Warm Up, Cheer Up Hot Cider

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This is the season I wait for all year long. I crave autumn with intensity. The moment each year when the warmth of summer days twists around the chill of autumn nights like a squash vine curling around the drying stalks of flowers and seedheads. Change of season, change of sun. Harvest is in full swing, both from the vegetable fields and the wider, wilder places. Elderberries, rosehips, dandelion root, burdock root, and goldenrod keep pace with the chard and squash filling our baskets. All through the woods, the wild rose bushes have dropped the last of their dusty pink blooms and, where a bee has visited, small seeds swell in red-orange pockets. The hips, the haws, the heart. Rosehips have one of the greatest concentrations of natural Vitamin C, and their flavor, landing somewhere between dried cranberries and hibiscus flowers, make them a perfect addition to fall recipes, like this mulled cider.

Every autumn one of my good friends presses thousands of pounds of apples, grown on dozens of gnarled trees that have been on her family’s farm for nearly seventy years. Most of the trees are varieties that don’t exist anymore, and some varieties are unknown completely, having been created by pollinators winding their way through the county in our great-grandparent’s generation, making stops on a whim, creating something new. The apples from her fields as a whole make the perfect combination for cider; a culmination of tart, sweet, dry, bright. She freezes it within hours of pressing it, so it’s raw, unpasteurized, and full of flavor. It’s hands down the best cider around. I stock up, stuff my chest freezer full of quart-size mason jars of frozen cider.

The cider is incredible on its own, but add some traditional mulling spices and toss in a handful of adaptogen herbs like ashwagandha root and reishi, add some rosehips to the mix, and keep it on low heat for a few hours. Now now you have a truly delightful, exotic tasting mulled cider that boosts your immune system as well as your spirits.

Adaptogens are an important addition to any diet, any time of the year, but particularly as the days get shorter and neighbors and relatives get grumpier, it’s great to have the help of our adaptogen friends to mitigate stress and anxiety.

Not everyone has a cupboard full of ashwagandha root and reishi mushrooms to add to recipes, so a great shortcut is to add the herbs in tincture form. See the recipe below for adding ashwagandha tincture to cider.

Hot Mulled Cider with Adaptogens and Rosehips

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64 oz of raw apple cider

2 cinnamon sticks  

2 star anise pods

5 green cardamom pods, slightly crushed in mortar and pestle

4 whole cloves

5 whole black peppercorns

Peel of 2 oranges

3 Tablespoons dried rosehips

3 droppers-full of Ashwagandha + Reishi Tincture

Place all ingredients, with the exception of the ashwagandha + reishi tincture, in a slow cooker and cover with a lid. Set heat to “Low” and set a timer for 4 hours. Alternately, you can add the ingredients to a heavy-bottom saucepan on the stove, cover with a lid, and set to the lowest heat setting available with a timer for 3-4 hours. Simmer the cider and begin tasting around the 3-hour mark. Keep over low heat until you reach your desired spice level. Once it tastes good to you, remove from the heat source and allow to cool for ten minutes.

Pour the hot cider mix through a sieve lined with cheesecloth, into a clean vessel. Compost the spices. Add the three droppers of tincture to the hot cider and stir. Serve while still hot.