Spiced Grape Mocktail

By posting this recipe, I am entering my recipe into the Taste the Mighty Concord Welch’s Recipe Contest, a sponsored recipe contest in which I am eligible to win prizes. I was not compensated for my time.

My drink of choice is red wine. So the first time I was pregnant, it was pretty tough for me to go without it! It’s annoying this time around too, but now that I’m a parent I’m pretty used to giving things up for the sake of my kids…

I don’t even care too much about getting a “buzz” from wine, I just genuinely enjoy the taste. I’ve tried the nonalcoholic versions of red wine but I find them significantly lacking. I’d rather just have a cup of plain grape juice! In fact, I often do, and once when I was still hiding my first pregnancy, I smuggled a flask of grape juice into a wedding so my friends wouldn’t be suspicious when I was clearly missing my go-to drink of red wine. It worked perfectly!
#Pregnant and craving red wine? This mocktail is a great alternative! Click To Tweet
And lucky for me, 100% grape juice (made with Concord grapes, as is the case with Welch’s) gives me many of the same polyphenols and heart health benefits as a daily glass of red wine.

This grape juice mocktail approximates wine even more so because the ginger and cinnamon lend the “heat” that the alcohol content of wine provides. With the addition of seltzer, it’s as close to a glass of Lambrusco as I’m going to get for the next few months.

Cardamom can be hard to find, so if you only have ginger and cinnamon on hand you can omit it and still find yourself with a tasty drink. But definitely use it if you can, its sophistocated flavor really tops off this drink.

If you’re a drinker, what’s your go-to mocktail when you’re abstaining?

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Spiced Grape Mocktail

Course Dessert, Drink

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 1 serving

Ingredients

• 6 oz. Welch’s 100% grape juice
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom OR 5 cardamom pods crushed
• 2 oz. seltzer water
• Cinnamon sticks for garnish optional

Instructions

1. Add grape juice, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom to a small saucepan. Stir and bring to a simmer.

2. Simmer for 5 five minutes, then remove from heat and let stand until the mixture reaches room temperature (about 20 minutes).

3. Strain mixture and pour into a serving glass and top off with seltzer.

Recipe Notes

Makes one serving, increase servings as desired.