The word “wassail” appears as early as the 8th century in the poem Beowulf. Originally, it was used as salutatory gesture (wassail!) from Old Norse ves heill “be healthy.”  By the 12th Century, Wassail was used as a drinking salutation, similar to the use of “Cheers” or “Probst” today, and his use seems to have arisen among Danes in England and spread to native inhabitants.  By the 13th Century, the English had ritualized this greeting with a steaming bowl of ale and fortified wine, called the “wassail bowl” and it was common for medieval party-goers to dip bread and cakes into a big bowl of ale. Over time, the wassail bowl’s contents continued to evolve, but the practice of communal “wassailing” survived all the way through the Renaissance. By the 17th century, roaming parties of Wassailers would take their drinking bowl door to door and greet people with wishes of peace and prosperity during the holidays.  This drunken revelry would eventually evolve to caroling with the sad loss of the steaming bowl of ale… ☹.

To make a proper Wassail Bowl:

INGREDIENTS

  • 5-6 cored apples (preferably sweet apples like Fuji or honey crisp)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 cups hard cider
  • 3 cups brown ale
  • 2 cups dry sherry
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 whole cloves
  • 4 whole allspice berries

DIRECTIONS

  1. Put apples in a baking dish, and spoon brown sugar into the core of each. Add 1/4 inch water to the bottom of the dish, and place in the preheated oven.  Bake at 375F until softened, usually about 45 minutes.
  2. In a large sauce pot, add cider, ale and sherry. Place over low heat, and do not boil.
  3. Make a sachet of cheesecloth with cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice inside. Tie securely and drop into the warming pot with nutmeg and ginger.
  4. Add baked apples and baking liquid to the pot.
  5. Ladle into individual glasses, and garnish with an apple slice and a cinnamon stick.
  6. Serve warm.

Want to have the
Regimental Brewmeister
at your site or event?

You can hire me.

https://colonialbrewer.com/yes-you-can-hire-me-for-your-event-or-site/

Published by Michael Carver

My goal is to bring history alive through interactive portrayal of ordinary American life in the late 18th Century (1750—1799) My persona are: Journeyman Brewer; Cordwainer (leather tradesman but not cobbler), Statesman and Orator; Chandler (candle and soap maker); Gentleman Scientist; and, Soldier in either the British Regular Army, the Centennial Army, or one of the various Militia. Let me help you experience history 1st hand!