Merry Christmas 2020: Check story behind Mulled wine, recipe of 'holiday season potion'

Just as people mark festivities on the eve of Christmas in the frosty temperature of December, families tonight will be busy preparing traditional Christmas-themed cuisines near burning logs, singing Jingle Bells, anticipating Saint Nick’s arrival on reindeers with a glass of spicy ‘mulled’ wines near their sparkling Christmas trees. However, this prompts one to think the significance of the mulled wine in the Christmas celebration and the reason this spicy potion is related to the Christmas holiday season worldwide. 

History of ‘Mulled Wine’ 

During Christmas, the craze for the mulled wine sweeps across every household but the tradition was originally started by the Romans and dates as far back as the 2nd century. As Romans had conquered much of Europe back then, they popularised trading of the ‘special’ heated wine in an assortment of spices to feel warmth and battle the chilled, biting winters. Throughout Europe and the middle ages, the Romans mixed wine in traditional spices and drank in goblets. The bottles were sold across the region. The special ‘spicy wine’ was also popular in fighting ailments and keeping sickness at bay.

[Mulled wine bottles. Credit: Pixabay]

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Recipe’s evolution as Christmas tradition

As the mulled wine was gaining trend across Europe, Sweden, much later, embraced the tradition with a slight tweak. Swedish mixed Rhen wine with sugar, honey, and spices to make a potion called the ‘Claret’, or mixed wine with milk and heated it with spices in a second variation called the Lutendrank, according to sources of medieval archives. Later in 1609, the term glögg was adopted worldwide, which was changed to cognacs-glögg in 1800.

By 1890s, the drink found its association with Christmas tradition after wine merchants traded barrels and bottles of their similar recipes depicting Santa Claus. In the 21st century, people made their own version of mull wine with red and white wines, and sangria blends, and vermouth, with spices and mulled cider.  While Scots mix nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, orange, lemon, cardamom, and fennel seed to make mull wine, Bulgarians mix wine with honey and peppercorns, Hungarians prefer Amaretto. 

[Mulled wine heated. Credit: Pixabay]

[Credit: Pixabay]

Make your Mull Wine at home

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for the holiday season drink that one can easily prepare at home and celebrate among families and friends. 

Ingredients:

• 750 ml (1 bottle) red wine
• 1 liter of unfiltered apple juice
• 4 whole cloves
• 3-star anise
• 2 long cinnamon sticks
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• Orange peel to decorate
•  

[Ingredients of Mulled Wine. Credit: Pixabay]

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan or preserving pan and heat it gently, preventing it from boiling. After the ingredients blend and are heated, turn off the fire and remove the potion in a tumbler. Cover the recipe with a lid and leave it overnight to infuse for its spices and the flavour to form and mix. When ready to serve, heat the potion once again without boiling it, and fill goblet from large tureen with a ladle. Serve with apple pies or cakes. 

[Mulled warm wine for the Christmas tradition. Credit: Twitter/@HoneyBerryLtd]

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