Ponteduro Campechano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart pot for the syrup
• •Candy thermometer
• •Wide sheet pan for the popcorn
• •Wooden spoon or heat-resistant silicone spatula
• •Parchment paper or cellophane squares for wrapping
• •Heavy 6-quart pot with lid for popping the corn

Instructions

1. 1

   Pop and prepare the maíz

   Pop the corn in a heavy pot with a little lard or in a hot-air popper. No salt, no butter. Plain. Pick through the popped kernels and discard any unpopped ones, the viejitas, because they will crack a tooth and ruin the ponteduro. Spread the popcorn on a wide sheet pan along with the peanuts and anise if using. Keep it nearby. Once the caramel reaches temperature, you will move fast.

   In Campeche they sometimes use toasted maíz palomero kernels alongside the popcorn for double crunch. If you can find them, fold a cup into the popcorn before binding.
2. 2

   Build the piloncillo syrup

   Chop the piloncillo cones into rough pieces. The cones are hard, use a heavy knife and your weight, or wrap them in a towel and tap with a hammer. Put the piloncillo, water, canela stick, and salt in a heavy 4-quart pot. Bring to a low boil over medium heat, stirring until the piloncillo dissolves completely. The syrup will go from cloudy brown to a deep mahogany within ten minutes.

3. 3

   Cook the syrup to hard-crack

   Once the piloncillo is dissolved, stop stirring. Let the syrup bubble steadily over medium heat. You are looking for the hard-crack stage, around 300 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. Without a thermometer, drop a spoonful into a glass of cold water. If it sets into a brittle thread that snaps between your fingers, it is ready. If it bends, keep cooking. This is the step that decides whether your ponteduro holds together or falls apart in your hand. No me vengas con atajos.

   Stir in the tablespoon of lime juice off the heat at the very end. The acid keeps the syrup from crystallizing into sugar grains and gives you that clean, glassy bind around each kernel.
4. 4

   Bind the popcorn

   Pull the canela stick out. Add the lime juice and swirl the pot. Working immediately, pour the hot syrup over the popcorn in a thin, steady stream while folding gently with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Coat every kernel without crushing them. The syrup is over 280 degrees, do not touch it. The mass will start to clump and turn glossy mahogany within thirty seconds. You have maybe two minutes before it sets up. Move.

5. 5

   Shape the spheres

   Grease your palms generously with manteca. The lard creates a barrier between your hands and the hot caramel and gives the spheres their characteristic shine. Scoop up handfuls of the warm mixture and press them firmly into balls about the size of a small orange, the size of the ponteduros you find at the Mercado Pedro Sainz de Baranda in San Francisco de Campeche. Press hard. Loose ponteduro falls apart. Set each sphere on a sheet pan lined with parchment or greased with lard.

   Re-grease your hands between every two or three spheres. As the caramel cools it sticks more aggressively, and burnt fingertips will end your work session.
6. 6

   Cool and store

   Let the ponteduros cool completely at room temperature for at least one hour. They should be rock-hard and glossy. Wrap each one in cellophane or wax paper the way the vendors at the ferias do, twisting the ends. Stored in a dry, sealed container, they keep for two weeks. Humidity is the enemy. In Campeche's coastal damp, the vendors know to sell them the day they make them. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy real piloncillo, the dark cone-shaped Mexican unrefined sugar, not brown sugar. Brown sugar has molasses added back to refined sugar and will not give you the same depth of flavor or the right hard-crack behavior. La Costeña and Goya both sell piloncillo cones at most Latin markets. If you cannot find any, the recipe waits until you can.
• •A candy thermometer is the difference between confident ponteduro and guesswork. They cost ten dollars and they will save you three batches of failed caramel. The cold-water test works but it is harder to read until you have done it twenty times.
• •Humidity kills ponteduro. Do not make this on a rainy day with the windows open. The caramel will absorb moisture from the air and turn tacky overnight. In Campeche the experienced cooks check the sky before they boil the syrup.

Advance Preparation

• •Ponteduro is made the day of the celebration, in the Campeche tradition. The dulce is at its best within 24 hours of being shaped, when the caramel still snaps clean.
• •Wrapped individually in cellophane and kept in a sealed tin in a dry place, ponteduros hold for up to two weeks. Past that, the caramel starts to absorb humidity and soften.
• •The piloncillo can be chopped a day ahead and stored in a sealed jar. The popcorn must be popped the same day or it loses its crisp and turns leathery.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 36g)