Mulled wine - what is it? Mulled wine - ingredients, composition, calorie content and preparation features How to serve a soft drink.

Great winter! How much fun and entertainment! Here you can go skiing, dancing on the skating rink, and nature trips, or simply walking in the winter park - beauty, and nothing more. Here's just one "but" - it's too cold ... Frostbite noses, cheeks and hands, plus a riot of colds of various stripes, and now winter turns from a fabulous season into a dull alternation of nights and days. Fortunately for us, thousands of years ago mankind invented several hot alcoholic drinks, among which mulled wine stands out for its curious combination of a relatively cheap main component (wine) and expensive spices, as well as the ability to improvise endlessly.

Mulled wine is not only a drink for a cozy evening in front of the fireplace, but also a healing balm. It warms up, helps well with colds, relieves coughs, is recommended for physical and mental exhaustion and during the recovery period after infectious diseases. And this is not surprising, because even a small fraction of spices gives ordinary red wine not only a wonderful aroma and taste, but also considerable benefits.

Anise - helps with colds and coughs, improves digestion, soothes the nervous system.

Badian - improves digestion, freshens breath, helps with colds.

Barberry - useful for colds and poisoning, has a blood-purifying effect.

Carnation - helps with colds, makes breathing easier when coughing, has a mild analgesic effect.

Allspice - helps to restore strength, heals the stomach, has an antiseptic effect.

Ginger - improves immunity, warms and soothes, helps with weakness, dizziness and nausea.

Cinnamon - fights against colds, removes toxins, reduces the level sugar and cholesterol, has an antimicrobial effect, activates the brain.

Cardamom - relieves pain, improves immunity, soothes, tones, removes toxins and toxins from the body, normalizes digestion.

Coriander - has an anti-inflammatory effect, improves digestion.

Bay leaf - increases immunity, removes toxins, increases stress resistance, has a positive effect on the nervous system.

Nutmeg - increases appetite, improves blood circulation, improves immunity.

Honey - effective for colds, has bactericidal properties.

Citrus (lemon, orange, lime, tangerine, etc.) - have anti-cold, antipyretic and stimulating effects, improve digestion and remove excess cholesterol.

Allspice - has a stimulating, tonic, antioxidant and antiseptic effect.

These are the main spices used in the preparation of mulled wine. When preparing a warming aromatic drink, you can add other ingredients: pieces of apples, peaches, apricots, pineapple, bananas, kiwi, etc. In addition, mulled wine often contains natural juices (lemon, orange, apple), a small amount of dried fruits and fresh berries is allowed. All of these foods are useful, each in its own way.

Mulled wine is always improvisation and new shades of taste and aroma, but there are some rules in its preparation that should not be broken. The very first and perhaps the most important thing is temperature. In no case should the drink not just boil, but even heat above 70 ° C. At a higher temperature, aromas evaporate from the wine, and the taste becomes disgusting. In addition, mulled wine cannot be cooled and even more so reheated - all the magic of taste and aroma will literally simply evaporate.

For magic over wine and spices, refractory ceramic, glass or enamel dishes are best suited. You can go in two ways, making mulled wine with or without water. The method without water involves adding spices directly to the wine and then heating up to the same 70 ° C, and here you can also experiment: whether to heat the wine as quickly as possible and let it brew in a thermos or just under the lid or slowly warm the wine over minimal heat, giving the ability to mix tastes and aromas. But most often mulled wine is prepared with water: all the spices prescribed by the recipe are put into the water, brought to a boil and boiled for 5-7 minutes. The aroma and taste of the spices passes into the water, revealing itself in the best way. Then, in a separate saucepan, heat the wine until the white foam disappears and gently mix the water and wine.

In no case use ground spices, this will make the wine cloudy. If you decide to let the mulled wine brew, remove the citrus fruits from it, otherwise the bitterness from their skin will pass into the wine. By the way, wine for mulled wine should be chosen the simplest, usually dry, red (less often white), since all kinds of additives give the taste and aroma to the drink. The main thing is not to overdo it, so that the drink does not turn out to be oversweetened or too saturated with spices. The strength of the finished mulled wine should be at least 7 °.

