Winter Wassail

Authored by Jodi Roth

As Steph and I are sisters, we ended up gathering together with some friends for “Friendmas” during our holiday break. As part of our feast for our Friendmas, we made a Wassail to drink health and bring good crops for next season!  We used some hard cider, currant juice, cranberry juice, two apples sliced and stuck with cloves, some all spice, three cinnamon sticks and sliced orange and lemon. This mixture was placed in a crock pot and we dipped into it all evening for drinks.  You can find several wassail recipes at the end of this post - we’ll discuss Wassailing history a bit first!

What is a Wassail?

Originally, Wassail was tied to the tradition of wassailing, an old Yuletide tradition of drinking and salutation along with door-to-door charity-giving or used to ensure a good harvest the following year. Wassails are typically made with hot mulled ciders, ales, wines and spices, adding apples, oranges or other fruit as well.

One unique bit of history is the Apple Orchard Wassailing that is held on Old Twelfth Night (January 17th) in Carhampton. The villagers form a circle around the largest apple tree, hang pieces of toast-soaked in cider in the branches for the robins, who are representative of the good spirits of the tree. A shotgun is fired overhead to scare away the evil spirits and the villagers sing a Wassailing song such as the following verses. This tradition is found in many cider-producing counties in the south of England. Each village has slightly different traditions and ways of performing their ceremonies, but all are with the intent of awakening the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the next autumn.

Some of the verses used are as follows; note that enow means enough.

Version A; found on Wikipedia in reference to Carhampton's ceremony. 

Old apple tree, old apple tree;

We've come to wassail thee;

To bear and to bow apples enow (enough);

Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;

Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs. 

 

Version B, from the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1791.

 

Here’s to thee, old apple tree,

Whence thou mayst bud

And whence thou mayst blow!

And whence thou mayst bear apples enow!

Hats full! Caps full!

Bushel--bushel--sacks full,

And my pockets full too! Huzza!

 

And Version C, from a Shekerjian book.

Here’s to thee, old apple tree

Here’s to thee, old apple tree

 

Verse 1.

Well mayest thou bud,

And well mayest thou blow,

And well mayest thou bear

Of apples enow!

Hats full, caps full,

Good bushel sacks full,

My pockets too.

Hurrah! Wassail!

 

Verse 2.

Give us a crop

Of good apples ripe,

Red and well-rounded

The good juicy type!

 

Verse 3.

Here is our ale,

Now drink of it well,

And give us good apples

Of which we can tell.

 

Versions B & C found here: https://www.southdevon-nl.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Orchards-South-Devon-Wassail-song.pdf

While wassail beverages can be made from scratch with what you have on hand in the realm of fruit juices, wine, ale or cider, here is a recipe you can follow if you want!

Ingredients

• 2 apples, sliced into thick slices
• 7-8 cups apple cider
• 2 cups cranberry juice or orange juice
• 1/3 cup lemon juice or sea buckthorn juice
• 15 whole cloves or ½ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 TBSP chopped fresh frozen ginger
• 10 allspice berries
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 1 orange sliced into rounds
• *Optional: 1 cup dark ale or wine of your choosing OR ½ cup rum or brandy. If you don’t want the whole pot spiked, you can do splashes of the alcohol in each mug.
• *Optional: honey to sweeten if you desire

Instructions

1. Slice your fruit pieces.

2. Poke whole cloves into the apples or tie up the cloves and allspice in a cheesecloth or small piece of tea towel using kitchen twine.

3. Put everything into a large soup or stock pot and bring to a low simmer.

4. Lower the heat and very low simmer the mixture for 45 minutes to 2 hours before serving. Keep it on low or use a crockpot on low if serving over hours.

5. You can just place a strainer over your mug when serving or you can remove the apples, cloves and floating bits to make it easy for folks to serve themselves without a strainer.

Notes

Storage Instructions: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also make this in advance and store in the refrigerator until ready to heat and enjoy.

Slow Cooker Wassail: To make Wassail in the crockpot, add all ingredients and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.

Why not plan your very own wassailing around your apple tree(s) with your family on January 17th (Old Twelfth Night)?! Wassailing offers a great way to gather with loved ones, learn a bit of history and get outside during the cold months of winter!