Christmas Market · Spiced Mulled Wine

Glögg

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Swedes drink glögg with a spoon tucked in the cup — for scooping up the raisins and almonds left behind once the wine is gone.

Glögg is red wine warmed with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and orange peel, often fortified with a shot of vodka or aquavit, then ladled steaming from big pots at Christmas market stalls into small cups. A handful of raisins and slivered almonds goes in each cup, meant to be eaten with a spoon after the drink itself is finished.

Why it's made this way: Glögg descends from medieval European spiced-wine traditions, but it became a distinctly Swedish ritual tied to the darkest weeks of the year, when market vendors rely on it as much to warm frozen hands as to sell a drink.