Creating Mulling Spices For Hot Beverages For Fall and Adding An Aromatic Fragrance To Your Home

Holiday season is here and many of you will be hosting parties that will welcome in the fall and winter festivities.

There is nothing better than entering a home that smells of fall. When hosting a party, I really pay attention to all the 5 senses. Did you know that one of the most important senses that will leave an impression on your guests is the aromas of your home? This is an environmental layer that is important when hosting events but is often overlooked.

We have five basic senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. The sensing organs associated with each sense send information to the brain to help us understand and perceive the world around us. Its how we form impressions of our surroundings.

When hosting a party, paying attention to all five senses will gain you rewarding feedback about how your party went. Each one is as important as the other. If you accommodate all five senses, it will leave a very lasting impression on your guests and they will remember your party as being absolutely magnificent and memorable.

Mulling Spices.jpeg — Warm Apple Cider

I used these lovely French zink glasses to serve my cider in. Visually they look beautiful and shows off the cinnamon sticks.
The aroma in my home is amazing with this simmering on the stove. Truly a warm fall experience.

“I love cooking during Christmas, all smells like the hot apple cider, the hot spiced wine.”

— Amy Smart

Mulling spices that include fragrant cinnamon, allspice, anise, cloves and citrus is an easy prep and goes a long way in welcoming guests into your home. The fragrance often conjures up feeling of warmth, comfort and home to most people. You can either buy a mulling spice that you know is fragrant and tastes great or you can create your own. I use a mulling spice from Williams Sonoma. It is super fragrant and tastes amazing.

I just place the mulling spices into a pot of apple cider and simmer it on the stove for about 1 hour before guest arrive. I will often just leave it there all evening set on a warm heat and let the fragrance fill the air. With music playing and people mingling and eating, together it is just the perfect setting for an amazing party.

Party Tip:

At one of my parties, I had a guest that was visibly having trouble with sneezing and appeared to be having difficulty breathing. I asked him what was wrong. He is allergic to scented candles! You can imagine how upset I was to put this person in harm’s way. I blew out all the candles and never used them again when I had a house full of guests. I love using beautiful small votive riddled everywhere when I entertain but now, I only use unscented candles in them when hosting a party. I also use mulling spices in the fall and winter months to set the stage for an amazing gathering. In the end, my guest was fine, but it totally scared me and I felt terrible to put him through that!

I will often offer a warm apple cider or sangria at my winter parties. People love to have spiced drinks or simple spiced apple cider. Mulling spices most commonly are used for flavoring apple cider, beer, or red wine. It can also add flavor to hot buttered rum and eggnog. Dark Rum can also be added for an alcoholic beverage.

Basic Recipe for spiced apple cider:

4 cups apple cider (I like organic)
1 (750-ml) bottle red wine
1/4 cup honey
2 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
3-star anise
1 orange, zested and juiced

You can omit the wine and add 3 more cups of apple cider and leave out the honey.

How to prepare:

Pour apple cider into a decorative pot that you will want to leave on your stove during your party.
Next, add your mulling spices to a mulling spice ball (Mulling Spice Ball) and submerge the ball into the liquid. If you don’t have a mulling spice ball, that’s fine. Just add the mulling spice mixture to the center of 5 in square cheesecloth, gather and tie the content with kitchen string. Be sure the string is tightly secured and then submerge into the beverage of your choice.
Bring the beverage to a boil and then turn off the heat and allow steeping for 30 minutes.
Once steeped, reheat if you are serving as a beverage or just leave on warm for fragrance. You may add honey in you would like but it is not necessary. Honey is nice when added to wine.

The thing is…when it comes to fall and winter the aromas in my home are so important to me. Wonderful cinnamon and other earthy spices bring a cozy feel to my home that is perfect for relaxing and enjoying the holidays.

As with everything I post on my blogs, please feel free to comment or if you have any questions, please email me through my contact page. I welcome it anytime!