The present wine is filtered and served in thick-walled tall mugs or glasses. Mulled wine can be served with cheese, fruits and cakes. It is not recommended to drink more than two glasses of mulled wine a day, no matter how useful this drink is, it is still alcohol. Although there are recipes for non-alcoholic mulled wine with juices, tea or hibiscus infusion.

New Year's mulled wine

Ingredients:

80 ml "Riga" balsam,
4 cinnamon sticks,
10-12 carnation buds,
80 g honey
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
3-4 grains of cardamom,
orange slices - for decoration.

Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients in an enamel saucepan, heat over low heat and let it brew for 5 minutes. Serve garnished with orange wedges.

Mulled wine with tea

Ingredients:
1 bottle of dry red wine,
1 liter of strong black tea,
6-7 carnation buds,
1-2 sticks of cinnamon
a piece of fresh ginger root,
nutmeg.

Preparation:
In an enamel saucepan, combine wine and tea, add cloves and cinnamon, chop the ginger and rub some nutmeg. Warm up until bubbles appear, let it brew under the lid for about 10 minutes, strain and serve.

Ingredients:
1 bottle of dry red wine,
1 orange,
1 lemon
4-5 pcs. walnuts
3 tbsp sugar or honey
1 cinnamon stick
a pinch of ground ginger.

Preparation:
Pour the wine into a saucepan. Add squeezed orange and lemon juice, walnuts, cinnamon and sugar and heat over low heat. When the mulled wine is ready, remove it from the heat, let it brew for 10 minutes and serve, sprinkled with ground ginger.

Ingredients:
1 bottle of dry red wine,
400 ml of water,
1 lemon
2 carnation buds,
125 g sugar or honey
1 cinnamon stick
30 ml of cognac.

Preparation:
Pour water into a saucepan, put spices, finely chopped lemon peel, sugar (honey) into it and put on fire. Boil for 1-2 minutes, strain. Add wine and lemon juice, heat to 70 ° C and pour in brandy.

Ingredients:
1 bottle of white wine,
100 ml of water
1 orange,
2 carnation buds,
100 g sugar
3 cinnamon sticks.

Preparation:
Pour water into a saucepan, add sugar, spices and an orange, cut into thin slices, bring to a boil and strain. Pour in the wine, heat to 70 ° C and serve in tall mugs.

Ingredients:
500 ml of dry red wine,
2 cups of strong freshly brewed coffee,
3 glasses of brandy,
150 g sugar.

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients and heat over low heat, not boiling. Let stand covered for 10 minutes and serve.

Ingredients:
300 ml of cahors,
500 ml freshly squeezed apple juice,
1 lemon (zest).

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients and heat to 70 ° C. Let it brew for 10-15 minutes under a lid or in a thermos, strain and serve. You can add cinnamon to the drink, its aroma is ideally combined with apple flavor.

Ingredients:
1 bottle of dry red wine,
6-7 carnation buds,
1/3 stack water,
1 tbsp Sahara,
1 cinnamon stick
a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Preparation:
In a small saucepan or turkey, combine water, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, boil and simmer for 1 minute. Let stand for 10 minutes. Heat the wine in another saucepan, pour in the contents of the turkey and add the sugar. Bring to 70 ° C and remove from heat.

Ingredients:
1 liter of dry red wine,
1/3 stack water,
6-7 carnation buds,
2 tbsp sugar or honey
1 apple,
1 lemon
1 orange,
1-2 sticks of cinnamon
nutmeg,
50 ml of cognac or rum.

Preparation:
Pour water into the Turk, add spices, citrus zest, apple pieces and 1 tbsp. honey, put on fire and boil. Let it brew for 10 minutes. Pour wine into an enamel pan, warm until bubbles appear, pour in the strained infusion from the turkey, add 1 tbsp. honey and warm up to 70 ° C. You can add orange juice. Pour in cognac and grate a little nutmeg.

Ingredients:
1 liter red port,
250 ml orange liqueur
2 lemons
100 g sugar
nutmeg.

