Cocoa Shell Mulled Wine

We have been experimenting with our soon-to-be-released cocoa shell tea as of late and we have had great success with the mulled wine experiment! We had a feeling that the cocoa husk would bring a richness and a depth to the mulled wine mix and we were not wrong!

We have been wanting to make a chocolate mulled wine for a long time now and we can confirm officially that it is 100% worth the wait!

Not only is it delicious, but it is incredibly easy to make!

This is the perfect addition to any festive activity! 

Equipment: 

  • Large, deep saucepan

  • Large wooden spoon for stirring

Ingredients:

  • 2 x bottles of Malbec (doesn’t specifically have to be Malbec, but we used an Argentinian Malbec for ours and it was delicious!)

  • 3 large oranges (2 for the mulling and 1 for serving)

  • One lemon

  • Two apples

  • 1 x tablespoon of whole cloves

  • 4 Cinnamon sticks

  • 2 inch thick piece of fresh ginger, sliced. 

  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • 3 tablespoons coconut sugar

  • 2 tablespoons cocoa shell 

  • ½ teaspoon whole peppercorns

  • ½ teaspoon dried crushed chilli 

Method: 

  1. Slice the apples horizontally (so that the core is in the centre of each slice).

  2. Slice the oranges and the lemon in half horizontally.

  3. Pour the two bottles of wine into your large saucepan and turn the hob onto a low heat.

  4. Add the oranges, lemon, apples, cocoa shell, cinnamon sticks cloves, ginger, nutmeg, peppercorns and chilli flakes. Allow to simmer for ten minutes (do NOT let it boil!).

  5. Add your coconut sugar and stir well. 

  6. Taste the mixture - mulled wine can vary greatly depending on your individual taste - you may wish to add more sugar, extra spices, more cocoa shells etc etc. If you feel like adjusting the recipe, now is the time to do it - so that the added spices have time to simmer with the rest of the mixture.

  7. Once the flesh of the orange has started to look like a blood orange, and is slightly mushy (technical term), turn the heat off. 

  8. Taste the mix again and add anything extra you may need accordingly. 

To serve: 

  • Either serve straight away using  a ladle and a fresh orange slice in each cup OR  -

  • If you are transporting the wine, let it cool completely in the saucepan, then sieve the wine back into the two bottles. Bring orange slices with you and slice up just before serving. To re-heat the wine, simply pour into a pot and heat gently on a low heat.

We will be releasing more ways to use our cocoa shell in the new year, but we just had to release this recipe during the festive season! This mulled wine is still great without the cocoa shell, but we just wanted to give you some inspiration!

There are no rules that say you CAN’T have mulled wine when it’s not Christmas, and we will definitely be making more of this in the new year!

Happy Christmas!!

Lucocoa ChocolateComment