It's mulled wine and hot apple cider season in our house. Here on Bowen Island it has turned chilly and the kids are starting again to ask for spiced mulled apple cider. We served up our warm mulled apple cider (an old German family recipe) at our local apple festival a couple of weeks ago, with the apples in the mix freshly harvested from our orchard. We dry and add the apples to our mulled spice mix tea bags, along with organic oranges, Kandis sugar that we bring in from Germany, and our special spice mix. We had to be on top of harvesting the apples this year though because we have had an influx of apple thieving squirrels. Many apple trees on Bowen Island were completely cleared out over night by these clever little guys.
We recommend adding a bag of our mulled spice to a bottle of red - a simple red table wine works just fine, or you could go with a robust Merlot or Malbec - and simmer on low heat for at least 20 minutes to ensure the release of all the various flavours. Alternatively, a bag can be simmered on low in 2 liters of clear apple juice or organic apple cider. Kids love the flavour of of the spices, and it is a great hit at a Christmas party. Tis the season...
