Mulled cider

Obviously you don’t really need to be told how to mull cider as like us you’ll just explore the deeper regions of your spice cupboard and gather together whatever seems to conjure up memories of Christmas. Then you’ll discard anything that is more than a year out of date, guess how much of the remaining you’ll need to conjure up a Yuletide twang and tip it into the awaiting vat of Cider. Think of this as more of a reminder and a nudge to expand your mulling horizons above and beyond the traditional sub-four quid bottle of red plonk.

WARNING: This posting has not been edited by my educated co-blogger and so may contain all sorts of grammmatical errers.

Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 10 – 15 minutes
Makes: a litre
Skill level: easy

Ingredients

• 2 500ml bottles of good strong dry cider
• 3 cardamon pods – squashed
• a lump of ginger about the size of severed top joint of a thumb
• the rind of an orange (pith removed)
• 1 star anise
• 10 cloves
• mixed spice – ½tsp
• half an apple – thinly sliced
• a good slug of rum/brandy

Start by studding the orange peal with the cloves.

Place all the ingredients (apart from the rum/brandy) in a saucepan and bring o the boil.

Turn down the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Add the gin/brandy, continue to heat for a couple more minutes and serve.

Verdict: A worthy addition to the long list of spiced Christmas novelty booze.

Drink: A useful starting point to an evenings drinking

Entertainment: Dad’s Army. RIP Clive Dunn.