Mulled Cider: Guide For The Perfect Winter-Special Apple-Based Cocktail
The festive season is knocking on everyone's door. Traditional drinks like mulled cider cocktails are made in every household celebrating holidays. Made with a mix of apple cider and spices like cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and sometimes orange peel, this beverage has sweet and spicy notes with layered undertones of floral aroma. It can be made alcoholic or non-alcoholic according to preferences, and the flavours can be enriched by experimenting with different sweeteners and ingredients.
Mulled cider cocktails have a versatile nature, and it can adjust to any level of sweetness and spice according to your preference. When customising the drink, it is an easy large batch recipe which can help to serve a whole festive gathering.
Mulled Cider: How To Make It
- To start preparing this drink, you will need to prepare the spices first that you need to boil.
- Simply take up three cinnamon sticks, 4 to 6 cloves, three whole allspices, and 2 to 3 star anise. If you want the extra spoon of spice including any kind of citrusy garnish or zest may be paired to add the flavour.
- Orange or lemon peel can add a bitter after-note to the drink. One can select from a variety of sweetness when it comes to the drink from honey, brown sugar, coconut sugar and more.
- Once all the ingredients have been collected; bring the cider to simmer over medium heat making sure that it does not boil.
- When simmering, reduce the heat to low and let the cider infuse for at least 20 to 30 minutes; occasionally stirring. The longer it simmers, the more flavour profile is increased- depending on the need of the layers you can continue to simmer without boiling or remove it from the heat.
- Next you can add 30 ml of your preferred spirit rum or whisky for one serving.
- Once everything is mixed, give it a good stir and strain out all the spices to serve hot; garnish with oranges or cranberries for a festival look including thyme and mistletoe.
The Technique To Make Traditional Mulled Cider
The traditional method of making these mulled cider cocktails relies highly on influencing the flavours without overcooking the ingredients.
The blending of spices needs a special technique known as mulling the spices, which requires heating the spices with a certain base until it is blended completely without boiling it, keeping the flavours well-balanced and hot.
Key spices can include bay leaves, basil, cardamom, star anise, cloves and more, as mentioned in the recipe. However, some non-traditional ingredients can be added to make the drink more flavourful, such as ginger powder, cocoa and paprika, which can also be used to enhance the spice and flavour. Patience while combining all the spices is important to make the drink the most flavourful.
Tips To Make A Great Mulled Cider
One needs to make three basic hacks to ensure the best flavour profiles with the drink:
Always combine complementary ingredients to make sure that after-taste and flavour notes are similar to each other, not contrasting or overpowering. Bitter notes will go well with earthy tones.
On the other hand, sharp sweetness will go well with flavours that have a mild sweet taste. Experimenting with the drink while keeping these flavour profiles and combinations in mind is important to creating an ideal mulled cider cocktail
Patience, as mentioned, is another important highlight of the drink as it takes time to boil. Boiling in high heat to blend the spices faster will disturb the flavour profile, making it taste burnt and bitter. The true flavour lies in the path of time, where slowly infusing the flavours can make it more complex and flavourful, giving sweetness even without adding a sweetener.
Garnishes and sweeteners also add complexity and visual aid to the drinks. One needs to make sure that the drinks are thoroughly contributed and thought through before throwing simple ingredients together. For example, a presentation of a drink will better if orange zest or peel is added to the drink, complementing the undertones.
Festive beverages are individually based on signature recipes that are passed down from previous generations. Experimenting and adding suitable flavour palette according to comfort is the true meaning of a festive drink. Simple customisations and modifications can be made to the original drink with base ingredients to enhance the taste to anyone's liking, creating a nostalgic moment.
Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
