Wassail

I have a wonderful memory of our dear friends Judy and John bringing us this Wassail at Christmas time one year with a set of pretty cups

Wassail
from Judy D.

Boil 4 cups of water with 1 1/4 cups of sugar
Add 12 whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
4 whole allspice berries

Cover and turn off the heat and let stand for one hour.

Add 3 cups of frozen orange juice concentrate and 2 cups of frozen lemonaid concentrate.
Mix in 2 quarts of apple cider.

If this is too strong, you can add in more water (I think that I do when I make this up)



Sunday Afternoon Wassail

This is a lame recipe, measurement wise. It's an eyeball, test with a spoon kind of recipe. Which means that I haven't perfected nor written down measurements yet.

When I don't have apple juice or frozen lemonaid concentrate in the house and Wassail sounds good, this is what I make. And apple juice doesn't agree with some of us, but no problem with the dried stuff, so it works out great.

6-7 packets of spiced apple cider mix
6-7 cups of water
couple of glugs of reconstituted lemon juice
enough sugar to make it sweet enough
a splash or two of orange juice or the juice of one or two oranges, clementines, whatever is rolling around in the fruit bin
two cinnamon sticks
some whole cloves, about 5-6
some allspice berries, about 5-6

I put it all in a pan to warm on the stove and I test and taste and test until it tastes right to me, adding more lemon juice, sugar or maybe a half pack more of apple cider mix until it's perfect. Put leftovers in a jar or pitcher for the next day. It's better the next day, the spices have mulled together with the juices. Wonderful microwaved up to have with breakfast.