Ponche de frutas

Ingredients

The dried fruit

• 150 graisins
• 150 gprunes, stoned
• 150 gdried apricots
• 100 gdried figs, chopped
• or other dried fruit

The fresh fruit

• 1pineapple, cut in chunks
• 3apples, cut in chunks
• 2papayas, cut in chunks
• or other tropical fruit
• 1quince, if you can find it

The liquid

• 3 litreswater
• 300 gpanela
• or brown sugar
• 4 stickscinnamon
• 8cloves
• a strip of lime peel

Sometimes added

• a splash of rum
• for adults
• added at serving

Directions

1. Brown sugar is the usual substitute. It simmers for well over an hour. Add all of them in that order. Rinse the dried fruit thoroughly. Check for any stones in the prunes. Remove any stones that you find.
2. Cover the dried fruit with warm water. Let it soak for about an hour. It then needs rather less simmering. Keep the soaking water for the pot. Peel and cut up the fresh fruit. Cut it into good sized chunks. About three centimetres works well.
3. Keep all of them roughly even. Cut the skin off and remove the eyes. Cut the hard core out as well. Discard the hard core entirely. It becomes fragrant and soft when cooked. Put the water in a very large pot. Add the panela and the spices. Add the whole strip of lime peel.
4. Use the biggest pot that you have. Warm it until the panela dissolves. Grate or chop it first to help. Stir it until the liquid runs clear. Do not add fruit before it dissolves.
5. Add the dried fruit and quince. They need the longest cooking. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Let it cook for about forty minutes. Keep it at a gentle simmer only. It also reduces the liquid too fast. Add the apple and the pineapple. Let them cook for thirty minutes. They should soften but hold together.
6. Add the papaya in near the end. Give it about fifteen minutes. Add it in the last fifteen minutes. It should still hold its shape. Taste the punch and adjust it. It should be sweet but not cloying. Add more panela only if needed. The lime peel keeps it from cloying.
7. Add hot water if it reduces too far. It should stay a drinkable punch. Ladle it out into cups or mugs. Every cup should get some fruit. Use a slotted spoon to share it out. Add the hot liquid over the top. Add a splash of rum to adult cups. That keeps it optional for each person.

Technique

• The fruit goes in by hardness rather than all at once: dried fruit and quince first with the longest cooking, apple and pineapple thirty minutes later, and soft papaya only in the last fifteen minutes since it disappears entirely if added early. That sequence is deliberate.
• Keep it at a gentle simmer throughout — a hard boil breaks the fruit apart and reduces the liquid too fast. Add hot water if it reduces too far, since it should stay a drinkable punch rather than becoming a syrup.
• The fruit is not strained out: pieces are ladled into each cup with a slotted spoon and the liquid poured over, so you drink the punch and eat the fruit together.

Substitutions

• Dark brown sugar stands in for panela, unrefined whole cane sugar with a deep molasses flavour; grate or chop it first since it dissolves slowly, and do not add fruit before it has.
• Soaking the dried fruit in warm water for an hour first softens it and shortens the simmering; keep that soaking water for the pot, since it holds flavour and sugar. Both routes are genuinely used.

Variations

• Cinnamon and cloves go in whole rather than ground, which makes the punch cloudy and muddy. Some cooks leave them in to keep perfuming it and others take them out; whole cloves are unpleasant to bite, so warn people or remove them.
• Quince is traditional here — hard and astringent raw but fragrant and soft when cooked — and worth finding if you can.
• Rum is added to individual cups at serving rather than to the pot, which keeps it optional for each person; children drink it without.

History

Hot Christmas punch of tropical fruit simmered with panela and spices, a Spanish colonial custom adapted to local produce.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ponche de frutas?

Ponche de frutas is a drink from Guatemala: hot Christmas fruit punch with dried fruits. Hot Christmas punch of tropical fruit simmered with panela and spices, a Spanish colonial custom adapted to local produce.

How long does Ponche de frutas take to make?

Ponche de frutas takes 30 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 12. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Ponche de frutas?

Yes, within limits. Dark brown sugar stands in for panela, unrefined whole cane sugar with a deep molasses flavour; grate or chop it first since it dissolves slowly, and do not add fruit before it has. Soaking the dried fruit in warm water for an hour first softens it and shortens the simmering; keep that soaking water for the pot, since it holds flavour and sugar. Both routes are genuinely used.

What is the most important thing to get right in Ponche de frutas?

Keep all of them roughly even. Cut the skin off and remove the eyes. Cut the hard core out as well. Discard the hard core entirely. It becomes fragrant and soft when cooked. Put the water in a very large pot. Add the panela and the spices. Add the whole strip of lime peel.