The Christmas party was a great success, thank you to all of you who came! It was lovely to mingle with volunteers both experienced and new, and to learn of the fantastic news that the Fulham Palace Trust has officially been awarded HLF funding! Congratulations to the staff! This incredible achievement will definitely make visiting and working at Fulham Palace much more exciting in the years to come.
While indulging in mince pies and palace-made mulled wine (super tasty!), we had a laugh playing the marshmallow game, where strings of spaghetti were used to create a towering edifice topped by the sweet and the group with the highest construction won a box of Christmas biscuits (well done again team number 3!). We were also invited to make guesses on how many baubles hang on the Christmas tree (152 to be precise), with the closest guess winning another box of biscuits.
All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon among Fulham Palace staff, volunteers and their guests. And since the Fulham Palace Mulled Wine was such a hit, we decided it would only be fair to share the recipe on here, so you can impress your guests this Christmas and make Fulham Palace known for one more special thing!
Enjoy.
Ahou - Vol Comms Assistant
Fulham Palace Mulled Wine, courtesy of Jennifer Grubb, and adapted by Miranda Poliakoff.
Quantities are for about 40 small glasses so scale down the quantities to suit your occasion
4 x 1.5 bottles red wine (not too cheap, it will taste better if you spend a little more)
2 x I litre orange juice
100g dark brown sugar (start with this and then add more to taste towards the end)
3 oranges and spices in a muslin bag
For a better result and to save time, divide a box of cloves between the oranges, push them into the skin of the oranges and bake them in in a low oven for about an hour either the day before or a few hours before making the wine. Put your chosen spices (on 5/12/16 Miranda used 2 standard spice jars of cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces, one jar of coriander seeds, and a handful of cardamom pods) onto the muslin, tie into the bag and bruise with a heavy weight, but don’t tear the muslin.
Get the largest pan you have, add the orange juice, wine, sugar and oranges. Stir. Tie the bag with a long string to the handle of the pan and float in the wine. Bring the mixture to just before a boil, then turn down and simmer for a couple of hours before you plan to serve it. Taste and add more sugar or orange juice as required. Bring the heat up again before serving but don’t make it too hot or your guests may burn themselves. A ladle and jug are useful for serving, but not essential.