Spiced Mulling Syrup

This is an all-purpose spiced syrup - tomorrow is Pancake Day so I'll be mixing it with melted butter and rum to pour on pancakes, but it's also a great base for mulled wine or cider (just warm the alcohol with the syrup), or for putting into tea or coffee (feel free to add a splash of rum or whisky) to warm you up in the winter.

I've listed the exact ingredients I used, but feel free to tailor the ingredients to whatever you've got in the cupboard. Brown sugar gives a deeper flavour than white though, so I do recommend using brown over white.

• one orange or other citrus fruit
• 10 peppercorns
• 5 cloves
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 star anise segments
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 shot of rum (optional)
• 1 cup of brown sugar (I used a mix of dark brown and demerara)
• 5 cups of water

Cut your orange into four, and remove the flesh. Eat the orange, it's good for you. Peel goes in a saucepan. Grate your nutmeg (it tastes way better freshly grated).

Stick absolutely everything in the saucepan. Put it on a medium heat and keep stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Turn the heat down low, so it's just bubbling. Leave your syrup to reduce for one to two hours, checking periodically that it's not burned dry. You can top up with water if you want to cook it for longer and get an even deeper flavour. I reduced it way down to around a fifth of its original volume.

Pour the whole lot through a sieve into a pyrex jug. You can strain it through a muslin cloth if you want an absolutely clear liquid (recommended if gifting), but as I'm keeping the syrup for myself I just sieved it.

Sterilise your container using your preferred method. This is less important if you're using it all straight away, but if you plan to keep your syrup for a while you should definitely sterilise the bottle to maximise longevity.

Pour your liquid into the container, and you're done! Best kept in the fridge, but heat it for serving.