Phase and care: Phase 2, gentle. Apple is easy on most of us, especially peeled. Warm spices are personal, so keep the first cup small. No alcohol, ever, and that includes wine in a “mulled” drink. Not medical advice.
Winter markets sell mulled wine on every corner, and for us that is a closed door. This is the drink I make instead. It smells like the holidays, warms your hands, and there is nothing in it that your pancreas has to argue with.
Prep 5 min · Cook 15 min · Total 20 min
Ingredients
Makes: 2 cups, about 500 ml · about 95 kcal a cup, no fat
- 400 ml (1 and 2/3 cups) cloudy apple juice, no added sugar, or fresh juice from peeled apples
- 100 ml (about 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon) water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 star anise (optional, for that mulled aroma)
- 2 thin slices of peeled apple
- a thin round of orange for aroma (optional, leave out if citrus peel bothers you)
Method
- Put the apple juice, water, cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise and apple slices in a small pan.
- Warm gently over low heat until it just steams.
- Hold it barely under a simmer for 8 to 10 minutes so the spices open up. Do not let it boil hard.
- Fish out the whole spices.
- Pour into mugs, let the apple slices ride along, and sip slowly while it is warm.
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If you want it sweeter, the apple juice usually does the job on its own, but a teaspoon of honey is fine. Zero alcohol is the whole point, so there is no wine, no brandy, no “just a splash.” The spices carry it.
Stepan’s Rule: No alcohol means none, even at Christmas, even when it is called mulled. Peel the apple, keep it warm not boiling, and let the cinnamon do the work.
The book behind the recipes
This is one of the drinks I lean on to feel normal at a party. The full PancreasZen book has 75 tested recipes and the phase-by-phase plan for exactly these moments, when everyone else is holding a glass you cannot have. For patients, by a patient.