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The cold season is ideal for drinking mulled wine. The health-promoting effect of mulled wine was discovered thousands of years ago. However, the rule here is that one or two cups have this health-promoting effect.

The hot wine tastes best and is healthiest when it is made by yourself. The wonderful scent of the spices warms you from the inside as soon as you smell it. Here is a delicious recipe for a homemade mulled wine.

Ingredients for six people

  • 1 liter of red or white wine
  • 1/2 liter of water
  • 10 cloves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 5 cardamom pods
  • brown cane sugar or honey
  • 3 unwaxed orange slices

Preparation of mulled wine

Bring all the ingredients to the boil very briefly and then leave them covered for about 30 minutes. Then strain the spices and the orange slices. The longer the ingredients are cooked, the more bitter the mulled wine becomes. Sugar or honey can also be varied individually, depending on how sweet the mulled wine should be.

Variation of mulled wine with a shot

A dash of fruit brandy or rum can be added to the basic mulled wine recipe, depending on taste. As a result, the mulled wine has a higher alcohol content and should therefore be drunk in moderation.

Variation with amaretto

30 ml Amaretto is added to the basic mulled wine recipe. This makes the mulled wine a special taste experience.

Glowing wine with a Caribbean flair

The ingredients of the basic mulled wine recipe are 30 ml coconut juice and 30 ml pineapple juice. This mulled wine is reminiscent of lonely beaches in the Caribbean. Due to the sweet taste, the alcohol content can often not be tasted and should therefore not be overlooked.

You can decorate the mulled wine in beautiful ceramic mugs with a handle. The mulled wine can be served with cinnamon sticks or unwaxed orange slices can be placed on the rim of the cup.

  • Type of preparation: light
  • Preparation time: 15 to 30 minutes

Up to 50 million liters of mulled wine are drunk every year during the Christmas season. Read here why it is better to fill your cups with organic mulled wine – and where you can buy it.

Mulled wine almost always consists of red wine, more rarely white wine, it is mixed with various spices and is sweetened to a greater or lesser extent depending on the manufacturer. For industrially produced mulled wines, mass-produced wines of inferior quality are often added to the mix. In order to conceal the lack of quality, extra strong sweetening is usually used.

Such inferior mulled wines are typically offered cheaply in large bottles or 1-liter beverage cartons in supermarkets and discounters.

Organic mulled wine or your own recipe

You get better quality if you make your own mulled wine at home or use organic mulled wine. In the case of organic mulled wines, the industrial sugar is usually replaced by raw cane sugar, honey or agave syrup and dosed much more cautiously. In principle, the further down the sugar is mentioned in the list of ingredients, the better. Because this mulled wine contains much less sugar and is therefore of higher quality.

As far as alcohol is concerned: the law stipulates a minimum alcohol content of seven percent, but many products contain up to twelve percent. That means almost 20 grams of pure alcohol in one cup. And the higher the sugar content, the faster the alcohol gets into the blood.

In addition to cinnamon, mulled wine also includes other spices, especially cloves and cardamom – preferably in organic quality. Because these are not irradiated, grown without chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Ideally, they even come from fair trade. In addition, organic manufacturers do without artificial flavors and other additives in ready-made spice mixtures.

For the benefit! But whose?

In addition to the typical (organic) spices, many mulled wine compositions also include juices, for example grape, apple, orange or elderberry juice. However, since the fruits used for industrial variants often come from huge monocultures (such as oranges from Brazil), they often also contain large amounts of residues such as insecticides, fungicides and growth regulators.

Mulled wine: Watch out, it gets spicy here!

Coumarin made headlines in 2005/06. The flavoring substance from cinnamon (cassia cinnamon) was found in cinnamon rolls and other foods containing cinnamon in a dose that far exceeded the permissible limit. Some alcohol-free mulled wines also contained quite high proportions. Coumarin can damage the liver and be harmful to young children – provided it is consumed regularly and in large amounts. But cinnamon is not just cinnamon: in contrast to cassia cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon contains hardly any coumarin.

If you prepare mulled wine yourself, it is better to use Ceylon cinnamon. However, since cassia cinnamon is cheaper, the industry often resorts to it. Which type of cinnamon the finished mulled wine mixture contains is usually not stated on the label. If you want to be on the safe side, you should check with the manufacturer of the organic mulled wine or the conventional product.

There are a number of ways you can use mulled wine. We’ll give you an overview of how to incorporate the leftovers when cooking and baking and present a quick and easy recipe for mulled wine jelly.

As a seasonal specialty, mulled wine is mainly popular during the cold season. When it gets warmer again, the desire for the hot drink gradually decreases and whole or opened bottles are often left behind. But even after a convivial winter evening, the question can sometimes arise the next day as to how leftover mulled wine can still be used.

Whether the leftovers are whole bottles or just small leftovers, you don’t have to throw them away. Even a few tablespoons can still be useful when baking. Here you can find out what options you have for using mulled wine in the kitchen.

Use mulled wine: Various possibilities

Christmas pastries are particularly good for using up leftover mulled wine. After all, mulled wine contains spices such as cinnamon, cloves or orange peel and therefore goes well with recipes that use similar combinations of spices.

You can add a special touch to a simple frosting by mixing it with mulled wine instead of water. Traditionally, such a mulled wine icing goes well with spice cakes, for example. You can also use it to glaze gingerbread, gingerbread, gingerbread or other Christmas cookies.
You can also refine the taste of the dough of a spice cake by replacing all or part of the water in the recipe with leftover mulled wine. This also works with other Christmas cake specialties or with classics such as Bundt cake and chocolate cake.
If you prefer to use the mulled wine in liquid form, it is a good basis for homemade sangria or a Christmas punch, for example. By the way: You can also use leftover punch in a similar way to leftover mulled wine by using it to refine pastries or desserts.
Mulled wine is also popular as a base for mousse. For example, in this recipe for gingerbread mousse, you can swap out the kirsch for the same amount of mulled wine. Or you prepare a classic red wine mousse with mulled wine.
Or you can try our simple recipe for mulled wine jelly.

Recipe for using mulled wine: mulled wine jelly

The basis for this recipe is 350 milliliters of mulled wine, i.e. about half a bottle. You can fill four small glasses (200 milliliters) with the finished jelly, for example. If you are working with leftovers, you can of course adjust the quantities and make more or less jelly accordingly.

Ingredients:

350 ml mulled wine
400 ml orange juice
500 g preserving sugar 2:1
1.5 tsp

Directions:

Pour the mulled wine and orange juice into a sufficiently large saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.
Stir the jam sugar into the boiling liquid and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Keep stirring constantly.
After ten minutes, reduce the heat to zero. The foam that forms during the boil should then collapse, leaving a clear jelly mass. You can skim off the remaining foam if necessary.
Pour the mulled wine jelly into sterilized glasses. Turn the jars upside down and let them cool in this position for at least 4 hours.

Unopened, stored in a cool and dark place, the mulled wine jelly will keep for at least six months. You can eat it pure on bread, but it also goes well with soft cheeses such as Brie and Camembert or with strong hard cheeses.

If you want, you can refine the taste with additional Christmas spices. In the second step, for example, let a clove cook in a hanging sieve or add some grated orange zest. Instead of orange juice, you can use apple juice in the jelly.