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EveryCow

Milk drinks

Rompope

Mexican eggnog of milk, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and rum, first made in the convents of Puebla.

Rompope is a Latin American drink of milk, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla, cooked to a light custard and mixed with rum or cane spirit. It is sweet, smooth and pale yellow, flavoured with cinnamon or almond. In Mexico it is sold in bottles, drunk at Christmas and New Year, and poured over ice cream and cakes.

What goes in

Whole milk: 50%50%Egg yolks: 13%13%Sugar: 19%19%Rum or cane spirit: 13%13%Vanilla and cinnamon: 6%5parts
  • Whole milk850%, Simmered with vanilla and cinnamon.
  • Egg yolks213%, Thicken the milk.
  • Sugar319%, Sweet and generous.
  • Rum or cane spirit213%, Added once cool.
  • Vanilla and cinnamon16%, Mexican vanilla where possible.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Boil Boil milk with sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
  2. Step 2: Churn Cool it a little and whisk in beaten egg yolks.
  3. Step 3: Cook Cook gently, stirring, until it thickens slightly.
  4. Step 4: Set Cool and stir in the rum.
  5. Step 5: Serve Bottle it and serve cold.
  6. Whole milk: 50%50%Egg yolks: 13%13%Sugar: 19%19%Rum or cane spirit: 13%13%Vanilla and cinnamon: 6%
    Finished Rompope, by share.

Convent kitchens

Rompope is said to have been first made by the nuns of the convent of Santa Clara in Puebla in the colonial period, adapting a Spanish recipe. Mexican convents were known for their sweets, made with milk, eggs and sugar, and sold them to visitors to help support their houses. Convents and families in Puebla still make it.

Across the region

Central American countries have their own rompope, often drunk at Christmas. It is used in gelatins, flan and cakes and poured over vanilla ice cream. Versions with pine nuts or almonds are made in Puebla. It is a close relation of the eggnog of the north and the ponche crema of Venezuela.

Where it is used

ChristmasOver ice creamIn cakes and gelatins

The breeds behind it

Holstein FriesianMain dairy breed of Mexico's dairy basins.Brown SwissCommon dairy breed in Mexico and Central America.

Also part of it, and being written: Criollo cattle (Descendants of the first Spanish cattle in the Americas.).

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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