December 9th and time for another christmas treat. What could be good for a Monday? What about wine? Wine it is - mulled wine.

Mulled wine aka gløgg is the scandinavian version of mulled wine, and has been a christmas tradition for over a hundred years.

Back home with my parents we always had store bought gløgg and I loved it. I didn't know better. When we moved to California, I had to figure out to make my own gløgg extract. This is what I came up with after testing for a few years.

It's a sweet spicy mix not too strong in alcohol. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Ingredients:

Extract:

750 ml water (3 cups)
4 tablespoons sugar
1 orange, zest and juice (add the juice after the extract has been strained)
1 lemon, zest
2 sticks of cinnamon
2 star anis
5 green cardamom capsules
10-12 whole cloves
7-10 whole allspice berries

Gløgg:

1 bottle red wine (Use a good red wine, it makes a better gløgg)
extract (to taste)
almonds, slivers
raisins (soaked in port wine or a stronger liquor)

Directions:

Put the ingredients for the extract in a saucepan, let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Strain the spices and zests. Add the orange juice to the extract.

Gløgg:

Soak the raisins in port wine or a stronger liquor as snaps or cognac.

Heat red wine and extract to 160-176℉ (70-80℃). Add the raisins and almond slivers.

Serve in a nice mug.

Enjoy