MouthLondon - London Student & Youth Magazine
Recipe: Hot Spiced Fruit Punch (non-alcoholic)
I have heard that mulled wine is the subject of strong opinions for people who do drink alcohol. Some regard it as quintessentially Christmassy; others loathe it. If you, for whatever reason, take exception to mulled wine but still want something warm and festive to drink, you might like this punch. Even though it’s non-alcoholic, it’s still dark and interesting, containing a mixture of fruit juices, fruit tea, and just a little sugar and spice so you won’t feel like you’re inhaling a Christmas candle. Feel free to play around with this to make your ideal fruit punch.
(Alternatively, you could replace all the liquid with some fruity red wine to make mulled wine, but owing to my teetotality, I cannot guarantee that it will be as delicious as the non-alcoholic version.)
Adapted from this recipe
Ingredients
- . 750ml water
- . 3 bags any kind of berry flavoured tea
- . 250ml grape juice
- . 250ml cranberry juice
- . 250ml orange juice (I squeezed this from 2 large oranges)
- . 6 whole cloves, or ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- . 1 cinnamon stick, or ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- . 3 - 5 tablespoons caster sugar
Instructions
- Bring the water to the boil in a large saucepan. Immediately turn off the heat, add the tea bags, and leave to steep for 4 minutes.
- You should have a deep purple-pink tea. Fish out and discard the tea bags.
- Put the saucepan back on the heat, this time medium-low: you want to keep the liquid steamy hot and gently simmering, but never boiling.
- Add all the fruit juices and spices, stir to combine. Leave everything to simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar a spoonful at a time to the hot liquid, tasting as you go and stirring to ensure it dissolves completely.
- Alternatively, leave it unsweetened and let each person sweeten their own mug.
- Strain through a sieve and serve hot.
- Keep in the fridge.
Notes
Adapted from http://thoserootsandwings.blogspot.com/2011/11/german-kinderpunsch-recipe.html
Image courtesy of Pear Nuallak
About the author
I'm a self-conscious dilettante with a degree in History of Art from SOAS and UCL. I've lived in Greater London all my life, interrupted only occasionally by brief trips to Thailand. The result is that I speak Thai with a Croydon accent (and sometimes Croydon with a posh accent, but that's another story). Far from being a charming bilingual intellectual of the world who ably holds forth on every topic imaginable at dinner parties, most of what I actually say in either language is "Hello", "That's a nice painting", and "I'm hungry". My idea of a balanced diet is a bowl of Mama instant noodles in one hand and a chip buttie in the other, but I also don't mind a nice bit of duck confit or gaeng paa gai. I don't go to dinner parties, anyway. I like looking at interesting things. Thai contemporary art, Early Modern English portraiture, and lowbrow art have so far held my attention. I consume vast amounts of art and food, so I thought I would give something back by writing.
Further articles by Pear Nuallak →
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