Preparation:
Pour the port wine into an enamel pot and dissolve the sugar in it. Heat the wine, remove from heat, put lemon slices, pour in the liquor and let it brew under the lid for 10-15 minutes. Grate the nutmeg on a fine grater and sprinkle with mulled wine when serving.

Ingredients:
1 bottle of dry red wine,
1.5 glasses of water
1.5 cups of honey
1.5 stack. rum,
18 carnation buds,
18 grains of cardamom
2-3 cinnamon sticks
nutmeg.

Preparation:
Pour wine, water and rum into an enamel pan, add spices, grate nutmeg to taste (a pinch or two) and heat until hot. Pour into thick-walled glasses or ceramic mugs.

As you can see, there are many recipes for mulled wine, and it is not at all necessary to strictly follow them. Try it, add something of your own, because improvisation has its own charm! Create your own masterpiece and warm it up on a warm winter evening.

Larisa Shuftaykina

When the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, the mulled wine season invariably comes. For a long time, this spicy hot alcoholic drink has been considered a traditional companion of winter evenings, merry festivities, New Year and Christmas markets.

Mulled wine (Glühwein) in translation from German means "blazing wine". His recipe, as a cure for ailments, was known as early as the thirteenth century (Dr. Arnaldo de Vilanova recommended that his patients make and use this warming drink with spices). This recipe has undergone changes over the centuries. As a result, it has become the best remedy for colds and winter blues.

1. To prevent mulled wine from losing its taste, do not bring it to a boil (under no circumstances). The optimal heating temperature for it is 70-80 degrees.
2. Cook in small portions, as frequent heating loses flavor and aroma.
3. According to many recipes, red wine is the ideal base for making mulled wine at home.
4. Only use whole spices. Powdered seasonings will cloud your drink.
5. Let the drink sit for half an hour (minimum) after being done. This will help the spice aroma develop in the best possible way.

Wine selection

Since "blazing wine" is a rather sweet drink due to the ingredients (sugar and honey), it is better to use dry, weak wines for its preparation. Since it is traditionally accepted to cook mulled wine from red wine, the following are best suited for the role of the base:

• dry table red wine (Saperavi, Merlot, Kindzmarauli, Cabernet);
• semi-dry red wine (Khvanchkara);
• inexpensive wine from a cardboard box (from Chile or Argentina).

Mulled wine belongs to the warming alcoholic drinks. In winter, it is served in most reputable establishments. You don't have to go to a restaurant or cafe to indulge yourself with the taste of hot wine. In a moment, you will learn how to make mulled wine at home. The classic recipe is very simple, but there are a few nuances to keep in mind during the preparation process.

The first recipes for mulled wine appeared in ancient Rome, but then the wine was mixed with spices without heating. In a Mediterranean climate, there was no point in raising temperatures. The drink became really popular in the Scandinavian countries of medieval Europe, where spicy hot wine was served at Christmas markets and brewed at home. After several centuries, mulled wine has spread throughout the continent and has become popular even in regions with warm climates.

Mulled wine composition

The classic version uses the following ingredients:

• red wine - 750 ml;
• water - 100 ml;
• sugar - 1 tablespoon;
• grated nutmeg - 1 pinch;
• ground ginger - 1 teaspoon;
• carnation - 5 buds;
• cinnamon - 1 stick (or half a teaspoon of ground).

The indicated amount of ingredients is enough for 4-5 servings. You can experiment with the composition of homemade mulled wine by adding other spices and fruits that you like. But if you are brewing mulled wine for the first time, I advise you to stick to the traditional recipe. Then it will be easier to compare the taste of your options with the original.

To make non-alcoholic mulled wine, it is enough to replace wine with grape juice, otherwise the preparation technology remains unchanged.

Wine for mulled wine

Red still, dry, sweet and semi-sweet wines of the middle price range are well suited for the preparation of mulled wine. For example, Merlot, Cabernet, Kagor, Kindzmaraulli, Khvanchkara, etc. It is better to refuse fortified wines, because when they are heated, an unpleasant smell of alcohol appears, spoiling the impression of the drink.

