells like nothing, the ponche will taste like sugar water wearing a yellow shirt.
• •Tejocote is seasonal. In Mexico you find it around the Christmas markets. Outside Mexico, look in Mexican groceries during November and December. Frozen tejocote works, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Comiteco is the point here. If you cannot find it, use a clean joven mezcal from agave espadin, but understand what you are missing: comiteco has a softer, highland agave character tied to Chiapas. Do not use rum and still call it comiteco.
• •Do not add the liquor to a boiling pot. The aroma is delicate. Add it off the heat, taste, then decide. A disciplined hand makes better ponche than a heavy one.
• •This drink is not spicy. Not everything Mexican needs chile. Here the work is done by pineapple, tejocote, caña, canela, and comiteco.

Advance Preparation

• •The fruit base can be made one day ahead without the comiteco. Refrigerate it, then reheat gently and add the comiteco off the heat before serving.
• •Leftover ponche keeps refrigerated for three days. Reheat only what you plan to serve so the fruit does not collapse from repeated cooking.
• •For a family table with children, keep the comiteco separate and add it by the jarrito for adults.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 420g)