- Hey friends.
Is there really a better smell wafting through your house
than that of mulled wine?
I'm gonna say, "No," because it's pretty much
a Yankee Candle that you can drink afterwards.
I'm about to show you how to make a really simple
and really impressive mulled wine
to share at your next holiday party.
(happy instrumental music)
But first, let's talk about the history of mulled wine
and how it became associated with Christmas
and the holidays.
Mulled wine goes back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans,
who would heat up leftover wine with spices and fruits
to kind of relive the experience without, you know,
having dull, stale wine.
We actually have an Ancient Roman recipe
called conditum paradoxum, which uses wine, honey,
bay leaves, black pepper, dates, and saffron.
That's not the recipe I'm gonna make for you today,
but we have it.
Mulled wine gained even more popularity in the Middle Ages,
when the water wasn't particularly safe to drink,
and the spices used were thought to bring health benefits.
Fast-forward to 1843, when Charles Dickens put mulled wine
in his classic novel, "A Christmas Carol,"
which made mulled wine the official drink of the holidays.
Which brings us back to today, to right now,
on this very show, which you should really
consider subscribing to where we're going
to be making mulled wine.
And the good thing about mulled wine is that it's so simple.
It's fully customizable.
You don't even have to use the fruits that I'm using.
These are just what I like.
So, we're gonna start with some sliced orange.
Slice off that part.
Don't need that.
Slice it in some nice rings.
You can put these little nubs in your wine as well,
they're just not as pretty,
or you can just like squeeze it into your mouth.
I won't judge you.
Now, we're gonna move on to kumquats.
These are so adorable.
They're a little sweet, a little sour,
and because they're so small, you can eat the rind.
I'm gonna do about six to eight of them.
Now we're gonna move on to apple.
I like these small apples for this purpose.
They're just adorable.
Since they're so small, I may use two of these,
but if do you use a regular apple, I would just use one.
I'm cutting through the apple core and all,
just because a slice like this is so pretty.
So, all that remains is just scooping and pouring,
so let's get started.
You can use any wine that you have leftover,
preferably a dry red would be great for this.
White wines do not work well for mulled.
(wine pouring)
I'm doing two, two full bottles in here.
We're feedin' a crowd.
Okay.
So now what we do is just put things in here.
I'm turning my burner on to medium,
just so I'm not like vigorously boiling my wine.
At this point, we'll put in whatever sweetener
we're gonna add.
Now I'm adding honey.
This is about two thirds to three quarters of a cup
for two bottles of wine.
You can use white sugar.
You can use maple syrup, can use brown sugar.
(whisking)
So, I'm gonna whisk this up, start to melt that honey
and really dissolve it into the wine.
And, I mean, that's like it for that.
I'm gonna add a little bit of brandy to this.
It just kind of adds to that warmth
and that overall coziness.
For these two bottles of wine,
I'm gonna use about a third to a half a cup.
Now, let's add the fruit.
Let's go with our apple.
Blip, bloop, plop.
And then we'll add the kumquats.
Shoo be doop.
And then our orange slices.
Plump, ploop.
Let's continue with some cranberries.
And you can use fresh or frozen for this.
A little bit of pomegranate seeds.
And now we'll add our spices.
Cinnamon always, because cinnamon's my favorite.
And now we'll add some star anise.
And look at how beautiful they are.
These are gonna look awesome, and they add a little bit
of a fennel kinda flavor, a little licorice.
This isn't a black licorice, this is more
like a really refined Twizzlers licorice.
So, we're gonna let this simmer on like a medium heat.
It's gonna be a low simmer
because we don't want to destroy our beautiful fruit.
This is smelling amazing.
I think I'm gonna pour myself a glass.
It's been in here long enough.
Looks like I'm gettin' a lot of fruit here.
So, I'm gonna get, try to get as much wine as I can.
There we go.
Let me know in the comments what you like
to put in your mulled wine, whether spices,
whether fruits, I'd love to know.
Until next time, cheers.