You can also make mulled wine with white wine. In this case, I recommend adding more sugar (3-4 tablespoons), since white wines have a high acidity.

Mulled wine brewing technology

1. Mix spices in a saucepan and add water.

2. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from heat. Insist for 10 minutes.

3. Strain the broth through a sieve or cheesecloth.

4. Add wine, spice broth and sugar to the saucepan.

5. Heat over low heat to 65-70 ° C.

Mulled wine should not be brought to a boil. When steam and the first bubbles appear, the drink must be removed from the heat.

6. Cover and let it brew for 5-10 minutes.

7. Serve hot in tall clear glasses or ceramic cups to retain heat.

Clarification: If using store-bought fruit, add only the pulp to the mulled wine. To increase the shelf life, the surface of oranges, lemons and apples is treated with wax or a special polymer film is applied. The wax can be removed by holding the fruit for 3-5 minutes in warm water. It is impossible to get rid of the film at home.

Reheated mulled wine loses its aroma and taste. Better to prepare small portions and drink right away. They eat mulled wine with dry cookies, pies and unsweetened fruits. In Germany, it is customary to drink hot wine outdoors along with grilled dishes such as kebabs and sausages.

Mulled wine is not just wine warmed up with spices. This drink has already become a wonderful tradition, a special winter ritual. There are many ancient legends about this hot elixir, which warms not only the body, but also the soul. The ancient Roman culinary expert Alicius noted that only refined wine turns a person into a true gourmet, and he was one hundred percent right.

Warm, warmed up wine was very popular in the Middle Ages. On cold winter evenings by the fireplace, a warming drink was welcome both in the homes of noble knights and in the humble dwellings of commoners. The recipe for mulled wine has been aged for centuries. Its magical tart taste is never erased in memory. What ingredients are needed for mulled wine at home? This will be discussed further.

General principles of making mulled wine

There are unwritten rules for the preparation of this wonderful drink, following which even an inexperienced housewife can please her guests and household with the bright taste of a magical hot drink.

1. Spices are always added to mulled wine, this is one of the main principles. Each housewife chooses for herself which spices to use. The aroma and special, unforgettable taste of the drink depend on their composition and quantity.
2. Mulled wine should not be boiled, since all the excellent qualities of the wine disappear - its taste, aroma and properties do not change for the better.
3. The basis for mulled wine is always only red wine. You can add quite a bit of cognac, rum to it - it all depends on the preferences of the hostess or the characteristics of the recipe.
4. The spices should always be boiled in water first.
5. You need to cook mulled wine constantly stirring, over low heat, so that the aroma of spices dissolves in it as best as possible.
6. The drink must be insisted so that its taste becomes richer.
7. Before serving, mulled wine must be drained.

Classic mulled wine recipe

What ingredients are needed for mulled wine? You will need water - one and a half cups, a bottle of red wine, a couple of apples and oranges, a little honey or sugar, spices to taste.

We put water on fire and add spices - cloves, cinnamon, star anise. Ground spices should not be used so that the drink is not cloudy. Bring these ingredients for mulled wine to a boil, leave for 10 minutes.

Cut the fruit into cubes, pre-scalding them with boiling water. We use apple, orange, lemon. Add fruit to the spice broth. First, citrus fruits, they need to be slightly crushed so that the juice comes out. Followed by apples, then honey. You can replace it with sugar, but the taste and smell will already be different.

Now we pour in the wine, heat the drink and keep it at a temperature of sixty-seventy degrees. The main rule for making mulled wine is not to boil the wine.

Strain before serving. The drink is ready, you need to serve mulled wine with aromatic gingerbread cookies. Remember, in everything you need to observe the measure, and therefore you should not use more than two glasses of mulled wine in one evening.

German mulled wine

German mulled wine does not really intoxicate and rather gives more vivacity, does not relax. This, as they say, is his national peculiarity.

To prepare German mulled wine, you will need red wine, freshly squeezed orange juice and - a completely unexpected ingredient - this is strongly brewed and strained black tea. For a portion for two or three people, a glass of each of these drinks is enough. They should be mixed in one container and put on low heat.

