LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2023

MULL IT OVER

Forbidden Fruit In Mexico, it’s not Christmas (or New Year’s, for that matter) unless there’s a pot of Ponche Navideño simmering away and filling the house with the aroma of fruit and canela (a specific type of cinnamon). To say it’s essential to the holidays is no exaggeration, either. For decades, the tejocote (a relative of the crabapple), one of the drink’s key ingredients, was the most-smuggled fruit across the U.S.-Mexico border (back when it was prohibited in the States).

Happily, tejocote is no longer forbidden fruit!

PONCHE TEQUILIANO P. 237

MAKE IT YOUR OWN We used white wine and tequila for this ponche, but, in Mexico, punch is often made with red wine, brandy or rum—almost anything goes. And, given that it’s so fruity and flavourful, the wine and spirits can be omitted altogether for a zero-proof holiday option.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAYA VISNYEI; FOOD STYLING BY CHRISTOPHER ST. ONGE; PROP STYLING BY ANDREA McCRINDLE

72 FOOD & DRINK HOLIDAY 2023