Ponche is THE best drink Mexico has to offer during the Christmas holiday season. This year I decided to try and concoct it myself. Much to my delight, it turned out perfectly! So if you are interested in preparing this hot beverage for your New Year’s Eve festivities, let me share the recipe that Doña Lupe, one of my sister-in-law’s tortilla makers gave me.
There isn’t an exact quantity for each item because it depends on how big the pot you are using to boil it all in and your personal preferences. I’ll give you approximate measurements for 5.5-Quart pan. I recommend you don’t fill the pot to the top with water until you have all the ingredients in.
12 tejocotes, which are are small orange crabapples from the Crataegus Mexicana Hawthorn tree. If you can’t find tejocotes in your local market, crabapples will work. If crabapples are unavailable, you can leave this ingredient out or add additional green apples.
1 peeled naranja (orange)
1 length of caña (sugar cane) about three feet or so peeled and cut into pieces about 4 to 5 inches long.
8 tamarindos with the shell and veins removed. Soaking them for a while makes it easier to remove the shell and veins.
1 to 3 cones of piloncillo (brown sugar cone) depending on your personal preference and the size of the cone.
1 manzana verde (green apple) sliced.
1 pera (pear) sliced.
Top up the pot almost to the brim with water. Simmer on low for several hours, occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. The drink is served hot with bits of fruit and sugar cane in it. You can spice things up by adding some rum to the mixture, but it’s not necessary as it’s simply divine as it is.
Most everyone knows that the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) was adopted in the United States as a Christmas decoration when Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Ambassador to Mexico, introduced the plant into the United States in 1825. So since this weed was so highly esteemed by the neighbors to the north, the Mexican too adopted this plant as a holy Christian symbol giving it the name Flor de Nochebuena (Christmas Eve Flower).
However, it was valued prior to Christianity reached the shores of México. The Poinsettia, or Cuitlaxochitl as it was known in Nahuatl, was used by the pre-Hispanic indigenous people to make clothing dyes and treat fevers. It was also thought to host the souls of fallen warriors making it a symbol of new life.
Nochebuena grows wild in many areas of Mexico. It isn’t a small potted plant that you may be accustomed to seeing at Christmas though. It can grow between 10 to 15 feet high if left it its own devices.
There is a mistaken belief that the Flor de Nochebuena is toxic. Although other plants in the spurge genus are, the Euphorbia pulcherrima has a low toxicity level. The latex from the sap can cause allergic reactions. If the sap gets into the eye, it may cause temporary blindness. Ingesting parts of the plant is mildly irritating to the stomach and may cause diarrhea and vomiting.
In the states of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Puebla, and Mexico, the sap is applied directly to the skin to treat warts and labial herpes. The latex from the sap is also used as a depilatory in some areas. Apply the sap to the hairy area, allow to dry and then rip off.
In the states of Morelos, Puebla, and Sonora, an infusion of the bracts is used to increase the milk supply of nursing mothers. Sometimes the woman will lick the sap or eat raw leaves as well. This use comes from the Aztec belief that the plant contains milk since the sap it exudes is very milk-like in appearance. In fact, this use was recorded in the Florentine Codex as well as by Francisco Hernandez.
The leaves are used for external inflammations and arthritis. They are warmed and applied directly to the affected area. For a treatment of a swelling caused by a blow or a bruise, the bracts are boiled to make a poultice then lime is squeezed onto the area which is then wrapped. The ground leaves are also used to treat ringworm.
Infusions made from the bract combined with bugambilia and gordolobo (mullein) are used to treat heart conditions and respiratory infections. Infusions from the bracts are also used in to regulate menstruation. Another decoction from the plant is made to be used externally as a vaginal wash when there is excessive bleeding.
So this year, instead of tossing this decorate plant out after the holidays, perhaps you should add it to your home apothecary.
The Aztec marigold (Tagetes erecta) is known as cempasúchil in Mexico. The name comes from the Nahuatl cempohualxochitl which translates as “20 flowers”, possibly referring to the fact that each blossom has the potential to create 20 or more flowers, although some sources reference the ritualistic significance of the number 20, so there maybe be other reasons for this name.
