SERVES 1
There’s nothing quite like enjoying the first few crisp nights of autumn with a cup of warm, spiced cheer to keep you company! It is so easy to mull mead, wine or cider that you’ll wonder why you never tried it before.
Here are a few examples to get you started. Each recipe is for a single cup of mulled brew.
1 cup (240 ml) red wine or cider
1 stick cinnamon
2 cardamom seeds
3 crushed grains of paradise
Brown sugar or honey, to taste
1 cup (240 ml) mead or white wine
1 tsp crushed dried rose hips
0.04 oz (2 g) fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 dried or fresh orange slice
Honey, to taste
1. Mix your mead, wine or cider with a few simple ingredients on a pot on the stove. These recipe suggestions are for one serving, but you can scale it up as much as needed to serve a crowd. Warm the brew and the spices at a low temperature. Don’t let it boil! It just needs to be warm enough to let the spices infuse, but not so hot that the alcohol is burned away. The longer you wait, the better the result. You can enjoy a cup of mulled wine after 30 minutes or so, but give it a few hours to really let the flavors blend.
TIPS: You can make a batch of mulled mead or wine in advance of fall—return the mulled beverage to a swing-top bottle and store the spiced, sweetened brew until you need it. If you feel yourself coming down with a cold, warm a cup of mulled spice wine and you’ll be all set to bundle up for bedtime.
Consider other spices, such as chamomile, licorice root, black pepper, nutmeg, garam masala or cayenne. The sky is the limit!