Food & Drinking Culture

Poncha is the drink most closely paired with rum from Madeira. The classic version combines sugarcane spirit, honey, lemon or orange juice, and a little sugar. A wooden swizzle stick, the caralhinho, is used to stir until the honey dissolves and the alcohol is barely noticeable.

Beyond the traditional poncha and the fisherman's version called "pescador," there are variations made with passion fruit, red berries, or guava. Poncha bars are especially common in places like Câmara de Lobos, the fishing town west of Funchal. On the island, the glass is as much a fixture of the evening as the honey dissolved within it.

Local dishes include espetada, beef skewered on bay laurel branches and grilled over wood embers, served alongside milho frito, fried cubes of cornmeal. For fish, espada, black scabbardfish, comes to the table with banana. Bread is served as bolo do caco, a round flatbread with garlic butter.

Poncha often opens the evening, while an aged rum tends to close out the meal. The acidity of the lemon and sweetness of the honey explain why poncha pairs so well with salty, fried dishes, while aged rum's honey and caramel notes suit desserts instead.

Things turn sweet with bolo de mel, the dark honey cake baked with sugarcane honey and traditionally served at Christmas. The cane, then, shows up in the cake, the poncha, and the rum alike. O Reizinho reportedly produces liqueurs alongside its rum.