A heated alcoholic drink made from wine mixed with spices and sweetener, which is traditionally drunk at Christmas markets, especially in northern countries, during the cold season. Such spiced wines were already very popular in the early Middle Ages, as the spices were a good way of covering up common wine faults and making wine that was already more or less spoilt drinkable.
An old recipe from the 15th century: Boil 2 litres of old red wine with 375 g of sugar, 1 piece of cinnamon, 6 cloves, the thinly peeled peel of ½ lemon, strain it through a sieve and bring it to...
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