What Are Mulling Spices?
Mulled drinks tend to be hot, fragrant and flavorful. Mulling spices generally blend well with hot wine or cider and often include cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. If you want to mull wine or cider, add the spices and heat the mixture in a pot without boiling. Some people bundle mulling spices in a muslin pouch or strain the final beverage through cheesecloth, but others simply drop in whole, uncrushed or unpowdered spices such as cloves or cardamon and ladle out the drink without picking up the floating spices. Mulled drinks often contain lemon or orange zest or slices and sugar, as well as spices. Does this Spark an idea?
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Characteristics
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Mulling spices are added to beverages that already have strong flavors, so they need to impart their own distinct taste to stand out. Suitable spices are either kept whole or powdered and wrapped in muslin, which keeps particles from affecting the smoothness of the finished drink. Mulled drink is also evocative of the holiday season, especially as the fragrances of cinnamon and cloves rises from the cup.
Mulling Wine
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Mulled wine generally contains cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. Other spices that work well when mulling wine are allspice, ginger and mace. Grated nutmeg can also add to the drink's flavor and scent. For an exotic twist on mulled wine, add whole cardamon pods for a unique scent and taste.
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Mulling Cider
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Since cider has a sweeter, fruitier taste than most wine, it's more suited to a restricted set of spices. The typical mulling spices for cider are cloves and cinnamon. A stylish alternative to serving mulled cider is to pour it into a wine glass and stir with a cinnamon stick.
Keep Spices Fresh
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Spices lose their flavor over time. According to the Silk Road Spice Merchant company, whole spices last one or two years in the cupboard, but powdered spices lose their essential oils much sooner and stop imparting the depth of flavor necessary for a mulled drink in about six months. Freshly ground spices tend to have more flavor and a stronger scent than those that are dried and powdered.
History of Mulling Spices
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The history of spiced, hot drinks goes back to Roman times, when wine was best drunk younger because it lacked the smooth taste of wine produced in our modern world. The Romans diluted their wine before drinking it, adding spices to temper the roughness of young wine that could not be corked efficiently enough to keep out air. The mulled spice tradition continued in areas of the world that had cold weather, such as the United Kingdom, where a hot, fragrant drink could help alleviate the winter chill.
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References
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