Made this for the first time this Christmas and will definitely be making it again. Like others have said before me, it's not a syrup...more like flavoured water, but I'll never buy shop bought again. Agree that squeezing the oranges in is a good idea. Decanted into 400ml bottles and used one bottle per one bottle of cheaper red wine - bliss.

Made some bottles of this for Christmas gifts, really easy and tasty. Had 1 bottle left and added some of it to a chopped apple and dried fruit, stewed it up and served it as a winter spiced fruit compote with thick yoghurt, worked really well.

Never made mulled wine before! This was simple and extremely delicious and smelled amazing! Didn't look like photo but as presents, it was still prefect! Recipe for me made 2 bottles of 400 ml!

Firstly, this is not a syrup! I simmered at a high level and ended up with about 400 ml of flavoured water. Being concerned that the wine would be too diluted I further reduced to about 200 ml to intensify the flavour, which produced a slightly sticky liquid that could loosely be termed syrup. I squeezed the oranges before straining as some have suggested and also added the orange zest at the start. It does look very much like the picture and I'm fairly pleased with the taste but have yet to mix it with wine.

I will serve this in my son's school's Christmas concert and of course had to try beforehand, oh boy! The PSA will do a lot of money this year :)))

Used a couple of large pinches of ground allspice in the absence of whole berries. Made it after work and so left it overnight to cool and infuse and although not very syrupy, the flavour is lovely and I've re-cycled a selection of smallish bottles and made them look Christmassy!

Made exactly 800mls per batch with a 20ml simmer :). I'm gifting them in 330ml glass bottles I found in eBay as I've found that works well for a full bottle of wine. I agree the colour was a bit light so I suggest using Demerara sugar as it gives a much fuller colour. Note it is fine to still use 250g of Demerara sugar. I looked into using pomegranate molasses instead of some of the sugar but it is very sweet and difficult to balance colour and flavour.

The basic recipe does end up quite watery but ends up with a lovey mulled wine (and goes a bit further for it).

Thanks gf for a lovely recipe, great for Christmas gifts - nearly everyone will be getting some from me this year. :)

Made this last week. So easy to make. I also got a very runny liquid rather than a syrup. Not sure if I had the heat to low while simmering! However it still tastes outstanding. As recommended I also squeeze the remaining oranges. Delicious :)

I absolutely LOVE this syrup. So easy, keeps forever and can be used for so many things as well as mulling - hot over ice cream for example! I'm adding it to some infused vodka this year to make festive liqueur.

I absolutely LOVE this syrup. So easy, keeps forever and can be used for so many things as well as mulling - hot over ice cream for example! I'm adding it to some infused vodka this year to make festive liqueur.

It made the best mulled wine i have had and I've tried a lot of the ones the market has to offer. The syrup doesn't look like the picture but i did not care. For extra flavor i left everything in the saucepan while it cooled and then I drained it a few hour later and found the taste was even better!

Brilliant! Have made several batches of this for presents over Christmas and had rave reviews back for all!!

500 ml bottles:
I made the spiced orange and beetroot chutney and the pickled pears then soaked the labels off the bottles of red/cider vinegar that I used so I could fill them with mulling syrup. I too squeezed the oranges before bottling and topped up with apple juice to fill bottles - could easily add other booze instead. Great batch of Christmas gifts ready to go.

Made a large batch for all the family - whole house smelled very Christmassy! Didn't really look like the photo but still looked lovely in the bottles with ribbon and label on. Managed to get bottles from Lakeland (but since heard Ikea have them cheaper) and got hard-to-come-by spices from justingredients.com - far cheaper than high street shops. Gifts were much admired & well-received by all - will definitely do it every year!!

I got my whole allspice from waitrose after searching loads of shops.

made this up one part syrup (200ml) to two parts dry cider (400ml) and added a shot of brandy, it is lovely, im drinking as i am writing :)
i will never do shop bought again :)

I got whole allspice in my local health food shop which is where I get all my herbs and spices - WAY cheaper and environmentally much better! Bottles are all in 200, 250 and 500 ml though :(

To Raquel, look online at Lakeland they sell different sized bottles. Also Wilkinson sell bottles for homebrewing.

I've tried all my local large supermarket chains but can't find whole allspice. Does anyone know where I can get them or what I can use instead?

Really really good recipe and very easy for the recipient...however, 400ml bottles??? Where might one get them?!! They would be perfect as it's the right amount for one bottle of wine, but I've searched in vain...hmmm!