My Wassail
I should have shared this earlier but as I mentioned it earlier but one of my personal Christmas tradition (though it’s a good general winter tradition too) are good steaming batches of mulled cider or wassail, as my mother’s old Crockpot cookbook which I originally got the recipe from calls it.
It’s really very simple what you want is
- two parts cider or apple juice.
- One part cranberry juice (I forget what the actual measurements are here I just buy 3 of the medium sized containers)
- one orange studded with cloves.
- A couple balls of allspice
- two sticks of Cinnamon (three to four if all you can find are the small ones)
- A cup of brown sugar
- a dash of bitters
Mix this all together, bring to a boil, and simmer for at least three hours. You want to squeeze all of that flavor out of the fruit and spices. Trust me on this anything less and all you’ll get is warm juice.
There’s room for variation here. You could add booze… or a guy who sells cider at my local farmer’s market tells me if you use the good stuff you don’t have to add sugar. I’m sure he’s right but to know for sure i’d have to experiment and the good stuff is pricey.
Either way this basic version will do you right.
Enjoy.
