From late November until Christmas, Finland runs on glögi. It is poured at Christmas markets, office parties, school fairs and every home that has a guest at the door, usually alongside gingerbread cookies and prune tarts. Across the Nordic countries it is famous as a mulled wine, but in Finland the most common glögi is entirely alcohol free: dark berry or grape juice simmered with warm spices and served with a spoonful of raisins and blanched almonds dropped into each cup, to be fished out and eaten at the bottom.

Our version uses blackcurrant juice, the classic Finnish base, for a deep color and a tart, almost wine like depth. It takes twenty minutes, fills the house with the scent of the season and is the perfect drink for the late season races, when the evenings are dark early and somebody has to keep the viewers warm.

The spiced juice

Ingredients

• 4 cups (1 liter) unsweetened blackcurrant juice
• 1 cup (240 ml) water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 1 inch (2.5 cm) piece fresh ginger
• 1 orange
• 3 to 5 tablespoons sugar

Method

1. Lightly crush the cardamom pods in the mortar, or in the bag with the rolling pin, just enough to split them open.
2. Put the juice, water, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, orange peel and 3 tablespoons of sugar in the saucepan. Heat over medium low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, until it steams and tiny bubbles appear at the edge, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to steep for 30 minutes.
3. Pour through the sieve into a clean pan or jug and discard the spices. Taste and add more sugar if you like. Reheat gently until steaming, without boiling.

To serve

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup (50 g) raisins
• 1/3 cup (45 g) blanched almonds

Method

1. Put a teaspoon each of raisins and almonds into each mug and ladle the hot glögi over them. Hand out teaspoons for fishing them out at the end.

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