Spices: cloves - a couple of sticks, to taste like anise and cardamom. They are added directly to the mixture heated over the fire.

The orange is cut into wedges and added to the warming drink. If you want to make the mulled wine stronger, you can pour fifty grams of rum, liqueur, brandy or whiskey into the aromatic mixture.

You can sweeten the mulled wine with a couple of spoonfuls of granulated sugar.

As soon as white foam appears, but the drink has not boiled yet, you can remove it from the heat and pour it hot into glasses, by all means filtering it.

It will be very good outdoors, while relaxing in nature, on a winter evening by the Christmas fire.

Non-alcoholic mulled wine

Wine is optional in the list of ingredients for mulled wine. For those who cannot afford alcohol, a soft drink can be prepared. As tart, aromatic and warming as with wine. The difference between this drink is that you can drink it even in the morning, going to school or work. This drink can be drunk by everyone - both the elderly and children. It contains many useful vitamins and minerals, tones up, improves immunity. In addition, the taste practically does not differ from mulled wine cooked with wine.

What ingredients are needed for non-alcoholic mulled wine? At home, it is usually prepared on the basis of fruit juices. You can use different options - cherry, grape, cranberry, any berry. Everything that you like will be to your taste and what your soul will reach for. By the way, if you want to experiment, then non-alcoholic mulled wine is the most suitable drink for this. Therefore, it can be prepared even on the basis of a mixture of different juices.

You will also need lemon zest (about a tablespoon), one orange and a fragrant apple. They need to be cut into slices and cooked directly in mulled wine.

You can not use only juice, as then the drink will be too cloying. Therefore, you need water.

Preparing an aromatic spice mixture

Mulled wine is an aromatic drink, spices are needed. By the way, in the store you can buy special ready-made sets of spices for mulled wine. However, it is best to prepare the aromatic herbal mixture yourself.

1. You will need two sticks of cinnamon, you can take ground cinnamon - about a teaspoon.
2. Fresh or dry ginger, you will need to grate very little to give the drink a slight pungency and a spicy smell.
3. You can use a pinch of ground cardamom. However, it is best to use whole grains.
4. Carnation - three pieces.
5. Allspice - two pieces.

Non-alcoholic mulled wine preparation technology

First, in a separate bowl, mix all the spices so that they can be immediately poured together into the boiling mixture. Peel fresh ginger, cut or rub on a fine grater. You will need a very small piece of it so that the ginger taste and smell does not interrupt the aroma of other spices and ingredients.

The apple and orange can be cut into small cubes or wedges. By the way, oranges cut into semicircular slices look much nicer in mulled wine. The zest is removed from the lemon. To do this, on a fine grater, only the uppermost layer of the yellow peel is lightly erased from a whole lemon. One or two teaspoons of zest will be enough.

We observe the main rule

When all the ingredients for making mulled wine have been collected, you can start cooking it. The most important rule - never to bring this drink to a boil - also applies to its non-alcoholic version. Cooking temperature is about 70 degrees.

A glass of water is poured into a prepared, clean, unenamelled metal saucepan. It is good if it is spring or filtered water, in which there are no extraneous odors - bleach, iodine, iron.

Spices are poured into the heated water. Now you need to wait a little for the spices to give their rich contents to the future drink. You can always adjust the required amount of spices to taste, enhancing the aroma.

When to add fruit

After the delicious smell spreads throughout the kitchen, you can add juice to the pan, and then fruit with lemon zest.

Then you need to make sure that the mixture does not boil in any way, but at the same time is hot enough. If all of a sudden this happened, you need to immediately remove the container from the heat, reduce it and put the mulled wine back on to heat up. It should be cooked for a quarter of an hour.

During this time, the fruits will have time to give the drink their taste and aroma, but at the same time they will not boil over.

Next, you can try mulled wine to see if you need to add a little sweetness to it, adding literally one or two teaspoons of sugar. If the taste is quite satisfactory, then you can turn off the heat under the pan, cover it with a lid and let the mulled wine brew for another fifteen minutes.

