Spice Up The Holidays With Mulled Wine And Cider

December 12, 2018

Mulled wine is one of many winter delights enjoyed across all of Europe. But it’s also super easy to make in the warmth of your home! All you need is wine and some mulling spices, a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and orange, along with other various optional ingredients like star anise and vanilla.

There’s no doubt that mulled wine will be enjoyed by all during the holidays, but don’t limit your mulling experience to just wine. Expand your horizons with apple cider or even other juices! It’s pretty much as easy as brewing a tea, just takes a little longer.

But if this is your first time, we’ve got the perfect recipes of mulled wine and mulled apple cider for you to make your foolproof mulled beverage this holiday season.

Mulled Wine

What you need:

1 bottle red wine
1 large orange
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 nutmeg for grating
2 star anise
3 whole cloves
1 fresh bay leaf
1/2 vanilla pod cut lengthwise
1/2 cup sugar

How to prepare:

1. Peel the orange entirely. Put the peel in a large saucepan over medium heat along with the sugar. Squeeze the orange juice into the saucepan.

2. Add cinnamon stick, cloves, grated nutmeg, and vanilla pod. Pour in enough red wine to cover the sugar for now.

3. Allow the mixture to simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil for 3 to 4 minutes for a thick syrup. You don’t want to add all of the wine immediately because you’ll end up burning off the alcohol. It’s crucial to immerse the flavours into the syrup beforehand!

4. Once the syrup is nice and thick, pour in the remaining wine and add the star anise over low heat. Let it warm up for five minutes before serving.

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Mulled Cider

What you need:

1 litre apple cider
2 oranges
1 pomegranate
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 vanilla pod cut lengthwise
1/8 nutmeg grated
1-2 star anise
3 cloves
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

How to prepare:

1. De-seed your pomegranate and add it to a blender. Pulse it until all the juices are released then strain the pulp and seeds. Set the juices aside in a bowl.

2. Cut the oranges in half and juice them into a bowl.

3. Empty the cider into a large saucepan over low heat for three minutes. Then stir in both orange and pomegranate juice along with all the spices over high heat. Once it begins to boil, turn it back down to low heat and simmer for 6 minutes.

4. Add this point, you can taste it and choose to add sugar if you like. Remember to not let the sweetness overpower the delicious spices and aroma.

There are the two classic holiday beverages that will make everything so much more festive. If you can’t find all the spices required for the recipes, try a mulling spices blend that’s perfectly mixed for you to create your delicious mulled wine or cider. Happy mulling!

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Looking for other holiday drinks. Check out these kombucha cocktails!

Daniel Huang

Daniel is a Digital Marketing and Content Strategist at SPUD. He graduated from UBC with a degree in English and International Relations with a focus on environmental topics. A wordsmith by day and a bookman by night, he's a self-proclaimed gastronomic snob, a buck-a-shuck addict, a sub-par skier, and a devoted kingsguard of the oxford comma. He also frequents the dog park with a schnauzer named Duke. | Instagram: @dannnyellow