I had a forehead-slapping moment at the grocery store this week. It's finally turned a bit blustery and rainy in Seattle, and so many of us have been welcoming the fall weather with open arms. So I found myself gravitating towards the bulk tea aisle, where I picked up a jug of apple cider and got sucked into buying an over-priced satchel of mulling spices. When I returned home, my boyfriend chided me for falling into the "mulling spice trap."
Apparently, many people make the same mistake of buying the cute packages when the spice mixture is so easy to make on your own! So I challenged him to a taste-off. If it's so darn easy to make, let's see what yours tastes like. Well, since a bit of time has passed I can tell you now: his was pretty darn good.
The thing with mulling spices is there is no hard-and-fast rule or formula to follow. Most of them have cinnamon stick, cloves, a few chunks of star anise and maybe a little citrus zest or peppercorns. You can experiment with the proportions, and really, you don't even need cheesecloth or any fancy materials to make it happen: you can simply warm your cider along with a bunch of loose spices and drain the whole thing at the end. A bonus: a splash of apple-flavored brandy like Calvados at the end brings the whole thing together.
Have you made your own mulling spices?
For Further Exploration:
• Homemade Mulling Spices - She Knows
• Holiday Mulling Spices - Cooking Channel
• Mulling Sachets - Martha Stewart
Related: How to Make Your Own Flavored Coffee
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Love this post. I haven't made my own, but yesterday, I needed a cup of cider for a marinade. I didn't want to go to the store and happened to have mulling spices, so I used them with a juice box full of Mott's for Tots. Could've been worse! Next time, I'll experiment with making my own.
I've been making my own mulling 'bouquet garni' for years. Okay. Decades. One of my favorite spices to emphasize in them is clove. It can be overwhelming, if you're not careful, but in a good proportion, it can be a wonderful & timely relief of sore throats. I discovered this as a teen, while Christmas caroling (yeh - music geek here). One of the stops we made was at a home where a party was going on, & we were invited in to warm up a bit & to share their buffet. The clove was a bit heavy in the cider, & I noticed it soothed my throat. Woot! Great tasting, warm & festive, & soothing to a scratchy throat? Talk about hitting the jackpot!
I just put the cider in a pan on the stove and sprinkle on some cinnamon, allspice, ground clove and/or nutmeg. Sometimes ginger. Whatever I'm feeling like that day.Then I heat it up. I don't bother straining it--it's all edible. It's different every time. But that's not a bad thing, is it?
Pretty sure picked up a sachet, not a satchel. Then again, you were in the bulk aisle, so maybe they sell their mulling spices by the satchel :)
Perhaps, the reusable teabags that have been popular in the past or a metal tea ball/ herb basket to hold the spices. i have refused the local spice shop's encouragements to use their pre-made blends for mulling. We have a wassail recipe we love. Dumped the various spices into a large herb basket for easy removal later.
2-3 quarts apple cider
3 cups or 1 can frozen orange juice
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup pineapple juice
1 stick cinnamon
whole cloves
raw honey to taste
Simmer 2 minutes and serve hot.
[Works well in a crock pot, but leaving in the cloves can make the drink more spicy/bitter. this is a favorite sick drink: made without the honey and guzzled. When you notice it needs honey, you are recovering.]
I am intrigued by adding the orange peel and additional spices in the links. Off to research in my spice books.
I could see a tea ball/herb basket + a homemade blend of spices = great gift.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone use star anise in their mixes?
I have stinking boatloads of the stuff. It was cheaper to buy a pound bag off amazon then to buy a little jar from Safeway, now I have galaxies worth.
I was totally baffled when I learned, at like 19, that mulling spices were sold packaged together. It never even occurred to me that this might actually be the way the majority of people do it? I find that pretty ridiculous, but I buy those little trays of frozen garlic and basil cubes they sell, so I can't really fault other people's culinary laziness.
Star anise is very good in it. Mine usually includes cinnamon sticks, star anise 1 - 3 whole stars, whole cloves, whole allspice, fresh-grated nutmeg, & a few slices of fresh ginger. If I have any, the peel of an orange or tangerine.
From the research in my cookbooks and the links above, there's quite the range of blends.
Can include:
cinnamon, cardamom pods, peppercorns, allspice, star anise, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, mace, nutmeg, orange zest/peel and lemon zest/peel.
I'm thinking I need to up my blend in my favorite wassail..... I noticed many folks use the blend for spiced wine, sangria, spiced tea-hot and iced, barbecue sauce and so on.
@Cei-face: that's also an ingredient in the pho broths.......
I was going to say the same thing about Pho! It's amazing made from scratch. (It's one of the recipes I'm using to slowly work through all the cheap star anise I picked up in Europe. No idea why, but it's way cheaper there.) But spiced teas and such are another great way to use it up.
But I like this recipe for chicken Pho: http://steamykitchen.com/139-vietnamese-chicken-noodle-soup-pho-ga.html