Wassail – A Traditional Holiday Drink
Celebrate the season with a traditional wassail recipe made with apple cider, warm spices, and festive fruits. This cozy spiced drink is delicious served with or without alcohol and perfect for holiday gatherings.
Wassail – This traditional spiced wassail recipe is a festive way to toast the holiday season! Served hot, this version of mulled cider is a beloved tradition at the iconic Ahwahnee hotel in California’s Yosemite National Park, and served to guests as a cozy beverage. Delicious with or without alcohol, this recipe comes from the National Geographic National Parks Cookbook by Nina Elder and Melissa Knific.
Here we come a wassailing! You’ve heard of wassail, but have you tried it?
When I interviewed Melissa Knific on the podcast, we chatted about her cookbook with cowriter Nina Elder: National Geographic National Parks Cookbook: Dishes Inspired by America’s Great Outdoors (affiliate link). Each recipe in the book explores the flavors and recipes found or inspired by the flavors of our country’s national parks, and I knew I had to make the recipe for spiced wassail from the Ahwahnee hotel in California’s Yosemite National Park. This lodge is as iconic as Half Dome, and I have such fond memories of their beautiful dining room.
Every year, the Ahwahnee hosts a Yuletide celebration, the Bracebridge Dinner. And one of the menu’s perennial favorites is their traditional wassail. Ever since I made it for my family, it has decidedly become one of our new favorite traditions to ring in the holiday season. We’ve spent many nights this winter season sipping this spiced drink while watching Christmas movies, reading books, and working on puzzles – I can’t think of a better way to stay in!
If you love mulled wine, then you will adore this wassail.
Traditional Wassail
Hot wassail has been a Yuletide tradition in England for centuries, and the practice of wassailing has evolved over the years. Part of the tradition stemmed from visiting the orchards on the 12th night of Christmas for singing and celebration to ensure good harvests. And the other part – which is more familiar to many of us – includes caroling at friends and neighbor’s doors. Whichever the celebration, carolers are rewarded with a hot drink of wassail, beautifully spiced mulled cider, ale, or the like.
The ingredients for wassail can vary, but to make the Ahwahnee version of wassail, cider is the base, and it is flavors are steeped with baked apples, oranges, and cranberries, and spiced with cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and hibiscus tea. Apple juice can also be used in place of the cider. The wassail is enriched with port or cranberry or cherry juice (you decide!), giving it that lovely ruby color!
I love that it can be made in advance and kept in a large pot or slow cooker for large parties or reheated in small batches for a cozy holiday sip whenever you wish!
To make wassail is quite simple. Bake apples with sugar in a baking dish to infuse the fruit with a deep flavor. While this is baking, stud orange halves with whole cloves, and place this in Dutch oven or similar vessel with cranberries, ginger, cinnamon sticks, and apple cider. Let this come to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. A bag of hibiscus tea adds flavor and color, and can be added towards the last 10 minutes of simmering. Strain the fruit, return the liquid to the pot, then add the baked apples, tipping them in to release the brown sugar. To serve, garnish with freshly sliced apples, oranges, and cranberries! Enjoy hot!
Wassail Recipe Tips:
- Components can be prepped in advance for entertaining. The apples can be baked the day before, and the mulled cider can be simmered in advance, as well.Want to make this alcoholic? Add a splash of brandy or your favorite hard liquor.
- If not serving immediately, keep warm and covered either in pot over very low heat or in a slow cooker or crockpot on warm.
- Save the baked apples! They’re delicious served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
- Leftovers can be cooled and kept in the refrigerator. I like to make a batch and reheat smaller batches each night over medium low heat during the holiday season.
Listen to the Podcast with Melissa Knific
For more National Park inspired recipes, check out my interview with Melissa Knific in Episode 117 of the Kitchen Confidante Podcast!
More Holiday Drink Recipes
Mulled Wine (Gløgg)
Eggnog Milk Tea Boba
Coconut Hazelnut Eggnog
Disclosure: I was sent a digital copy of National Geographic National Parks Cookbook to review for the Kitchen Confidante Podcast Episode 117 with Melissa Knific. All opinions are, of course, my own. The post may have affiliate links; see my Disclosure page to learn more.
Wassail
Ingredients
- 4 sweet apples (medium firm varieties, such as Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Gala)
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 2 oranges halved
- 12 whole cloves
- 1½ cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 2-inch piece ginger peeled and sliced
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ½ gallon apple cider
- 1 individual bag hibiscus tea optional
- 1 cup ruby port or cranberry or cherry juice
- Garnishes: thinly sliced apples or oranges cranberries, cinnamon sticks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Using a melon baller, scoop out cores from centers of apples (don’t go all the way through the bottom, to help keep apples intact as they bake). Place apples, cored sides up, in a medium-size baking dish. Fill each with 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Pour ¾ cup water into bottom of baking dish, then bake until apples are tender but still have structure, 45 to 55 minutes.
- Meanwhile, stud outsides of orange halves with 3 cloves each, and place, cut sides up, in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Add cranberries, ginger, and cinnamon sticks. Pour apple cider over oranges and cranberries.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. If using, add tea bag the last 10 minutes of simmering. Carefully strain mixture into a heatproof bowl, gently pressing with a spatula to release some of the liquid from fruit; discard strained solids.
- Return strained liquid to pot. Stir in port. Transfer baked apples to pot, carefully tipping them on their sides to release the brown sugar. Gently stir. Serve wassail with desired garnishes.
Notes
Nutrition
COOKBOOK
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