This is a great recipe from my good friend Hannah to take red wine to a truly delicious Christmas tipple. Its an easy one-pot recipe and will add a little bit of Christmas to any party.
Ingredients.
- 250g caster sugar
- 2 oranges, halved (plus extra for garnish)
- 6 whole cloves
- 6 whole allspice
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1/4 nutmeg, freshly grated
- small piece of ginger, sliced.
- 1 litre water
- 750ml of wine (or cider)
Method.
Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan with 1 litre of water and bring slowly to a boil (make sure that all of the sugar has dissolved). Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Pour the syrup into (sterilised) bottles while it is still hot and seal. You can sieve the syrup before you bottle but it looks very pretty with an orange segment and a cinnamon stick in the bottle. The syrup does not need to be left to ‘mature’ but it will keep for up to 3 months in a cool, dark place.
To make the mulled wine… heat 400ml of the syrup with the red wine until hot. You can also add in extra orange segments.
You can also replace the wine with cider (and add apple pieces) if you prefer.
NB. Picture is not my own.
Heather Brown 