Mulled Wine

There is nothing like the smell of mulled wine about the house to really get me into a Christmas mood. It just fills the house with every scent that sums up this time of year. When the weather outside is frightful then a glass of this will warm the cockles of your heart. There is no point in boiling the life out of all your wine and boiling off the alcohol so that's why its best to make a syrup at the start then add the rest of the wine to it and just keep warm.

3-4 clementines

1 lemon

1 lime

1 cinnamon stick

1 nutmeg

2 star anise
3 cardamom pods

3 bay leaves

6 cloves

1teaspoon of vanilla essence

275g caster sugar

2 bottles of good red wine

Method

With a speedy peeler, peel large sections off the clementines, lemon and lime.

Add these to a large pot and squeeze out the juice of the clementines, lemon and lime with your hand. Add the sugar and a glass of red wine and turn up the heat. To this add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom pods, bay leaves, 1 star anise and grate in the nutmeg.

Stir in well and bring to the boil and rapid boil for about 5 mins or until thickened then turn the heat down to half and add in the rest of the wine along with the 2nd star anise.