Nothing cures the holiday chills like a nice hot glass of cider. Traditionally at this time of year, we are accustomed to seeing apple cider recipes all over the internet, but what about those of us who are allergic to apples?
That’s something we're always thinking about in our kitchen because apples our at the top of our most deadly allergies. So we did our own research, scouring the internet for the BEST non-apple ciders and we’re happy to say, we found a real winner from Sugar & Soul. Of course, we put our own spin on it to account for allergies, but we felt this recipe would be sure to win your family over the holidays.
To start, you'll need to cut open your fruit so you can get the juice and the seeds. For the pomegranate, I always like to start by slicing it in half with a porcelain knife.
Then using a spoon, you can scoop out the seeds with a spoon and place them in a bowl. Half of a pomegranate will give you more than enough seeds to put into the cider.
Next, you'll want to slice and squeeze your oranges to get the juice. Since I use a lemon squeezer to squeeze the juice, I sliced the oranges into quarter pieces. These were fairly large oranges so 1 whole orange was the perfect amount of juice.
Even if you're not a fan of oranges, I guarantee this is one step you won't want to skip. The orange taste will not come through in the cider. Essentially the reason for the oranges is that when combined with the sugar and water, it will create a homemade triple sec.
Wrap cinnamon sticks and cloves in an 8x8 piece of double folded cheesecloth and tie up the top with a piece of string. I wanted to be able to easily pull out my sack of spices so I rigged mine with rubber bands and a wooden spoon, but if you've got kitchen twine, don't be afraid to drop the bag right in.
In a 3-quart boiler, add sugar, water cran-pom juice, orange juice. Turn pot on medium-high heat and add in spice bag and cover. Bring pot to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove the spice bag from the pot and set aside. Your spice bag, if properly dried, can be used for an additional pot of cider.
Stir in pomegranate seeds. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on stove before pouring into temperature safe glassware. (The seeds make for a tasty nibble with your drink but you can strain them before pouring if preferred.)
Add cinnamon sticks and lemon or orange slices to the glass for extra garnish. Feel free to sip your cider from the cup, or straight from your cinnamon stick straw! Enjoy!
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