Mulling Over the Christmas Spirit
Christmas doesn’t have the feeling of being Christmas like I knew it growing up as a child. No biggie perhaps but I worry when I feel like this? Why? Because it feels unnatural. I should ‘get’ the Christmas spirit, I should have it in buckets, I should have it by the truckload. It’s Christmas in 15 days yet I feel like I’m dragging my feet. No, correction, I AM dragging my feet!
As the years pass the occasion feels more like a whisper to me so that I have to move to the edge of my seat to hear what’s happening centre stage. The mirthful, ruddy-faced bloke decked out in red and who parents use as a handy distraction from frantic seasonal last minute just 15 days out from festive D-day isn’t doing it for me either. Not that he really did it for me anyway, but I digress. Perhaps I ought to mull wine these things over.
Mulled wine and variations thereof are popular right around the world. It’s usually red wine, combined with spices and typically served warm. Historically, wine often went bad. By adding spices and honey, it could be made drinkable again. Nowadays, it is a traditional drink during winter and especially around Christmas.
The word “mulled” simply means heated and spiced. Many liquids can be mulled, among them mead, cider and of course wine. Mulled wine is a traditional favourite in cooler locations although mulling goes well with various beverages no matter where you are. In Germany mulled wine is called “Glühwein”, literally translated it means glowing wine. Quite fitting when you come to think of it because most get a little “internal” glow after the odd tipple or two!
Local to Hawke’s Bay, certified organic business Quakebake (so called because the bakery premises are situated in an earthquake prone area) “re-create the flavour of German Gingerbread, where it is known as the “Lebkuchen”. It boasts a mix of spices which together with honey, nuts and citrus peel create this wonderfully unique flavour. Ironically it is not the ginger but the cinnamon which dominates the special spice blend in Middle Europe.
Their gingerbreads are a “handmade artisan delicacy, and only the finest organically certified ingredients are used to produce it. A special mix of five different spices creates that unique and distinct flavour. Whereas the hazelnuts give it crunch and a full bodied taste, and the citrus peel adds that chewy texture and freshness.
With the honey comes not only sweetness, but nutritious value through its enzymes, antioxidants and trace elements, as well as a deep earthy and herbaceous taste. And finally the traditional raising agent of the German bakers gives it its unique consistency. It’s the perfect accompaniment to mulled wine.
If you like something a little lighter, their Hazelnut, Saffron and Coconut or Coffee Bean Biscotti also work very well with hot drinks, especially if you like dunking. In Italy it’s quite common to enjoy them with a glass of wine. Although, be warned the sweetness interferes with the wine. A barely tolerable thought I suspect for rabid wine lovers.
Unlike your usual food and wine experience, where you eat a piece of steak for example and then sip your wine and enjoy the enhanced flavour sensation in your mouth, you may enjoy it more if you sip the wine first or dunk your biscotti and then enjoy the enhanced flavours. This is certainly the better way to go with the Saffron Biscotti.
It was Pavarotti I believe who said, “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating”. Never truer words were uttered. I agree. So, kapai te kai, bon apetit, eer goed eten, muy buena comida, muito boa comida … I’m done with mulling things over now. No more stewing, time to celebrate! 15 more sleeps.