This aromatic flower is native to Mexico and has a long history of medicinal and ritualistic use. Even today, this flower dominates the festival Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It is believed that the strong scent will call to the spirits that are roaming free and guide them home to visit loved ones. This use has given the cempasúchil another name, Flor de Muertos (Flower of the Dead).
The Mayan had similar beliefs. The priests would wash their hands and face with an infusion of leaves and flowers before calling the spirits.
There is a legend that describes the love of Xóchitl and Huitzilin. Their feelings were so strong that when Huitzlin died in battle, the sun god Tonatiuh heard the pleas of Xóchitl to reunite them. He transformed Xóchitl into the cempohualxochitl flower. Huitzlin, who had been reincarnated in the form of the hummingbird, forever after found nourishment among her “20 flowers.”
Francisco Hernández described the common use of the cempasúchil in the Historia Natural de la Nueva España like this:
“Tienen todas hojas como de tanaceto, flores amarillas, o amarillas con algo de bermejo, de temperamento caliente y seco en tercer grado, sabor acre, partes sutiles y olor un tanto fuerte. Tiene virtud resolutiva y aperitiva; el jugo de las hojas tomado o las mismas hojas machacadas y tomadas con agua o con vino atemperan el estómago frío, provocan las reglas, la orina y el sudor, alejan los fríos de las intermitentes untadas un poco antes del acceso, quitan la flatulencia, excitan el apetito venéreo, curan la debilidad que proviene de destemplaza fría del hígado, abren las vías obstruidas, aflojan los miembros contraídos, alivian la hidropesía, provocan vómito tomadas con agua tibia, y curan los fríos de las fiebres y aun las fiebres mismas evacuando la causa por la orina y el sudor.”
Historia Natural de la Nueva España, Volume II. Book IV, CLXXIX
Loosely translated, it reads:
“They all have leaves like tansy, yellow flowers, or yellow with some red, hot-tempered and dry in the third degree, pungent taste, subtle parts, and somewhat strong smell. It has a decisive and aperitive virtue; the juice of the leaves drunk or the same leaves crushed and drunk with water or wine temper the stomach, provoke menstruation, urine and sweat, remove intermittent shivers by smearing a little near body cavities, rid the body of flatulence, they excite the venereal appetite, they cure the weakness that comes from the dislocation of the liver, they open the clogged passageways, they loosen contracted limbs, they relieve dropsy, they provoke vomit when drunk with lukewarm water, and they cure shivering of the fevers and even the fevers themselves evacuating the cause of urine and sweat.”
Strange 15th-century disorders aside, like the floating liver, the cempasúchil has been shown to be effective in the majority of the ailments Hernández listed and continues to be an important ingredient in many natural remedies in Mexico today.
Traditionally, the cempasúchil has been used to treat intestinal parasites. Drink 3 cups of a tea made from a pinch of flower petals and 1 / 4 liter of water. The flowers also have anti-inflammatory properties.
A diluted, lukewarm tea is given to babies with colic commonly called empache. The flowers have spasmolytic properties which help soothe the bellyache and reduces fussiness.
An infusion or tincture of the flowers is also used to treat susto or espanto which are nervous conditions. The compounds in the flowers have a sedative effect.
Both antioxidant and antibacterial, the cempasúchil has traditionally been used for wound care. The flowers are crushed into a poultice and can be applied directly to the injury or sore. The crushed leaves are used to treat boils and burns which aids in healing.
In the Yucatan, Tabasco, Oaxaca, and Veracruz, the cempasúchil is used to treat fever. Extracts from the plant are applied in a tincture to the bottom of the feet to provoke perspiration and sweating. In Guerrero and Tabasco, the plant is used to treat colds.
The petals are edible and have anti-aging properties, so go ahead and sprinkle some on your salad. Or you could this chicken in marigold sauce recipe or one of the dishes in the video below.
This versatile plant is also a boon to the gardener, being a natural insect repellent. Crushed petals rubbed on your skin will repel mosquitos.
The petals make a non-toxic dye. In Mexico, dried and powdered petals are fed to chickens so that their skin and eggs are yellower. There is also a cempasúchil pulque (moonshine) made in some areas.
All in all, there is more than one reason to have cempasúchil in your herbal repertoire.
Surviving Mexico 