Chef Lupita
Agua de Betabel Aguascalentense de Cuaresma
Aguascalientes' Lenten agua fresca, jewel-red from cooked beet and full of apple, banana, orange, lettuce, and ground peanuts, served cold when Holy Week meets the Feria de San Marcos.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Ponche de la Feria de San Marcos
Created by
Aguascalientes pours this fruit-and-caña ponche during the Feria de San Marcos, built with Calvillo guava, tejocote, sugarcane, piloncillo, and cinnamon for a jarro made for celebration.
Beverages
Mexican
Celebration
Special Occasion
Holiday
25 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield10 to 12 servings
Aguascalientes, right in the Bajío, claims this ponche when April brings the Feria de San Marcos and the city fills around the Jardín de San Marcos. This is not Christmas ponche dressed in another name. The feria version is lighter, more festive, and honest about the splash of caña or brandy that turns cooked fruit into a drink for adults.
The guava matters. In Aguascalientes, you look toward Calvillo, where guava is not decoration, it is economy, pride, and perfume. Tejocote gives body, sugarcane gives that clean fibrous sweetness, tamarind pulls the syrup away from cloying, and cinnamon ties the pot together. No chiles here. Not all Mexican food needs chile to prove where it comes from. That idea is lazy.
I learned a version of this from a señora near the feria who sold it in clay jarros, fruit spooned heavy at the bottom and the liquor added only when the customer nodded. That is the correct method. Cook the fruit first, let the syrup cool, then add the caña. Boil the liquor and you lose the edge you paid for. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The Feria de San Marcos began in Aguascalientes in the 19th century as a regional fair tied to agricultural and livestock commerce, later settling around the Barrio de San Marcos and becoming one of Mexico's largest annual celebrations. Calvillo, in western Aguascalientes, became nationally associated with guava production during the 20th century, and that fruit shaped local sweets, ates, liqueurs, and feria drinks. Ponches with fruit, piloncillo, cinnamon, and cane spirits belong to a broader Mexican tradition of market celebration beverages, but this version carries the Bajío signature through guava, tejocote, sugarcane, and the fairground pour of caña.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe guavas, preferably from Calvillo
Quantity
12
trimmed and quartered
fresh tejocotes
Quantity
1 pound
fresh sugarcane
Quantity
2 long pieces
peeled and cut into thin batons
tart apples
Quantity
2
cored and diced
tamarind pulp with seeds, or peeled tamarind pods
Quantity
1 cup pulp or 6 pods
water
Quantity
10 cups
piloncillo
Quantity
10 ounces
chopped
Mexican canela or cinnamon sticks
Quantity
2 sticks
whole cloves
Quantity
4
orange peel
Quantity
1 strip
without white pith
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
caña, Mexican aguardiente de caña, or good brandy
Quantity
1 1/2 to 2 cups
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
ice (optional)
Quantity
for serving if drinking chilled
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe guavas, preferably from Calvillotrimmed and quartered | 12 |
| fresh tejocotes | 1 pound |
| fresh sugarcanepeeled and cut into thin batons | 2 long pieces |
| tart applescored and diced | 2 |
| tamarind pulp with seeds, or peeled tamarind pods | 1 cup pulp or 6 pods |
| water | 10 cups |
| piloncillochopped | 10 ounces |
| Mexican canela or cinnamon sticks | 2 sticks |
| whole cloves | 4 |
| orange peelwithout white pith | 1 strip |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| caña, Mexican aguardiente de caña, or good brandy | 1 1/2 to 2 cups |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
| ice (optional) | for serving if drinking chilled |
Equipment Needed
- •Large clay olla or heavy 6-quart stockpot
- •Wooden spoon
- •Small strainer for tamarind seeds
- •Clay jarros or thick glass tumblers
Instructions
- 1
Soften the tejocotes
Bring 6 cups of the water to a boil in a heavy pot. Add the tejocotes and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the skins loosen. Lift them out, rinse under cool water, and rub off the skins. Cut a small slit in each fruit so the syrup can enter. Do not cook them until they collapse. Tejocote should give body to the ponche, not turn into paste.
- 2
Build the syrup
In a large clay olla or heavy stockpot, combine the remaining 4 cups water, piloncillo, canela, cloves, orange peel, tamarind, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring until the piloncillo dissolves. The liquid should smell like canela first, then tamarind, then dark sugar. That order tells you the base is balanced.
- 3
Cook the fruit
Add the peeled tejocotes, guavas, sugarcane batons, and diced apples to the syrup. Simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, until the guava perfumes the kitchen and the apples are tender but still hold their shape. Stir from the bottom so the piloncillo does not catch. The sugarcane stays fibrous. You chew it, you do not swallow it. Ask any feria vendor.
- 4
Strain the tamarind
Remove the tamarind seeds and any loose fibers with a spoon or small strainer. Press the softened pulp back into the pot so its sourness stays in the ponche. Taste the liquid. It should be sweet, tart, and fragrant, not syrupy like candy. If it is too thick, add a cup of water. If it tastes flat, add a small pinch of salt.
- 5
Cool before liquor
Take the pot off the heat and let the ponche cool until warm, about 30 minutes, or chill it completely for a fairground-style cold pour. Add the caña or brandy only after the fruit syrup has cooled. No me vengas con atajos. If you boil the liquor, you cook away the bite and leave only sweetness.
- 6
Serve in jarros
Spoon fruit into clay jarros or thick glasses, making sure each serving gets guava, tejocote, and a piece of sugarcane. Pour the ponche over the fruit. Serve warm or over ice, with lime wedges on the side for anyone who wants a sharper finish. This is feria drinking: generous, fragrant, and built from the market.
Chef Tips
- •Buy guavas by smell. A good guava announces itself before you pick it up. If it smells like nothing, it will taste like nothing. Calvillo guava is the Aguascalientes pride here.
- •Tejocote can be hard to find outside Mexico except in winter at Mexican markets. Frozen tejocote works. Jarred tejocote in syrup is a compromise, not an upgrade, so reduce the piloncillo if you use it.
- •Use caña if you can find it: aguardiente de caña, not neutral vodka. Brandy is common and good. Rum makes the drink rounder but less Aguascalientes. Know what you are changing.
- •This ponche can be served warm or cold. For the Feria de San Marcos in April, cold or just cool makes sense. The calendar matters. Cook what the season and the mercado give you.
Advance Preparation
- •The fruit base can be made one day ahead and refrigerated without the liquor. Add the caña or brandy shortly before serving.
- •Leftover ponche keeps refrigerated for three days after the liquor is added. The fruit will soften more each day, so serve it with a spoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 325g)
Calories
220 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
115 mg
Total Carbohydrates
53 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
43 g
Protein
1 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Bajío Beverages
Browse the full collection
Chef Lupita
Agua de Garambullo de la Sierra Gorda
Querétaro's Sierra Gorda refresher made from July garambullo berries, cold water, and just enough sugar, a deep purple drink that tastes of cactus fruit, limestone soil, and market patience.
Chef Lupita
Agua de Palmito Potosino
San Luis Potosí's Altiplano drink for May, pale palmito de yuca blended with cold water and cane sugar, served icy in clay jarritos when the semidesert heat stops pretending.
Chef Lupita
Agua de Tuna Roja Bajío
Guanajuato's late-summer agua fresca, made when the Bajío nopaleras are heavy with tuna roja, balanced with lime and piloncillo, and strained with restraint.