Apple mulled wine with dark rum

A warm and spicy mulled wine made with apple juice and spices such as ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. The white mulled wine is flavoured with dark rum or Calvados for extra flavour and warmth, but this can of course be omitted if you want to make it suitable for children.

Ingredients

Mulled wine base
400 ml cold-pressed apple juice
4 cm fresh ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
1 star anise
5 cardamom pods
4 tbsp honey
Mulled wine
2 apples
1.1 litres of cold-pressed apple juice
approx. 200 ml dark rum or Calvados
3 tbsp ginger
2 tbsp lemon juice

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Instructions

Mulled wine base

Pour the apple juice into a saucepan along with the thinly sliced ginger, spices and honey. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for 10–15 minutes. Then leave it to infuse in the saucepan for at least 30 minutes.
You now have the base for your apple mulled wine, which can be made well in advance and will keep for about a week in the fridge. Leave the spices in, as they will continue to infuse the flavour.

Mulled wine

Dice the apples into small cubes and toss with 2 tbsp lemon juice. Pour the mulled wine base through a sieve into a saucepan. Add the cold-pressed apple juice and bring slowly to the boil. When it is simmering just below the boil, add the lemon juice and squeeze the juice from the freshly grated ginger, either between two spoons or by hand.

Finally, add the rum and heat again until just below boiling point. Remove the apple mulled wine from the heat, divide the apple cubes between some heatproof glasses and finally pour the hot mulled wine over them.