This blog post was written based on research during the ‘Interpreting Kiplin for 400’ project, a National Lottery Heritage Fund project with thanks to National Lottery players. This post is part of a collection of posts on various themes being published during December 2024.
Quite probably! Ponce Livornese is still a highly popular cocktail in Livorno although little known elsewhere. Today it has its own DOC. Its origins are shrouded in mystery but it would appear to have been developed in the late 17th century. Today it is a mix of sugar, rum, lemon rind and coffee and is served throughout the bars of the port in special glasses. What makes it interesting in connection with Christopher Crowe is that most of the legends surrounding its origin point to its “discovery” by English merchants or sailors in Livorno. To begin the Italian word ponce is simply a mispronunciation, or Italianisation of the English word punch, and some of the ponce legends point to its being created by the accidental collision of sacks of coffee and barrels of rum in a harbourside accident. Enterprising taverners appear to have been excited by the opportunity created by the unusual fragrance of these two commodities, at that time hardly known at all in Italy. Or perhaps English sailors led them to this through their familiarity with punch where rum would be mixed with tea sugar and lemon, and was warmed. Rum would certainly have been familiar to English sailors by the late 17th century.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, punch enters the English language in 1632, and while its etymology is vague, it is thought to have been derived from the Sanskrit word paantsch, itself possibly derived from the Persian word for five. The word was used because an Indian punch contained five ingredients; similarly the modern ponce livornese contains five ingredients. English merchants from the British East India Company introduced punch to England in the second half of the 17th century, where it became mixed with Jamaica rum from about 1655, and then spread to other parts of Europe. Here again the cosmopolitan nature of Livorno may have assisted its origin as the Sephardic Jews (at their height in the early 19th century there were ten thousand Jews in Livorno) were familiar with coffee from Arabia where they were free to trade under the Livornine Decrees. Livorno is considered to be the first place in Europe where coffee was regularly traded. So coffee became the substitute beverage for the expensive tea.
Another legend ascribes the origin to 1614 when a Saracen felucca docked in Livorno with a cargo of coffee and rum ( “Ponce livornese”: energy, character and passion | Visit Tuscany), but again it is difficult to get to the source of these stories. While the Saracens and the Jews may have played their part it is intriguing to think that the cocktail of choice in 21st century Livorno may in part owe its origin to the merchants and sailors with whom Christopher Crowe was in daily contact.
An early recipe mixes cheap rum with Cognac and Sassolino (an aniseed liqueur), with lemon rind and sugar, heated and with the shot of coffee added last. A more familiar recipe today would be:
Dust a wide thick and flat glass glass with cinnamon powder. Put in a dose of rum (a half glass), the lemon peel, two spoons of sugar and heat it with the steam machine. Then add the hot coffee. It must be poor quality rum as it is said that good quality rum will spoil the taste!
The lemon rind is served in one large piece, ie not zested. Aficionadoes of ponce livornese take their ponce con vela (with a sailor!), but this refers to the lemon floating in the glass!
(Published Dec 2024)
Find out more about the ‘Interpreting Kiplin 400’ Project during our Open Days on 13th, 14th and 15th December 2024. BOOK HERE
Sources:
It’s Tuscany, Ponce, https://www.itstuscany.com/en/the-ponce/
The heart thrills, Coffee and Orange, Coffee and Lemon, 7th January 2018, theheartthrills.com/tag/ponce-alla-livornese
Gianni Vann, Tuscany: Wine, Food and Culture, Livorno and its Ponce, 18th March 2010, utuscanytours.blogspot.com/2010/03/livorno-and-its-ponce.html?m=1
Emiko Davies, Livorno for Foodies, 22nd March 2011, www.emikodavies.com/livorno-for-foodies
