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Warm warming drinks

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Ginger'n'cinnamon in hot apple juice, mmmmm.

It's getting cold up north: we've had several nights of -5 C or colder (the tropicals in my garden are all dead, dead, dead), and we've had several weeks of rime or hoar-frost in the mornings - except not this week, 'cos of the autumn heatwave.

So to stave off the cold here's a few nice warming (and warm) teas'n'things:

  • Put 1-2 slices of ginger in the bottom of a mug, add a tiny bit of cinnamon, pour 2 dl hot apple juice over, let steep for 5-10 minutes, drink. Yum!
  • For a larger batch use 5-8 slices of ginger, add a cinnamon stick or two, and pour 1 l hot apple juice on top. Serve while still warm.
  • Here's my favorite garlic drink, for flu season: slice up one garlic clove, add 1 tblsp honey and 1 tblsp lemon juice, pour 2 dl boiling water over, let cool to drinkable temperature, drink. Yum! This is so good that I start making it the minute flu season is here.
  • It's possible to make a garlic-lemon-honey thing to keep in the fridge, but that one starts to taste of old garlic almost immediately (yech): crush the cloves of 2-3 garlics, add the juice of 2-3 lemons, add 450-500 g honey, mix, pour into a glass jar, close the lid (else everything in your fridge will taste of garlic), keep in the fridge. Pour 1 cm into a tall glass, add hot water, drink as needed. Yech.

Then there's all the various mulled juices, wines and rums; there's lots of recipes all over the place, so I'll just add these:

  • Pour 1 cm black currant (or black elder) juice (homemade, that is, concentrate) into a tall glass, add 2-3 cm dark rum, add hot water, serve. If the black currant juice is too sour add some sugar or honey. Delicious.
  • For an alcohol-free spiced drink to use instead of mulled wine, with kids and people with cars, I add the usual spices (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom etc.) to diluted hot black currant juice.


I'm sure I'll think of other things to ingest when it's -20 C outside and cold cold cold indoors (I'm in an old wooden house, and it's impossible to get the basement warm - too many chinks in the thick stone walls down there), but those ^ are nice for now.

Of course, if any of you have good warming drinks, let's hear about them; if I can find the ingredients I'll give them a swirl, come even colder times.

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Related entries: Mulled juice - Mulled wine

Comments

As you describe the onset of winter, real winter, I feel wimpy being such a baby about a few 45 degree nights here in north Florida where, except for the leftover mosquitoes from the hurricane, the weather is glorious: cool and clear. So we're spending more time in the garden and less time on the web at the moment. Less time to read posts and blogs, but please keep on blogging and we'll catch up.

Fortunately, the local Trader Joes started carrying a very nice spiced apple cider. (Yes, I know it's not horribly difficult to scrape ginger, cinnimon and nutmeg into a gallon of fresh-pressed apple juice, but hey, they already did the work.)

It'd be better if I could steam it, but 2 minutes in the nuke is a nice alternative too.

One of the few things about winter I like.

Ah well, as my wife reminds me, if she's cold, I'm not doing my job right. Best go nuzzle up to that cozy space heater and share the beverages of choice.

What a great reminder! Had some apple cider from the grocery store and spiced it up a bit. Sat there watching some movie about killer storms changing the global climate while sipping hot spiced cider... mmm.... lovely.

some of my favourites:

-hot coconut milk blenderized with cinnamon and fruit (canned, frozen, fresh, whatever) and a bit of molasses

-powdered turmeric, clove and cardamom, simmered and stirred with honey into yoghurt

-various masala chai-like concoctions; some subset of ginger, clove, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, fennel, black tea and whatever else have you, with a little cream and honey added before serving

-rosemary and black pepper tea, with honey

-variations on Jim McDonald's "cocoa buzz"--10 mL honey or molasses, with the same measure of cocoa powder, some propolis, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, powdered chile

...yeah, I get cold a lot. And I'm only in Seattle (but it's a damp cold!)

mmmmm.... in lieu of plain old delicious hot apple cider, try it steeped with chamomile blossoms... yummy ~and~ mellow. Real good, I daresay, if you take the kids to a cider mill and they're wound up and over-tired on the way home.

hot ginger lemonade with cayenne
a recipie?? i just eyeball it...
ginger
honey
lemon juice and
cayenne.

my other favorite is a roasted root mix
roasted dandelion, chicory, and barley
burdock
licorice
siberian ginseng
clove
orange peel
cinnamon
YUM!