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Created by Chef Freja
The non-alcoholic gløgg that belongs to the children at every Danish Christmas table, warmed with the same cinnamon, cardamom, and clove, served with raisins and almonds in the cup, because nobody should be left out of the ritual.
December in Denmark is dark by three in the afternoon. The candles go on, the windows glow, and somewhere in the kitchen a pot of gløgg is warming. There are always two pots. One for the adults, with red wine and port and a nip of aquavit. One for the children. The children's pot matters just as much.
Børnegløgg is not a lesser version of anything. It's red grape juice heated gently with the same spices that scent the adult gløgg: cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise, and strips of orange peel. The raisins and blanched almonds go into every cup, because the ritual is the point. Children sit at the same table, hold the same warm cups, fish out the same swollen raisins with a spoon. In a country where faellesspisning, the shared meal, is how we show each other we belong, this is how you tell a child they're part of it.
The only thing I want you to watch is the heat. Grape juice is not wine. It turns bitter if you boil it, and you lose the bright, clean fruitiness that makes this drink what it is. Keep it just below a simmer, let the spices steep slowly, and taste before you serve. The warmth should come from the cup in your hands and the spice on your tongue, not from any violence done to the juice. You'll know when it's right.
Gløgg arrived in Scandinavia from the German Glühwein tradition sometime in the 1800s, though Danes had been drinking spiced warm drinks since the medieval period. The children's version, børnegløgg, became widespread in the twentieth century as the Danish julefrokost evolved from a formal adult occasion into a family gathering. The insistence on giving children their own gløgg, made with the same spices and served with the same raisins and almonds, reflects the Danish principle that children participate fully in the traditions of the table rather than being given a substitute at the margins.
Quantity
1 litre
good quality, no added sugar
Quantity
250ml
cloudy and unfiltered
Quantity
3
Quantity
5
Quantity
4
lightly crushed
Quantity
2
Quantity
from 1 orange
cut in wide strips with a vegetable peeler
Quantity
1 thin slice
Quantity
50g
Quantity
50g
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| red grape juicegood quality, no added sugar | 1 litre |
| apple juicecloudy and unfiltered | 250ml |
| cinnamon sticks | 3 |
| whole cloves | 5 |
| green cardamom podslightly crushed | 4 |
| whole star anise | 2 |
| orange peelcut in wide strips with a vegetable peeler | from 1 orange |
| fresh ginger (optional) | 1 thin slice |
| raisins | 50g |
| whole blanched almonds | 50g |
Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, crushed cardamom pods, and star anise in a dry saucepan over a low heat. Warm them for about a minute, moving the pan gently, until you can smell them. This step is not optional. Dry heat opens the essential oils inside the spices, and those oils are what will perfume the juice. Cold spices dropped straight into liquid release their flavor slowly and reluctantly. Warmed spices give everything up.
Pour the grape juice and apple juice over the warm spices. Add the orange peel strips and the slice of ginger. The apple juice rounds out the grape's tartness and gives the gløgg a gentler sweetness that children prefer. Stir once and bring the heat up to medium-low. You are aiming for the moment just before the liquid simmers, when the surface begins to tremble and the first wisps of warmth lift from the pot. That's your temperature. Hold it there.
Keep the gløgg at that gentle warmth for twenty minutes. Don't stir, don't lift the lid more than once. The spices need time to release their flavor into the juice, and the orange peel needs time to give up its oils. After twenty minutes, dip a spoon in and taste. You should get cinnamon first, then cardamom, then a quiet glow of clove and ginger underneath. The orange should be there at the edges, not at the centre. If the spice feels faint, give it another five minutes. You'll know when it's right.
While the gløgg steeps, divide the raisins and blanched almonds evenly among your cups or glasses. This is not a garnish. It's the tradition. At a Danish julefrokost or Christmas gathering, the raisins and almonds sit in the bottom of every gløgg cup, adult and children's alike. They soak up the warm spiced liquid and become part of the drink. You eat them with a small spoon after the last sip. That's how it's done.
Set a fine sieve over a jug or clean pot and pour the gløgg through, catching all the spices, peel, and ginger. Press the orange peels gently with a spoon to release the last of their oil, then discard everything in the sieve. Ladle the warm gløgg into the prepared cups, over the raisins and almonds. Serve immediately. The colour should be deep garnet, clear and bright, the scent unmistakably Christmas. This is how we greet each other in December.
1 serving (about 230g)
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