Ponche Navideño is a warm Latin American Christmas drink

Sipping on a warm spicy fruit punch is traditional in Latin American cultures. Ponche Navideño is a marker of the holiday season and a staple to Mexican Christmas festivities. Known as Merry Christmas punch, Dec. 24 is that date it is commonly consumed.

“Maybe here in America, punch is for the summer, but our punch is for the winter,” said Michelle Garcia, 30, Somos Pittsburgh coordinator at the Latino Community Center in East Liberty.

“We celebrate Christmas on Dec. 24. The next day on Dec. 25, we eat leftovers, or what we call ‘recalentado,’” Garcia said, which means to celebrate again.

She’s been having ponche since she was a kid.

In the ponche, her family uses tejocote, a sour fruit that resembles a yellow apple and is the size of a grape.

“It is really weird, but it is tradition,” she said.

Tejocote, translated to ‘stone fruit’ is native in México and Guatemala.

Kenya Dworkin, professor of Hispanic studies at Carnegie Mellon University, said that the traditional Mexican drink can have many variations, some with pears and prunes. Other times, the drink may include milk. Much of the time alcohol is added— brandy, rum or tequila.

While many people in Mexico believe the drink originated in Spain, it actually traces back to India, Dworkin said.

In the Americas, the ponche tradition blends indigenous and Native American ingredients.

The original recipe for ponche, according to Dworkin, includes guava, tejocote, oranges, tamarind, piloncillo Mexican raw brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon, Hibiscus flower tea and a piece of sugar cane.

In other parts of Latin America like the Dominican Republic, fruits are not the main ingredient. Ponche Navideño means Dominican eggnog and includes milk, eggs, sugar cane, brown sugar and cinnamon.

At Las Palmas Market on Broadway Avenue in Beechview, Jesus Jiménez and Ivan García said all of the necessary ingredients can be found at the market.

García pointed to the cane sugar at the end of the aisle and said, “Canella, canya, y, guayabas,” which translates to cinnamon, sugar cane and guavas.

“We put sliced apples inside, so it’s like a sweet flavor,” Jiménez said.

According to Jiménez, the drink usually accompanies a larger festive meal, which may include pozole — a filling soup with chicken or pork and a mix of hominy corn, bay leaves, garlic, onion and red chilies.

The drink can be found at Soluna Coffee & Mezcal’s bar in The Strip District during the holiday season, which has a Christmas and Hanukkah menu.

According to bar manager John Hess, their recipe includes tamarind, apples, guava, canned or fresh cane sugar, piloncillo, figs, pear, raisins, water, oranges and cinnamon and can be made with mezcal.

Garcia is from Sierra in northern Mexico, which is considered the mountains.

“Basically it depends on where you live, and what region you grew up in,” she said.

The drink can easily be made sans alcohol, which is how Garcia’s mother makes it because many children drink the punch, too. Garcia’s mother uses brown sugar, cinnamon and sugar cane.

On her dad’s side it is a big tradition, she said, he makes it in one big pot, turning of all the lights when the punch is being warmed by lighting it from underneath. But, ponche can also be made stovetop.

“You put all the fruits in a pot and then you mix the sugar with the fruit, at the end you add the alcohol, lighting it under the pot so that syrup is formed. When the alcohol burns, it produces a light,” Garcia said.

“It is so delicious and really fun to watch at any age, ” she said. “It’s like fireworks.”

Ponche Navideño

Courtesy of Michelle Garcia

1. Cut 1 orange, 12 guavas, 2 pounds of apples, 1 pound of tejocotes, 5 ounces of sugar cane, and 3 cinnamon sticks.

2. Prepare hibiscus flower tea in a separate pot, with 4 cups of water to boil.

3. Place the fruit in a container for flambé.

4. Add enough brown sugar to cover the fruit, about 1 cup.

5. Add the cane alcohol 96° to taste — enough to moisten the sugar. Editor’s note: You can use water or your spirit of choice.

6. Carefully light it with a match and stir until all the sugar melts, forming a syrup at the bottom.

7. Pour in the hibiscus tea.