Pomegranate Mulled Cider is the Holiday Drink You Need This Year

You can keep your hot cocoa bombs. Hot apple cider is the way to go. And when you throw in a few spices, some pomegranate juice and honey, well, all I can say is let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

This elevated mulled cider is the perfect party sipper. (‘Party’ also means reading in your favorite chair while it snows outside.)

I own a small, 2-quart Crock-Pot that spends most of the year in my cupboard. (You know, one of the ones you need a stool to access because you don’t very often?) But as soon as fall starts teetering toward winter, I pull my trusty slow cooker out, and it lives on my counter until mid-March.

It’s filled, almost daily, with hot apple cider. When it isn’t filled with cider, it’s hot mulled wine.

There is nothing so wonderful as sipping steaming hot cider from your favorite chipped Christmas mug, long into the winter.

This particular hot cider was created when I started fermenting a few batches of hard cider for Christmas. I bought a large bottle of POM to make a spiced pomegranate hard cider and had nearly half the bottle left over. Naturally, it went into the next batch of hot cider in my slow cooker. And that was that.

I’ve been making this several times a week since Thanksgiving. It’s perfect for the family to help themselves throughout the day, for when friends drop in (yes, people still do that), or for your next holiday party.

Traditional mulled cider is made by simmering apple cider with mulling spices, such as cinnamon, cloves and star anise.

(Check out my mulling spices recipe here. It makes a great gift!) Orange peel or sliced fresh oranges add a bright citrusy note to your cider.

An extra-large tea ball is the perfect tool for mulling! (I love mine.)

But the pomegranate changes it entirely, adding just the right amount of tart to a drink that can sometimes be cloyingly sweet. And the deep red juice creates a lovely rose-colored punch.

Now, I don’t know about you, but the thought of peeling a pomegranate and removing the seeds is right up there with doing my taxes. So, we’re going to skip that nonsense because the holidays are stressful enough as it is. Get yourself a bottle of POM 100% pomegranate juice. It will make your life so much easier.

A Note About Cinnamon

You may not realize it, but most cinnamon sticks that you find in the grocery store are cassia cinnamon, known for its spicy scent and flavor. The thicker bark of cassia cinnamon can be too astringent in mulling spices, often leaving an acrid aftertaste if simmered for too long or too hot.

(While safe in moderation, cassia cinnamon has higher levels of coumarin, which, when ingested too often or in large doses, can harm the liver, cause upset stomachs and may interact with certain medications.)

Yes, you can still use cassia cinnamon sticks if that’s what you have on hand, but I highly recommend picking up some Ceylon cinnamon sticks. It’s my favorite cinnamon for cooking and baking.

Ceylon cinnamon from Sri Lanka is a much sweeter cinnamon, that’s slightly milder in flavor and is much easier to work with owing to its thinner bark. This is the brand I use, and I always have a bag in my cupboard.

You can easily tell which cinnamon you have by looking at the end of the stick.

Ceylon cinnamon sticks are made up of many layers of bark inside the roll, and when broken, they’re light and flaky. Cassia cinnamon sticks are denser and are a single, thick piece of bark rolled in on itself. They are difficult to break apart.

If you use cassia cinnamon, you’ll want to be sure you don’t simmer your cider for much longer than fifteen minutes.

A Family-Friendly Holiday Drink…or Not

While I love a good Christmas cocktail or a boozy punch at a get-together, when there are smaller party members and adults who abstain from alcohol, it’s nice to offer a drink that can stand on its own without alcohol.

Hot mulled cider is great because it’s just that. Great all on its own. But it’s incredibly easy to doctor it into some seriously delicious tipple.

Add a splash of your favorite spirit, with spiced rum and cognac being the obvious choices. But even whiskey and gin play nice with this drink.

Party Perfect Presentation

When having friends over or entertaining for a crowd, I like to set up a self-serve cider station. I use my little mulling slow-cooker for smaller gatherings, but if there is a crowd, I bust out my 6-quart slow-cooker.

If you’re setting up your slow-cooker on a buffet or other non-heat-safe surface, don’t forget a trivet.

Place appropriate glasses or mugs to one side and provide a ladle and spoon rest (that ladle will get sticky fast). To the other side of the slow-cooker, put your spirit options, garnishes like extra cinnamon sticks and orange slices and cocktail napkins to deal with dribbles and keep surfaces clean.

I like this mulled cider recipe because you can make a couple of large batches ahead of time and store them in the fridge. Then reheat the cider as you need it for your party.

Ingredients:

• ½ gallon of apple cider
• 2 cups POM pomegranate juice from concentrate
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 12 whole cloves
• 1 sliced clementine or half a sliced orange
• Honey

Instructions:

1. Pour half gallon of apple cider and pomegranate juice into large saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat.
2. If using tea ball, crush cinnamon sticks and put cinnamon and whole cloves into tea ball, then immerse in the cider; otherwise, add the whole spices to the cider. Add clementine or orange slices.    
3. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for fifteen minutes or longer if you want a heavily spiced cider. Taste frequently.
4. Remove from heat and add honey to taste. You don’t need a lot. This is already quite sweet.
5. Pour into slow-cooker and set to warm, or ladle into mugs and serve immediately.

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Tracey Besemer