How to serve a soft drink

Mulled wine is poured into a decanter or glasses through a strainer so that the lemon zest and spices do not interfere with drinking it. On top of the glass, you can put a slice of orange and apple, add a cinnamon stick for beauty.

Christmas Non-alcoholic Spicy Mulled Wine

Children will surely love this drink. The recipe for ingredients for mulled wine provides for the following:

1. A liter of grape juice (red).
2. Half a liter of cranberry juice.
3. Two glasses of water.
4. A mixture of spices.
5. Two oranges.
6. Two tangerines.
7. A quarter cup of cranberries.

Spice set

Spices can be added to your taste, but it is better if it is three sticks of cinnamon with an asterisk star anise, a little raisins, three boxes of cardamom, three black peppercorns, ten sticks of cloves and a piece of dried ginger. You can also fresh, only half the size.

Christmas mulled wine preparation technology

We put a metal pan on a small fire, pour in the grape juice. Then add cranberry juice and water.

Add spices and heat to medium. We slowly warm up the future mulled wine. During this time, we will prepare the fruit. Cut one orange and one tangerine into four parts to squeeze out the juice. Cut the second orange into pieces along with the peel to add them to the finished mulled wine.

Squeeze the juice from the orange and tangerine quarters into a saucepan with your hands. Warm up a little more, without bringing to a boil. Then you need to remove the drink from the heat and leave to infuse for two to six hours. You can leave it overnight.

Then put on fire again, add citrus pieces and cranberries. Warm up well - and you can serve.

A fragrant, spicy, warming Christmas mulled wine is ready - it will add an excellent festive mood, will become a real highlight of a magical evening.

Field Notes

Wine... Choose full-bodied, rich red dry or semi-sweet wines such as Cabernet, Claret, Bordeaux, Zinfandel, Chianti, or, say, Kindzmarauli. You can use white wine, but that's not for everybody else. Fortified specimens that overload the drink with heavy alcoholic tones do not agree well with mulled wine - it is better to add a little port or Madeira to the ready-made mulled wine to add a little strength and complexity to it. Do not use wine that you would not drink just like that, but it makes no sense to spend money on expensive. We'll have to find a compromise. The Germans, for example, found it not in the search for an ideal in terms of "price-quality" ratio, but in the use of home-made fruit wines, in particular (see the links for the recipes of these wines). It is not uncommon for the British to use cider or even some local ale as a base, but that’s already. Spices... The traditional ones that have always been in it include cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. I also add a few black peppercorns and 1-2 star anise stars. Feel free to add your favorite spices to the drink, for example: fresh ginger root, bay leaf, allspice, white and pink pepper, cardamom, vanilla, fennel, anise, etc. You can add some herbs, such as a couple of sprigs of rosemary, mint, or sage. But do not overdo it - spicy soup is not about mulled wine. I always use spices whole, slightly smashed in a mortar, and I advise you to do the same. Fruits... The zest of oranges (or clementines) is here in the classics. You can add the zest of other citrus fruits, such as lemon or lime. In my first mulled wines, I added whole fruit, in slices, but then the drink acquires a compote taste and becomes a little sour than it should be. If this does not scare you (after all, excess acidity is easy to balance with a sweetener), you can add any available fruits and / or berries in slices to your warming drink: apples, pears, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. Sweetener... White sugar, or even better powdered sugar for quick dissolution, will be the most neutral source of sweetness. Brown cane sugar will add a little warmth to the drink and make it more expressive, but this is not for everybody's liking. Honey has always been a good alternative to sugar, but not every stomach can handle it when heated (I won't mention the dangers of honey heated above 40 degrees; although I did). Strong alcohol... Most traditional mulled wine recipes (in an international context) include fruit brandy or rum as additional alcohol. There are also various fortified wines such as port, Madeira and sherry. In England, the aforementioned fortified ginger wine is often used, which is supposed to be prepared at home. The range of spirits in mulled wines can be infinitely expanded: vodka, aquavit, calvados, whiskey, dry liqueurs such as