this month, dark spots on stomach Share recipes and stories behind amazing holiday dishes and drinks from around the world in an ongoing series”Holiday Home Cooking”.
In Mexico, Christmas Punch-or Christmas Punch – is a holiday classic served at parties and gatherings hostel, A community-wide reenactment of Mary and Joseph seeking refuge for the birth of Jesus. “Christmas, especially, is about a lot of food and ritual. So you can have your pancakes and tamales,” says food writer and cookbook author Lesley Téllez eat mexican.
But for a long time in America, an important ingredient of this Christmas specialty was the forbidden fruit: fresh Tehocotus. In fact, until recently, tehocotes were the most commonly confiscated fruit by U.S. border authorities. As for why someone would risk fines or confiscation by illegally bringing fruit into the country, the answer is simple. Tejocotes aren’t just an ingredient that can be easily substituted or left out of ponche entirely. Tehocortez, reporter Maria Gora once wroteis “a symbol of Christmas as important to Mexican Americans as the pine tree and mistletoe are to Mexican Americans.” American”.
Many drinks in the Spanish-speaking world are called punch, Their composition varies greatly. Mexican ponche Navideño is a sweet and warm fruit salad drink. A jar of ponche fills the house with the scent of cooked fruits like guava, apples, tejocotes, raisins, and plums, along with the warm scent of cinnamon. The ingredients are shaken in a sweet and tangy mixture of water, tamarind paste, and a whole cone of raw cane sugar (Pironcillo), and often dried hibiscus flowers (jamaica). Final touches include fresh fibrous sugar cane sticks and rum, brandy or tequila. Alcohol is optional but will make the drink warmer.
Téllez said tejocotes are often considered essential to ponche, giving it its unique flavor and thickness due to its high pectin content. These small fruits are sweet and sticky when cooked and look like small apples, with speckled gold skin that darkens to orange. But their strong, fruity aroma, reminiscent of guava, gives them away completely. Tejocotes, or Mexican hawthorn, is native to the Americas. Their name comes from the Nahuatl word for “fruit”. tsokotel. Very common in Mexico, especially in plateau areasfruits have become a must-have in festival celebrations. At Christmas they are added to punch, stuffed into piñatas and served in preserves. Even during Day of the Dead celebrations, Tehocot serves as an offering to the dead.
However, until 2009, the USDA annually confiscated thousands of pounds of fresh Tehocot from travelers arriving at Mexican and U.S. markets. Authorities fear Tehocorts could be carrying a devastating virus Fruit flies enter the United Statesthreatening domestic orchards. Soon, a black market for golden fruits emerged due to their rarity and the effort required to bring them across the border.
These fruits were so important that American orchardists began growing Tehocotus in the continental United States to meet demand. In 2015, however, the USDA finally allowed imports of the Mediterranean fruit fly after determining it was virtually eradicated. Agriculture in Mexico. Today, tejocotes abound during the holiday season. Téllez noted that over the past few weeks, she’s seen Tejocotes for sale across New York City, and in my own California hometown, the fresh fruit is available at flea markets and grocery stores.
In addition to its importance as a Christmas drink, the recipe itself reflects global influences on Mexican culture and its cuisine. Tamarind is native to Africa, cinnamon is from Asia, and tehocotans and guava are from the Americas. “It’s another thing that has an indigenous component to Mexico, but also reflects the people who came to Mexico after the conquest and the influence they brought,” Telles noted.
Making ponch can take a while. Téllez’s recipe, for example, involves boiling Tejocotes to peel off their skins and then digging them to extract their tiny cores, not to mention peeling the apples and scraping the tamarind paste from the seed pods. But it’s worth it, especially when the scent of sugar and sweet fruits fills your home. You don’t even need to always do it yourself. Sometimes, Mexican city vendors sell cups on the streets. “You’re walking and thinking, ‘Oh, this tastes so good,'” Tellez said ecstatically. “Yeah, I’m going to have a drink.” “
Adapted from Fanny Gerson my sweet mexico
Makes 8 to 12 8-ounce cups
If the pectin in the fruit makes the drizzle too thick for your liking, feel free to add water to taste, Telles says.
2 1/2 to 3 quarts water
2 cinnamon sticks, about 6 inches long
8 ounces tejocotes, whole
6 guavas, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
2 mild apples (not Granny Smith), peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 four-inch pieces of sugar cane, peeled and cut into thin strips
1/2 cup pitted plums, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 cup black raisins
5 long tamarind pods, peeled and seeded, or 3 tablespoons seedless tamarind pulp
6 to 8 ounces piloncillo or dark brown sugar (this is about the size of a regular sugar cone)
Rum, brandy or tequila (optional)
- Bring water and cinnamon sticks to a boil in a large pot. Add tejocotes and reduce heat. Simmer until Tejocotes are tender, about five minutes.
- Remove the fruit from the pan, let cool, then peel off the skin with your fingers. (It should come off easily.) Cut the tejocotes in half, remove and discard the seeds.
- After peeling and seeding, return the Tejocotes to the pot of cinnamon water and add the remaining ponche ingredients. Stir to combine and simmer for at least 30 minutes. If you are adding alcohol, pour it into the pan just before serving.
- To serve the poncho, remove the cinnamon sticks and spoon directly into cups, making sure to include the cooked fruit pieces. The sugar cane strips can be placed directly into the cup and sucked after drinking.
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