Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Ponche
Cape Verde's island punch of grogue (sugarcane rum), molasses, and lime, thick, sweet, and warming, sipped slowly after dinner.
Cape Verdean · easy · serves 6
prep 5 min · cook 0 min
~180 cal · 0g protein · 2g carbs · 0g fat · 0g fiber · 0g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ponche is Cape Verde's traditional punch, grogue (the island sugarcane spirit) blended with molasses or honey and often lemon, making a sweet, potent drink. Grogue is the heart of Cape Verdean drinking culture, distilled from the archipelago's own sugarcane.
Ponche softens the fiery grogue with sweetness, creating a smooth, warming liqueur often flavored with lime, passion fruit, or coconut. It is a drink of celebration and conviviality across the islands.
Served at gatherings and bars in Praia and beyond, ponche is sweet and strong, built on Cape Verde's sugarcane rum.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 cups grogue (sugarcane rum)
1 cup cane molasses (mel de cana)
Hard to find? 1 cup unsulphured light molasses, or cane syrup - mel de cana is boiled-down cane juice rather than a byproduct of sugar refining, so it is lighter and less bitter; blackstrap molasses will overwhelm the drink
2 lime
1 strip lemon zest
Instructions
1
Warm the molasses slightly if it is stiff so it will blend smoothly.
2
Whisk the grogue and molasses together until fully combined and glossy.
3
Stir in the lime juice and lemon zest and let it rest an hour for the flavors to marry.
4
Serve at room temperature or lightly chilled in small glasses.
Cape Verdean island tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Santiago (Praia). Santiago is Cape Verde's largest island and home of cachupa, hominy corn and beans simmered for hours with whatever meat or fish is at hand, then fried again the next morning. Portuguese and West African lines meet over Atlantic tuna and grogue rum.
🗺️
Cape Verde. Cape Verde's island cuisine is anchored by cachupa, a slow-cooked stew of corn, beans, and meat or fish that's the national dish. Portuguese and African roots meet over grogue (sugarcane rum) and Atlantic seafood.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cape Verde
CachupaThe slow-simmered national stew of hominy corn, beans, and meats, endlessly reboiled and always improving.
Cuscuz DoceA steamed cornmeal cake, faintly sweet, eaten warm with butter, honey, or milk for breakfast.
Pastel com Diabo DentroA crisp corn-dough pastry with a spicy tuna filling, whose fiery name means 'pastry with the devil inside'.
Browse all Cape Verde recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender, Whisk.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Cape Verde meal
CachupaDinner
Pudim de Leite (Milk Flan)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Ponche?
Cape Verde's island punch of grogue (sugarcane rum), molasses, and lime, thick, sweet, and warming, sipped slowly after dinner.
Where does Ponche come from?
Ponche is a Cape Verdean dish from Santiago (Praia), Cape Verde.
Can Ponche be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ponche recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ponche safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ponche take to make?
About 5 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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