Mulled Wine

My latest favourite winter tradition is Mulled Wine. I'd seen recipes for traditional mulled wine and always worried that I might ruin it. All those expensive spices! And it can't boil! And knowing me, I'd let it boil and the whole batch would be ruined, and all those pricey spices would be completely wasted. Well, an amazing friend of mine spent the first 8ish years of her life in Germany, and a couple weeks ago she got the recipe for traditional German mulled wine from her mom. We've been brewing batches up at least once a week, and it's been so much fun!!



NOTES:

Wine: You will want to get the cheapest, crappiest Merlot you can find! Good wine is wasted on this recipe, what with everything you add to it. It's a great way to get rid of a bottle of wine left open in the fridge for too long. We have been going to Trader Joes and buying the $3 bottles of Merlot which is really the only good use to put them to in my eyes.

Crockpot: Having a crockpot is the easiest way to do this. If you don't have one, don't fret: it's still possible, but it's a little bit higher maintenance. You don't want your mixture to boil, so just keep the heat on the stove really low. On a crockpot, you can turn it on low and let it sit and get drunk and never pay attention to whether or not it's simmering.

Spices: To keep things cheap, we have not been using whole vanilla beans or green cardamom pods. You can omit the vanilla and cardamom, or use 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and a pinch of powdered cardamom. We have tried many variations therein and each has a distinctly different flavour, so play around with it and have fun!

THE METHOD:
Per two bottles of wine, do it kind of like this:
Empty 2 Bottles of Cheap Merlot in to a pot
Slice 1 Navel Orange in to about five slices
Puncture the slices with a total of 8 to 10 Whole Cloves
Toss the oranges in to the wine along with
1/4 to 1/2 a cup Rum
1 cup Sugar
About 3 Whole Cinnamon Sticks, chopped if you like
About 4 Whole Cardamom Pods if you have them
1 crushed vanilla bean pod which is a waste of a vanilla pod, imo

If you're using a crock-pot, heat it on high for the first 30-40 minutes just to give it a boost, then reduce heat to low and let it sit indefinitely. I guess the Germans like to drink it scalding hot, but if it's just warm that's fine by me.

If you're using a pan on the stove, watch it carefully, because if it gets hot enough to simmer you're burning the alcohol off. We have never done this so I don't know how it affects the taste, but it will destroy the alcoholic properties which would be a bummer. just watch it and if you see more than just a few tiny bubbles, kick the heat down a little lower.

Drink, and enjoy!