Ponche Navideño Norteño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot or olla de barro from the Sonoran sierra
• •Long wooden spoon for stirring
• •Slotted spoon for fishing out the tejocote
• •Thick-walled clay jarritos or heavy ceramic mugs for serving
• •Sharp paring knife for the sugar cane and orange peel

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the tejocote

   Rinse the tejocotes and trim the small black stem and blossom end off each one. Leave them whole and leave the skin on. The skin holds the fruit together through the long simmer and gives the ponche its golden-orange tint. If you bought them frozen, do not thaw them. Drop them into the pot frozen. In Sonora and Chihuahua you will see them sold by the kilo at the mercado from late October on, and that is the moment ponche season begins.

   Tejocote is the soul of ponche. Do not substitute crabapple. Do not substitute loquat. If you cannot find fresh, frozen tejocote is sold at most Mexican groceries in the United States from November through January. Buy enough for the whole season.
2. 2

   Build the base broth

   In a large stockpot, at least 8 quarts, bring the 4 quarts of water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the tejocotes, the sugar cane batons, the canela sticks, the cloves, and the orange peel. Simmer uncovered for 25 minutes. The tejocote needs the head start. It is hard like a small apple when raw and only releases its perfume after a long simmer.

3. 3

   Soften the tejocote and peel

   After 25 minutes, fish out the tejocotes one at a time with a slotted spoon. Press each one gently between your thumb and finger. The skin will split and slip off and the fruit underneath will be soft and golden. Peel them, return the peeled flesh to the pot, and discard the skins. This is the step most recipes skip and it is the difference between a rough ponche and a clean one. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Add the dried fruits and jamaica

   Stir in the prunes, the raisins, the flor de jamaica, and the tamarindo pods. The jamaica will bleed deep ruby into the broth in the first two minutes. The tamarind will start to soften and release its sour-sweet pulp. Simmer for 20 minutes. The aroma in the kitchen now should be unmistakable: tamarind, hibiscus, cinnamon, fruit. This is the smell of December in a northern Mexican household.

5. 5

   Add the fresh fruit and piloncillo

   Add the manzanas, the pera, the guayabas, and the broken-up piloncillo. Stir until the piloncillo dissolves completely. Simmer 25 to 30 more minutes, until the apples and pears are tender at the point of a knife but still hold their shape. Do not let them collapse into mush. Taste the broth now. It should be sweet but not cloying, with the sourness of tamarind and tejocote cutting through. If it is too sweet, add a squeeze of lime. If it is flat, add another quarter cone of piloncillo. The balance is what makes a ponche good or forgettable.

   Piloncillo brands vary in intensity. Start with less than the recipe calls for and add more at the end. You can always sweeten. You cannot pull sweetness back out.
6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Pull the pot off the heat and let it sit, covered, for 15 minutes. The fruit keeps absorbing the broth and the spices keep marrying. Ladle into thick-walled clay jarritos, making sure every cup gets a generous spoonful of fruit, a baton of sugar cane to chew on, and at least one tejocote. The fruit at the bottom of the cup is the prize. In Sonora and Chihuahua, the adults pour a shot of bacanora or tequila reposado into their cup right before drinking. They call it ponche con piquete. The children get theirs straight. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Tejocote is non-negotiable. If you cannot find it fresh, frozen tejocote is sold at every Mexican grocery from November through January, sometimes year-round in the freezer case. Buy several bags and freeze them. A ponche without tejocote is fruit tea.
• •Use real piloncillo, the dark cone-shaped raw cane sugar. Do not substitute brown sugar. Piloncillo carries molasses and minerality that white sugar with caramel coloring cannot fake. Look for the darker, smaller cones; they have more flavor than the pale industrial ones.
• •The ponche should taste like a balance of sour and sweet. If yours leans too sweet, that is a Mexico City ponche, not a northern one. Add another half cup of jamaica or a tablespoon of tamarind paste and simmer for ten more minutes to bring it back into balance.
• •Ponche is meant to feed a crowd over multiple nights. Keep the pot in the refrigerator and reheat what you need each evening, adding a cup or two of water and a small piece of piloncillo as the fruit absorbs the liquid. It will carry you through all nine nights of Las Posadas, which is the whole point.
• •For ponche con piquete, do not boil the spirit into the pot. The alcohol cooks off and the flavor flattens. Pour the shot directly into each adult's cup right before drinking. Bacanora gives it the smoky desert note that tequila cannot quite match, but a good reposado is honest. No me vengas con atajos.

Advance Preparation

• •Ponche can be made up to three days ahead and the flavor only deepens. The fruit will continue to absorb the broth, so add a cup of water and a small piece of piloncillo each time you reheat.
• •The ponche is designed for Las Posadas, the nine nights leading up to Christmas Eve. Build a large pot on the first night and keep it going. Refrigerate between nights, reheat over low heat, and replenish the water and fruit as the pot diminishes.
• •Sugar cane batons keep best left in the pot. Pull them out only when serving each cup. They soften over the days and become more pleasant to chew.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 440g)