Wassail Spiced Apple Cider
When the weather gets crisp and the leaves begin to crunch under my feet, my taste buds start dancing with the thought of a Wassail. It's what everyone waits for as fall approaches - a quintessential seasonal sipper with all the heart-warming spices you crave for Fall!
Wassail (Middle English 'wæs hæl' - ‘be you healthy’) refers both to the salute 'Waes Hail' and to the drink of wassail, a hot mulled cider drunk as part of wassailing, an English ritual intended to ensure a good apple harvest the following year. Historically, the drink is a mulled cider, mulled beer, or mead, made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with toast. A group then sings: “Old Apple tree, old apple tree, we've come to wassail thee, To bear and to bow apples enow, Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full, Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.”
Happily this celebration in a mug is incredibly easy to make, with pre-measured spices available in perfect portions to brew a gallon of cider. And to ensure you really stay warm through the night, we highly recommend adding a nip or two of bourbon, rum, or whiskey.
