Tips to Make glögi at Home

If you ask me what is the most loved holiday in the world, I think it must be Christmas. This may sound surprising coming from a girl who grew up in a tropical country like Vietnam. You may ask: “how can you “feel” Christmas when you have T-shirt weather and you still sweat like it’s the end of the world?” My answer is that Christmas is not about how low the temperature drops. Look at the southern hemisphere. Countries like Australia and New Zealand celebrate this holiday in the middle of summer! To me, Christmas is about the beautiful lights and eye-catching decorations on the streets, in churches, and in shopping malls. At Christmas, I would usually put on some nice clothes and meet up with my friends. We would stroll around shopping malls, take a lot of photos together, and enjoy good food. It’s a time of reunion and joy with your favorite people. All the bright yet soothing colors Christmas brings somehow lift people’s spirits up. Those colors come from not only the lights and decorations but also the beautiful Christmas-themed pastries and desserts. In reality, the weather is usually cooler around Christmas time in my country, but I do admit that it would be ten times better if we could have some chilly breezes every now and then.

Now that I am in Finland, awaiting my second Christmas here, I have had more chilly breezes than I could ever ask for (or should I call them blistering-cold gusts of wind instead?). I still remember my first Christmas here last year. Contrary to all my expectations, there was no snow. But I still LOVED it. I loved how the bright warm lights cast a warm golden hue all over every detail of Helsinki’s center. I loved Esplanadi park where I saw old couples walking hand in hand and a loving mother taking photos of her daughter with the reindeer decoration. I loved the Christmas market in the Senate square where I found all kinds of traditional Finnish Christmas pastries, arts and crafts, the biggest pine tree I had ever seen in my life, and glögi. Glögi is a spiced fruity hot wine traditionally drunk at Christmas in Finland and Scandinavian countries. I think everyone visiting a Christmas market here will be seen having a cup of glögi in their hands.

It is not even December 1st, yet I cannot wait for Christmas to come. That is because it would mean a whole week of celebration until I can finally do the new year countdown and pretend I can sing Happy New Year in perfect harmony with ABBA playing from my phone’s speakers. With the coronavirus pandemic still looming above our heads, I know it is more realistic not to be too optimistic about all the celebrations. I am shivering at the thought of this year’s Christmas market being turned into yet another virtual event. Even so, I know just how to transform that worst-case scenario into a not-so-bad-case scenario. The first step, grab some string lights, hang them all up, and turn the switch on. Second, put on a mask. Third, go get all the necessary ingredients to make glögi. That’s right. I’m talking about bringing some Christmas into our own kitchen. If you want to learn how to make glögi but you do not know what kind of wine to choose or what to be careful about when making the drink, keep scrolling down.

I made glögi for the first time a few days ago. 2020 is about making the most of our time because all this year-round we have to spend three-quarters of a day every day feeling depressed and unmotivated (it’s not that we never did so in the previous years, it’s just that we have the coronavirus to blame in 2020 now). So, as I sat on the train to go buy the ingredients, I googled for some authentic Finnish glögi recipes. Luckily, there are not many things to buy and the total cost is affordable for a student like me.

The first thing on the grocery list is of course a bottle of red wine. Thankfully, I learned that there is no need to choose anything expensive at all. As the aromatic spices and fruity ingredients to be added later would overpower the flavor of the wine itself, I just had to look for a bottle of fruity red wine. To add more fruity flavors to the wine, I grabbed a bottle of blackcurrant juice (mustaherukka in Finnish) and a couple of oranges. Interestingly, apart from having to buy some cloves, the remaining ingredients are what I use to make the famous Vietnamese Phở noodles soup at home: star anise, cinnamon sticks, and cardamons.

Now I should warn you that my way of cooking is not using any precise measurements. Instead, I rely on my own “feelings” and “connections” with the ingredients to just prepare a pinch of cloves, a reasonable amount of star anise (about 7 pieces), a couple of cardamons, and cinnamon sticks. To begin making glögi, I poured the wine into a pot and heat it up slowly. Be really mindful of the heat. When we make glögi, we must not let it boil, or else all the alcohol in the wine will evaporate. Next, I added blackcurrant juice, orange peels, and orange wedges. Instead of just throwing all the spices into the pot, I wanted to add a little twist to this glögi-making process by tossing the star anise, cinnamon sticks, and cardamons onto a frying pan to bring out their aromas. This is what I always do before adding spices to my Phở broth. The spices were to be added to the mixture when they started to give off some fragrance. Finally, I continued to stir the mixture gently, let everything cook for another five minutes, and……….. that was it!

Glögi is often served with some joulutorttu - Finnish star-shaped pastries. However, I decided to make some roasted salted nuts to enjoy with the drink instead. It is recommended to add a cinnamon stick and an orange wedge to the glögi. I knew I succeeded in making this drink because my Finnish flatmate gave me her thumbs up for how tasty it was!

In retrospect, I wanted to make glögi last year when I first got to taste it at Better Than Sliced Bread’s Christmas party. Not until this pandemic compelled me to maintain social distancing did I actually learn how to make the drink. I guess this is one positive aspect to this strange exceptional time. I found myself a way to enjoy life and learn more about the traditions of the country I’m living in. By doing so, I am proud to say that I have not let the pandemic get the better of me.

Photographs by Vesper.