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Non-alcoholic mulled wine with pomegranate juice

Non-Alcoholic Mulled "Wine" with Pomegranate Juice

An alcohol-free take on the popular winter drink. It's loaded with vitamins and the essential oils of citrus, cloves, star anise, vanilla, and allspice — and it's quite easy to make.

Plyusha

Recipe author

Non-alcoholic mulled wine with pomegranate juice

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pomegranate juice

Oranges

Lemons

Limes

Vanilla bean

Allspice

Star anise

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 8 % 1 g

Fats 0 % 0 g

Carbohydrates 92 % 12 g

56 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

Gather your ingredients.
Step 2:

Pour a quart (1 liter) of pomegranate juice into a saucepan. Don't add any water. Set it over low heat — on my electric stove I always use setting 3 out of 9. Don't add sugar.
Step 3:

Slice the orange, lemon, and lime into rounds and drop three slices of each into the pot, then add the allspice, cloves, vanilla bean, and star anise. Let it all steep over low heat for 50-60 minutes. Never let the juice come to a boil or even start to bubble — if it does, the whole drink is ruined.
Step 4:

Your fragrant hot pomegranate-citrus mulled "wine" is ready!

The word "mulled wine" comes from the German Glühwein, literally "glow wine" or hot wine. Traditionally it was heated wine steeped with spices, but there are many variations now — including alcohol-free ones that are even fine for kids. I don't drink alcohol at all, but I used to love a fragrant hot mulled wine, so I started hunting for non-alcoholic versions and testing them with different juices. My favorite turned out to be the pomegranate version. It has a rich, sweet flavor with a pleasant tartness from the spices and citrus. Most recipes call for cinnamon and cloves, often star anise and citrus, and sometimes ginger and honey. It's best to use whole spices rather than ground ones — ground spices make the drink cloudy and hard to strain. Go easy if you have a sensitive stomach, since the pomegranate juice isn't diluted with water and there's citrus and spice in the mix, and skip it if you're allergic to any of the ingredients. Together, all these components make for a genuinely nourishing, deeply flavorful drink.