Food for Festivals · No. 37 · 2012

Glühwein

Serves 4 small glasses, or 2 larger ones · Cooking about 20 minutes

Play episode9 min · MP3 13 MB

A simple, traditional German mulled wine: red wine warmed with cinnamon, cloves and lemon peel, sweetened with a little sugar and kept just below boiling.

Elle's mum gave her the recipe, from an old, dusty book of her German family's. It is the kind of thing sold at Christmas markets in Germany.

Serves: 4 small glasses, or 2 larger ones
Cooking: about 20 minutes

Method

0 of 5 steps

Put the water, cinnamon stick and cloves in a pan and warm over a gentle heat until the water begins to simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes to draw the flavour out of the spices.
Peel three long strips of lemon peel from top to bottom with a peeler and add them to the pan.
Simmer for a few more minutes, then stir in the sugar until it dissolves and bring back to a simmer.
Pour in the wine and stir. Warm it through until you can just see tiny bubbles, then turn off the heat. Do not let it boil, or the wine loses its flavour.
Take out the spices (or serve it without them), leave it for a minute to cool a little and serve.

Lovely. Time to eat!

Variations and notes

Notes

Use white sugar. The water is there to soften the drink, as hot wine on its own is too strong.

Some people add slices of orange, but this one is deliberately plain.

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