Something you will find in every Puerto Rican household during the holiday seasons, (typically from November to January), is at least a bottle of Coquito or Pitorro. Puerto Rican culture is rich and proud of its seasonal foods and drinks. Puerto Rican holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Three Kings Day, last days on end and most people celebrate them in more than one place: their grandparents house, their parents’ house, their uncle’s, cousin’s, etc. If you don’t see your family often throughout the year, or not at all, you are sure to see them during the holiday season. Besides their traditional foods including pernil, pasteles and desserts like flan or tembleques, Puerto Ricans are extremely proud of their drinks.
Coquito and pitorro are traditional drinks when it comes to Puerto Rican culture. It’s a must have in every Puerto Rican household during the holidays. If you don’t actually make it yourself there’s always that one tío or cousin that brings a bottle, or a few, to every single function.
Coquito is a traditional Puerto Rican coconut-based beverage typically made and served during Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is very popular amongst native Puerto Ricans and non-natives, due to the similarities it may shares with the American eggnog. It is often referred to as Puerto Rican Eggnog due to these similarities, even though coquito has little to no eggs in the mixture. This coconut-centered drink is typically alcoholic, but some people exclude the alcohol so their kid, or people who don’t want alcohol, can still have a taste of this traditional drink.
The ingredients are:
– Evaporated milk
– Cream of coconut
– Coconut milk
– Condensed milk
– Rum of preference
– Vanilla extract (optional)
Mix everything in a bowl together for about 2 minutes until every ingredient is one. Then, pour everything into a container, refrigerate and when ready just shake, pour and enjoy!
Another popular Puerto Rican holiday drink is pitorro. This moonshine-like drink is illegal due to its high levels of alcohol, yet you can always find it in every Puerto Rican holiday function. It’s made from cane sugar and, as any other moonshine rum, pitorro is stronger than the normal or commercial rum. This alcoholic beverage is a more popular amongst the older relatives in a family.
Between serenatas, laughs, and walks down memory lane, Pitorro and Coquito will always make an appearance in someone’s glass. Some families add different flavors to these traditional Puerto Rican drinks, my family likes to keep it original and go with vanilla, what about yours?