While the thought of a mulled wine tends to evoke thoughts of the holiday season, today we are going to talk about it's history and why it's perfect for cold weather whether there are lights on houses and wreaths on doors or not.
The earliest documentation of Glühwein (warmed wine) is 1420! Wow! 1420?! While a German is credited with the first documentation of this tasty blend, reportedly the idea was the creation of the wine-loving French who took a bottle of red wine, threw in some of this and some of that and a delectable concoction was enjoyed to melt the chill away.
As the recipe spread across Europe it seemed to vary as the as much as the people drinking it! The common denominator seemed to be Red wine + Cinnamon sticks + Whole Cloves + Star Anise + Orange peel = Mulled wine. Keeping with the basics is fine and tasty. One particular recipe that stands out from the rest is from Moldova where they simply added black pepper and honey to red wine. There are so many recipes available on the Internet, simply search Glogg or Mulled Wine.
I invite you to try this tasty recipe we came up with here at Lost Creek:
2 bottles of Sweet Summer
4 oranges (peel only cut into 2" pieces)
3 lemons (peel only, cut into 2" pieces)
appr. 20-25 whole cloves
appr. 5 - 8 cinnamon sticks
appr. 3-5 star anise
Push the cloves into the orange and lemon peels. Add all ingredients to a crockpot or saucepan, heat on low/warm. If you are doing this in a saucepan, be sure NOT to let your wine boil, and keep it covered so that the wine does not reduce. Your goal is not to cook the wine, but rather to warm it up so that the citrus flavors and spices infuse the wine.
Pour into mugs and enjoy a taste of wine history!
