VERIFIED CONTENTAuthor: Aleksandra Żyłowska-Mharrab, dietitian, food technologist, educator

Mulled wine is not only comfort food (or actually a comfort drink) when the weather outside does not encourage walks, but also a helpful remedy for colds and runny nose. Why is mulled wine a medicine? How to prepare delicious homemade mulled wine?

The fall and winter season is inherently associated with the scent of spices and an earthen, steaming mug of mulled wine in your hands. For this, maybe candles or a fireplace and a recipe for a long winter evening is ready. Mulled wine, apart from its taste, also has healing properties. Can they be considered a remedy for colds?

How to make mulled wine

There is no one correct recipe for mulled wine. How many people, so many unique blends. When preparing mulled wine, you can choose any type of wine - from sweet to dry. Although probably the most people choose semi-sweet or semi-dry. And red.

However, there will also be amateurs of mulled wine on white wine. It is certainly lighter and more refreshing than red wine mulled wine. Spices? Cloves and cinnamon are the basis. Plus anise, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, pepper, sometimes vanilla.

It is not necessary to add all the spices. Everyone can create their own perfect mulled wine, tailored to their tastes. Depending on the sweetness level you like, the mulled wine recipe can be enriched with honey and fruit. The most commonly used are oranges, but also mandarins, apples and plums.

Basic recipe for mulled wine:

  • 750 ml semi-sweet red wine,
  • 8 carnations,
  • 2 small cinnamon sticks,
  • 2 whole fruit cardamom,
  • 1 star anise,
  • 5 black peppercorns,
  • 1/2 teaspoons dried ginger,
  • 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg,
  • 1 tablespoon of honey,
  • 1 apple,
  • 1 orange.

Scald the orange and cut it into slices. Wash the apple, cut into eighths. Pour the wine into a pot, add all the spices and fruit, and set aside for an hour. Give the spice aromas time to munch on with your wine. Then put the pot on low heat.

When the wine is slightly warm, add honey (optional). Mix. Then cook, covered, for 10-15 minutes, but do not let it boil.Mulled wine loses some of its taste and he alth values. Pass through a fine strainer. Serve immediately with a slice of orange or apple.

Why does mulled wine help against colds?

Mulled wine can strengthen the body during the flu season and help reduce symptoms of the common cold. The pro-he alth properties of mulled wine are not, first of all, wine, but spices.

Although red wine also contains compounds from the group of antioxidants valuable for he alth, which strengthen the cells of the body and protect against oxidative stress, spices are the most important pro-he alth component of mulled wine.

There are essential oils in spices. They give excellent taste to mulled wine, and at the same time have antibacterial and antiviral properties. In addition, some of them have thermogenic properties, which we feel as a body warming effect.

So when drinking mulled wine, we are warmed not only by its temperature, but also by the active ingredients of spices. Essential oils help to clear the respiratory tract in rhinitis. Inhaling the hot vapors of mulled wine makes breathing easier.

What ingredients of spices are responsible for the action helpful in the case of a cold?

  • cloves- contain eugenol, an oil from the terpenes group, which has antibacterial properties, helps to clear the nose and cleanse the sinuses of excess secretion, and at the same time has warming properties,
  • cinnamon- cinnamon essential oils are mainly rich in cinnamaldehyde, have antibacterial and antifungal properties, help treat bacterial and fungal infections of the upper respiratory tract,
  • cardamom- in its essential oil it contains mainly alpha-terpineol and myrcene, has a warming and antibacterial effect,
  • anise- has antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, and also relieves sore throat and cough, its most important ingredient is anethole,
  • ginger- gingerol - the strongest component of ginger essential oil - is an effective agent in the fight against the RSV virus that causes upper respiratory tract infections; its vapors act as a clearing agent in case of a stuffy nose,
  • nutmeg- thanks to the mixture of terpenes, it has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

What about fruit? Do oranges added to mulled wine help fight colds?

Fresh fruit is a good source of vitamin C ( although much more than oranges, it is found in red pepper and parsley), but this vitamin is very unstable inhigh temperature. By heating the fruit, most of the ascorbic acid loses its properties. Therefore, you should not assume that while drinking mulled wine, you will get significant amounts of vitamin C.

Mulled wine not necessarily with alcohol

The warming properties of mulled wine or its helpful effects in the case of a cold are not due to the presence of alcohol, but spices and antioxidants.

You can enjoy the aroma of mulled wine and use its therapeutic power without alcohol. It is enough to buy a non-alcoholic wine (or more precisely - dealcoholized) from which the alcohol is evaporated.

The offer of non-alcoholic wines in brick-and-mortar stores is not very extensive, but you can get them in large supermarkets and liquor stores, and sometimes at discounters. However, in online stores, the choice is really wide.

Mulled wine based on non-alcoholic wine is prepared in exactly the same way as in the version with alcohol. Add spices, maybe a little honey to taste and heat it up to non-alcoholic wine.

Mulled wine improves your mood

Mulled wine improves your mood and it has nothing to do with the alcohol content. At least, alcohol is not the only compound in mulled wine that has a positive effect on a better mood. It is worth mentioning here that alcohol is actually a depressant, it relaxes you only for a short time and then increases your mood.

When struggling with a difficult period in life, it is definitely better to reach for mulled wine without alcohol, but with a large portion of anise and nutmeg.

Both of these spices have proven antidepressant effects in mild stages of the disease and improve mood. In addition, drinking a warming drink with an overwhelming smell is simply pleasant and gives relief.

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He alth