Mexican Hot Punch

I got the sick. I tried to fight it, but it finally found me. It took over the back of my throat yesterday at work and last night it invaded my sinuses. This morning I woke up with a stuffy head and nose and I called in sick. When I get a cold, I don't get very hungry but I do get quite thirsty, especially for hot tea or calientito, which is a hot punch my tia Bea makes during Christmas time. It's basically a punch made out of stewed cinamon sticks, cloves, anise, ripe guavas, raisins and other fruits and sweetened with piloncillo, which is a small cylinder block of dark brown sugar. I do not have the recipe, nor could I find one online, so I invented one last night. It didn't taste as good as my aunts, but it was quite savory.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 qt. water
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinamon or 2 large cinamon sticks
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. Allspice
• 2 cloves
• dash of salt
• 6 ripe guavas, halved
• 1/4 cup raisins

In a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Add the brown sugar and dissolve. Make sure you keep stirring. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, until it reduces by about 1/4. To serve, ladle some of the hot punch and raisins into mugs, and a couple of the halved guavas. To spice it up, add a bit of Morgans Spiced Rum and enjoy!