Mulled wine, first of all, should be tasty, healthy and warming, but alcoholic is not at all necessary. True, the phrase non-alcoholic mulled wine in itself sounds a bit wrong from the point of view of linguistics, because “glühender Wein” (aka mulled wine in German) literally translates as “flaming / hot wine”. But if we put aside linguistics, then in fact it turns out that the non-alcoholic version of the drink popular all over the world is not only tasty, but also warms very well.
It will seem to someone that the recipe for non-alcoholic mulled wine is more like a compote recipe, which, in principle, is not so far from the truth. But spices come to the rescue, which, as you know, can warm the body quite well on their own (we wrote about this in the article on warming spices). Oh yes, honey is the No. 1 warming product, healthy and tasty. What is the difference between non-alcoholic mulled wine and classic? For the most part, nothing, especially when you consider the huge number of variations of the latter. The main difference lies in the “wine substitute”, which can be successfully juice:
- grape (the most logical option);
- cranberry (juice);
- pomegranate;
- cherry;
- apple;
- blackcurrant.
Of course, mixtures of all these juices are welcome, as well as brewed hibiscus petals, that is, hibiscus (which, by the way, increases blood pressure when hot). What else is there to add? Necessarily nuts and dried fruits, if any, are at hand – they also belong to the category of warming products, plus, they bring pleasant aromas and tastes to the taste of the drink. Actually, the recipe.
Classic non-alcoholic mulled wine recipe
Ingredients for portions 4:
- 1 liter of one of the above juices or their mix;
- 100-250 ml of water;
- 2 tbsp. l. grated lemon zest;
- 2 tbsp. l. grated orange peel;
- 2 tbsp. l. raisins (you can dried apricots, a handful of nuts);
- 0,5 medium sour apple;
- 2 cinnamon sticks;
- 4-6 buds of cloves;
- 4 peas of allspice;
- Grated nutmeg – on the tip of a knife;
- 5 g of grated ginger – better than fresh root;
- 2 boxes of cardamom or 5 g of grains;
- 1-2 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar (to taste), but it is better to replace 1 tbsp. a spoonful of honey.
Why citrus zest and not slicing?
We explained this in an article about warming spices – citrus fruits, from the point of view of Chinese medicine, are cooling products, but sour apples, on the contrary, are warm.
We cook this way:
- Pour water into a saucepan or saucepan, add all the spices to it, boil everything for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let the spicy broth stand for 5-10 minutes, put it on a small fire again.
- Add the zest of lemon and orange, chopped half of an apple, dried fruits and nuts, sugar. We heat until bubbles appear, stirring constantly – at this point, non-alcoholic mulled wine should be removed from heat. In no case should you boil, otherwise you will really get a compote.
- If you decide to add honey, then it is better to do this at the end, when the drink is removed from the fire and cools down a bit – just dissolve a spoonful of sweet treats in a hot drink.
- Cover the mulled wine with a lid and let stand for another 15-20 minutes so that the spices fully reveal their taste and aroma.
Before bottling, we recommend straining the drink through a sieve or gauze to remove excess suspension, and immediately before serving it should be heated to the desired temperature. That’s all, delicious homemade non-alcoholic mulled wine is ready. They can be treated to children over 5 years old, people driving, pregnant women and even those who are ill on antibiotics, which is simply unacceptable for alcoholic mulled wine.
If you decide to prepare a drink with hibiscus, then simply brew 1 liter of “tea” separately, and then add spices, zest and other ingredients. Sugar or honey will be very appropriate here, as brewed hibiscus has a sour taste.
Well, now you can easily prepare non-alcoholic mulled wine at home and please your guests who, for whatever reason, cannot drink alcohol. Well, we, in turn, continue to pamper you with recipes for warming drinks, which are far from being limited to mulled wine, grogs, hot Toddies and so on. Winter has just begun…