Mulled Wine

Been making this for years, love it

Mulled Lemonade

5 cups water divided
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cinnamon sticks
6 whole star anise
4 slices fresh ginger
4 pieces orange peel large
20 whole cloves
6 cracked green cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns

Instructions

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the sugar and all pieces. Cover and allow the simple syrup to steep for at least 20 minutes. (The longer the better.)

Pour the syrup into a large pitcher. Then pour in the remaining 3 cups of water and lemon juice. Fill the pitcher with ice and stir.
Explain the slices of fresh ginger. Does this mean ginger root? How big? Peeled?