Did you know that a cup of warm wassail is very soothing to a sore throat? Yes. One time it was a Christmas holiday and I was under the weather. I had a sore throat and my daughter came over and made some wassail in a crock pot. I took one sip and it felt so good going down my throat. Who knew?
Sore throat or not, a drink of warm wassail is delicious, especially during the wintry months. There are so many recipe variations.
"Wassail is a beverage of hot mulled cider, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval Christmastide English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year." (Source: Wikipedia)
The Christmas tree and other decorations are up and I am counting the days until December 25th. For this blog post, I simply must share a wonderful wassail recipe that a friend shared with me in response to a question I asked about celebrating the Winter Solstice. I know some people don't care too much for eggnog but most people really enjoy a delicious wassail drink.
Celebrate the Winter Solstice with this Wassail Recipe by Spiderdust: Core out of some apples (not the whole way through), stuff them with sugar, put a bunch of cloves in an orange, and then roast all of the fruit for half an hour. Put the roasted fruit in a gallon of cider with some cinnamon sticks, allspice, some pieces of crystallized ginger, a few pieces of star anise, and then grate some nutmeg over it all. Optional: Throw in some fresh or frozen cranberries. Let it simmer on low all day long. People can serve themselves as they please. The longer it simmers, the better it gets.
“Here We Come A-wassailing (or Here We Come A-caroling) is an English traditional Christmas carol and New Year song, apparently composed c. 1850. (Source)
More Wassail Recipes:
* Original acrylic elf painting, Wassail: Santa's elves at workbench, Woodworking tools, Alphabet letter W, Gift for Dad, Fantasy Christmas ~ Found on Etsy