Christmas wassail is a holiday tradition in our house. We like to keep a pot of wassail on the stove or in the crockpot while we are decorating the tree or entertaining.
The Christmas wassail recipe below is one version that we have used but wassail has many variations. There is not a single specific recipe that I use for wassail — I tend to vary what I put into it from year to year and I rarely measure anything. Our most recent version omits the tea and cranberry juice but adds pineapple juice. The constants for us are apple cider, cloves, cinnamon, and orange juice. Sometimes I like to use brown sugar instead of white sugar. A recipe for the version pictured above would use tea, cranberry juice, lemon juice, and spices but not the orange juice and apple cider. Try experimenting to create your own favorite family recipe and let us know how yours turns out.
Wassail
- 1 qt. boiling water
- 4 tea bags
- 1 gallon apple cider
- 2 qts orange juice
- 1 qt cranberry juice
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 5 cinnamon sticks
- 10 whole cloves
- 1 orange
Insert cloves into orange and set aside. Steep tea bags in boiling water in a large pot for 5 minutes, then remove tea bags and stir in apple cider, juices and sugar. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and add orange and cinnamon sticks to the tea mixture and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve warm.
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