Holiday Wassail

I make wassail every year (and by every year I mean for the past three years). Last night however I was talking to people who had never heard of it. One husband had called his wife and a week ago and asked her about it cause his co-workers couldn't believe he had never heard of it. Other people hadn't heard of it either. Now while I wouldn't say it's as common as hot cocoa or anything, I think most people know what it is, but nobody in the room could say where it came from just that you drink it at Christmas time.


It got me thinking and I was kind of wondering if maybe it was a Utah Mormon thing, especially since the first time I ever had it was as a child in Utah at a church Christmas party. I did a little research. It's from Europe. Stories have the origins going back to the 12th or 13th century. The term "was hail" roughly means "I drink to your health". (Like I said I did a little research.)


Other stories have people sprinkling wassail on their apple trees so they will have a good crop, it is generally associated with the Christmas season, and apparently you have to have a special bowl, generally wooden and decorated with ribbons. I use my crock pot, but then again I didn't know any different before, and now that I do, it probably won't make any difference in the future.


Another thing I noticed was that all the recipes were very different. Many of the elements were the same- it's hot, it has apples or apple juice, spices such as cloves, and sugar, but what I noticed was a dominant feature of most recipes was the alcohol. And it didn't seem to matter much- wine, beer, ale, sherry, rum- it's all good.

The recipe I use came from my aunt. I'd post a picture, but I don't have one because my crock pot is ugly.

Wassail

1 large cinnamon stick
1 tsp whole cloves
1/2 gallon apple juice
1 qt orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups water

Throw all ingredients in crock pot, stir together and heat. (Takes an hour or two) Or bring to a boil on the stove. If the cloves bother you floating around in the pot, you can tie the cinnamon stick and cloves up in a square of cheesecloth for easier removal later. If storing for any length of time (you have leftovers), store in a pitcher in the refrigerator, but remove cloves and cinnamon- their flavor strengthens with time.