Feasts, cakes & ale, sacred foods for the festivals and potlucks are all an integral  of the pagan life.  This page is full of wonderful recipes that will make the food and drink at your next gathering memorable.  If you have a recipe you'd like to share, just email it to us.

   Nothing is nicer than curling up with something warm on a cold winter's evening.  The tradition, known as mulling, of adding spices and fruit to heated wine or cider goes back hundreds of years.  While there are commercial preparations of mulling spices and even "instant" spiced cider on the market,  making your own blend allows you to tailor it to your particular taste, is cheaper, and makes a great gift for Yule.
  For mulling spices, it is best to use whole or slightly cracked spices rather than the crushed or ground varieties.  Ground spices are much stronger tasting, lose their potency faster in storage, and are harder to strain out of your beverage.
  Following is a list of the most common spices used in mulling, feel free to experiment with others to create your own special blend.

Dried Citrus Peel:  Orange is the most commonly used, but lemon, lime and grapefruit can also be used.  Each has it's own particular bouquet and flavor.  It is quite easy to prepare these by simply saving the peels from the citrus you  eat yourself and drying them on a paper towel in a cold oven, or on a cooling rack.  This allows the peel to dry completely, which must be done before storage to prevent mold.

Cinnamon:  Crack one or two sticks into your mixture.  This is a very powerful spice, so don't use too much.

Whole Allspice:  This spice is best used whole and sparingly.

Nutmeg:  Best in cracked form, used sparingly.

Dried Ginger:  Use shredded, dried root.

Star Anise:  Lends and unusual licorice flavor.  Best used whole.

To mull your wine or cider:  Put wine or cider in saucepan over low medium heat.  When mixture is warm, place spice mix in tea ball and let steep for 10-20 minutes to taste serve warm.  For even more flavor alternatives, try adding sliced apple or citrus fruit and raisins to the pot.  Serve warm.

                          Katya Kuchner



 
 
 
 
 

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