German Mulled Wine, Glühwein

These days the German Christmas markets begin to open. There are thousands of them, one or more for each town and city, and everything is sold there, from food to decorations, lights or garlands. Small fairs are often set up, with ferris wheels and other attractions to distract the little ones. They are truly one of the great German traditions that they have exported all over the world. The American Christmas markets and even the Spanish ones were born as an imitation of the German ones.

The food that is sold is usually the typical German, where there is no shortage of sausages or potato pancakes with apple compote, while the drink that prevails is the mulled wine called Glühwein. Most of the adults go around the fair with a drink in their hand, which serves them for two purposes: to drink (of course) and to warm their hands.

The name is made up of Wein, wine, and Glüh, a reference to the hot irons with which wine was heated in ancient Germany. The pronunciation is English is more or less "gliu-vain".

It is sold already prepared - the supermarket shelves appear full of it when December approaches - but many prefer to make it at home to be able to choose how they flavor it and, above all, what quality of wine they want to use.

This drink, with its variations, is present in practically all European cuisines, from Finland to Spain.

INGREDIENTS (4/6 people):

• 1 liter (5 cups) of red wine of a certain quality
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 lemon
• 1 orange
• 5 cloves
• 4 tablespoons of sugar

Pour the wine into a saucepan over medium-low heat and add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, sugar, and orange and lemon peel (without the bitter white part). That is, the peelings must be from the entire skin and so fine that they are almost transparent.

Cover the casserole and let it cook, preventing it from boiling, for 1 hour. Then we remove from the heat and let it rest for an additional hour. Next we pour the wine into another container, removing the flavorings with the help of a strainer and, if necessary, heat again to serve.