It’s a spiced red wine that was popular in the Alps as a warm up beverage after being out in the cold. This was something that S and his German Dad would make around Christmas, and me with my Swiss Dad. In fact, I received the spice mix as part of my advent calendar from Heidi on a couple occasions and other years we bought the spice mix from a vendor at a Christmas market.
This is a tasty treat that really does warm you up… and can also mess you up if you don’t watch your portioning. (Maybe I say this with firsthand experience after making a good batch of this in residence with my uni friends).
This year S decided to buy some spices for his Dad to bring back the tradition. He tried ordering some online or looking at a local German deli. Alas, nothing authentic or worthy of his purchase, so he decided to go homemade on this project. He went for a rough-crushed spice mix idea (not a powder like the stuff you might buy from the super market, but also a little more invested than gifting bag full of cinnamon bark and whole cloves).
So he did. AND our place smell DELICIOUS after him grinding up the spices and then doing a test batch with wine on the stove.
So here’s what he did:
Created Mulling Spice Mix
- 44g star anise slightly crushed in mortar and pestle
- 44g whole cloves also crushed
- 300g cinnamon sticks
- 217g dehydrated navel oranges
This made about enough spices for 17 bottles of wine! Oh my. Let’s say we’re giving more away than initially planned.
Additional Ingredients
- 2 tbsp spice mix
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup full-bodied dry red wine
- 1/4 water
Voila. Delicious Glühwein.
Since I forgot to take photos of the Glühwein once we actually made it… here’s a photo from the internet.
Zum Wohl!