Mexican Pumpkin Punch

Ingredients:

• 2 cups lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 4 tubes cinnamon
• 850 g pumpkin puree
• Juice of two limes
• Zest of two limes
• Rum (optional)
• Pineapple slices, pecans, for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

1. Pour 12 cups of water into a saucepan, add sugar, and cinnamon sticks. Place the saucepan on the stove and heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Add the pumpkin puree, lime juice, and lime zest and continue to simmer over low heat, stirring, for 15 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the stove and let the syrup cool for 2-3 hours, until the pumpkin pulp settles to the bottom. Strain the pumpkin punch through a sieve and pour into a pitcher. Chill before serving.
2. Pour pumpkin punch into glasses filled with ice, add rum, pineapple slices, and pecans if desired. Garnish the pumpkin punch glasses with cinnamon sticks.