7th of December
Mulled White Wine
by Christina
Mulled wine is a staple in German Christmas traditions that you will find offered everywhere during the holiday season.
It is particularly popular at the ‘Weihnachtsmarkt’ where you can buy it at little booths and drink it standing around
little tables freezing your toes off. You will also find it in large Tetra Pak containers at the supermarket and get a
hangover-guarantee with it. However, it is super easy to make mulled wine at home! And it tastes a lot better, of course,
with warm feet and if it is not from a carton…
Usually, mulled wine is made with red wine. However, I prefer white wine as it is lighter and goes well with the lemons and oranges.
If you have people over, you can prepare this some hours ahead of time and then just heat it up when your guests arrive.
Ingredients:
- 1,5 l dry white wine (choose one that you would like to drink solo as well)
- Sugar to taste (you can use white sugar, or brown if you want to add a little caramelly flavour)
- 1 organic orange
- 1 organic lemon
- 10 cloves
- 2-3 cinnamon sticks
- 2 star anise pods
- Vanilla bean or extract to taste.
Add the wine and the sugar to a large pot. Wash the orange and the lemon with hot water and cut them into thin slices. Add them to the wine. Put the spices in a filter bag for tea and add them to the wine. If you are using a vanilla bean, cut it open and add the seeds to the wine directly while adding the pod to the spices. If using extract, add it to the wine. Gently heat the wine until hot and the sugar has dissolved. Do not let it boil as this will not only evaporate the alcohol but also give a bitter taste to the wine.
The combination of spices is a matter of taste, of course, and will depend on the wine you are using. Feel free to play around with the amounts or adding different spices like cardamom or ginger. For a non-alcoholic version try using apple juice instead of wine!
Enjoy!
✦ You can download the recipe as pdf here: Mulled White Wine