Christmas is fast approaching and we all know that finding gifts to buy for your loved ones can be stressful. Shops are overcrowded, with ridiculously long queues at the tills and websites are full of deals on products that you don’t want to buy. If you’ve had enough of shopping for presents and feel like giving up, why not make your own unique mulled wine kit gift? It’ll save you money, give the recipients something to occupy themselves with and it’ll save you from losing the will to live, trudging up and down high streets.
Over Christmas and the winter months, mulled wine is the perfect treat for people to enjoy by a nice toasty fire. Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting that you just go and buy a bottle of mulled wine (where would be the fun in that?). Instead, why not make a spice kit, so that your friends or loved ones can mull the wine themselves? After all, food and drink always tastes better when you’ve taken the time to make it yourself.
To save you the hassle, we’ve come up with instructions below for how to create a mulled wine making kit. You could even include some heavy based quality glass drinking glasses with your gift, for the recipients to enjoy their creation in.
Mulled wine kit ingredients
Makes around 6 tablespoons, which is more than enough to fill this 130ml square glass jar and mull 6 bottles of wine.
Spice mix
- 6 x 3inch cinnamon sticks
- 6 x star anise (whole)
- 2 tablespoons of allspice berries (whole)
- 2 tablespoons of cloves (whole)
- 1 tablespoon of green cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
Gift assembly
- 1-6 x oranges
- 1-6 bottles of red wine
- 6 x 4inch x 4inch cheesecloth muslin squares
- 6 x 6inch lengths of twine or string
- Handwritten or printed directions
How to prepare the gift
Put the cinnamon sticks and star anise in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into small pieces (can be done with a pestle and mortar). Mix this with the other spices in a bowl then transfer the mix to a small jar. Include the cheesecloth squares with the gift, along with the twine (to tie the cheesecloth into sachets), bottle/s of wine, orange/s and instructions.
Directions to include with the gift
To make 1 bottle of mulled wine, you will need:
- 1 tablespoon of mulled spice mix
- 1 cheesecloth square
- 2 tablespoons of honey or sugar
- The zest and juice of 1 orange
- 1 bottle of red wine
- Twine or string
Directions
- Put 1 tablespoon of spice mix in the centre of a cheesecloth square, gather the corners then tie with the twine.
- In a large saucepan, combine the spices in the cheesecloth with honey or sugar, the zest and juice of 1 orange and a bottle of red wine.
- Heat the mixture until steaming (don’t allow it to boil), while stirring to help the sugar to dissolve.
- Pour into glasses and serve.