Chai Spiced Plum & Apple Warmer
Prep Time:
Up to two hours needed to mull the juice, then 5 minutes to finish.
About the recipe
Our Chai Spiced Plum & Apple Warmer is a very popular non-alcoholic choice for a deliciously juicy winter warmer!
Complementary plum and apple flavours create a mulled drink that's both sharp and sweet. It's mulled with a cinnamon, cardamom and clove blend that gives a lighter spice than many of the mulling spice mixes available.
The recipe calls for a good quality, locally pressed apple juice - the kind you find in farmer's markets and delis. The types of apples in your juice will change the result depending on whether the juice itself is sweet or sharp - this is why I've given approximate ratios of juice, syrup and hot water - you'll want to play around with this after mulling the juice to adjust to your own preference for sweetness.
Of course, you can easily turn this into a Chai Spiced Plum & Mulled Cider, by mulling a good quality cider instead. In this instance you'd be less likely to dilute to taste with hot water so I'd go for one that's dry or medium dry and 5% ABV or lower.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
One teabag of our prepared Chai Spiced Plum & Apple Warmer spice blend* per 500ml of apple juice
Alternatively, half a cinnamon stick, 10 cardamom pods and four cloves per 500ml of apple juice
A good quality local apple juice
15ml to 25ml little batch Chai Spiced Plum Syrup per serve
Hot water
Garnish ideas - a cinnamon stick, fresh apple and plum slices.
Serving a crowd? Approximate ratios per serve:
Allow around 175ml-200ml mulled apple juice, 100-125ml hot water, 15-25ml little batch Chai Spiced Plum Syrup.
*Our spice blend is available in our Chai Spiced Plum Winter Warmer Kit and our Winter Warmer Large Luxury Gift Box.
Preparation
Method:
Add the apple juice and spice teabags or loose spices to a pan, cover and heat slowly.
Once at a simmer, leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
If you're only making a small amount i.e. up to a litre then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for two hours so you retain most of the apple juice, then return to the heat to bring back up to serving temperature.
If you're preparing a larger batch - two litres or more - you can leave on a gentle simmer and infuse for an hour or so.
Once the juice is mulled:
Add 15ml to 25ml Chai Spiced Plum Syrup per serve. *
Then add hot water to dilute to your taste for both strength and sweetness.*
*You can add this to each serve at serving stage or to the whole batch ahead of serving.
If you have any left over, you can leave to cool, remove the spices and put in a container in the fridge for up to a week. Then just reheat as needed.
