“Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too…”

Wassail (Old Norse “ves heil”, Old English was hál, literally ‘be you healthy’) is a beverage of hot mulled cider, traditionally drunk as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval southern English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year. The name comes from the salute ‘Waes Hail’, first used as a simple greeting. The later Danish-speaking inhabitants of England seem to have turned “was hail”, and the reply “drink hail”, into a drinking formula adopted widely by the indigenous population of England.

This traditional wassail recipe features hard cider, sugar-roasted apples, brandy and sweet spices. It is a simple, old-fashioned recipe made in the tradition of the season.

“Here we come a-wassailing

Among the leaves so green,

Here we come a-wand’ring

So fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you,

And to you your wassail, too,

And God bless you, and send you

A Happy New Year,

And God send you a Happy New Year”

 Ingredients:

4 small apples

1 cup cane sugar

1 medium orange

13 whole cloves

2 quarts hard apple cider

1/2 cup brandy

1 tbsp powdered ginger

1 tsp grated nutmeg

6 allspice berries

2 cinnamon sticks

6 large eggs (separated)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350*

Scoop out the core of the apples; a melon baller works nicely. Fill each apple with a tablespoon of cane sugar. Place apples on a baking sheet. Stud an orange with thirteen cloves and place it in the baking sheet. Bake the apples and orange together for forty minutes.

While apples and orange bake, pour apple cider and brandy into a heavy-bottomed stock pot and warm over moderately low heat. Whisk in powdered ginger and grated nutmeg. Do not bring to a boil.

Cut a small square of cheese cloth, place allspice and cinnamon into the square; tie with cooking twine and float the sachet of spices in the wassail as it warms.

Beat egg yolks until light in color and set aside. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg yolks into whites, then temper the eggs by slowly pouring one-half cup wassail into the eggs. Remove the spice sachet from the wassail and pour in eggs. Transfer to a punch bowl. Float baked apples and oranges in the wassail and serve in mugs.