Celebrating Old English Style: Wassails and Mulled Wine

Mulled wine has been a traditional Christmas treat in England for hundreds of years. It was originally served as a warmer for wassailers, or carol singers, who went from house to house during the twelve days of Christmas.

Originally the word "wassail" referred to the drinking of cider and the associated merriment but this was confined to the cider making districts of England, like Cornwall and Devon. The custom spread to other parts of the country and beer and mulled wine became the drinks of preference.

The words of this Old English Carol tell the story of the Christmas Wassail:

The Gloucestershire Wassail

Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl , we'll drink to thee.

Here's to our horse, and to his right ear,
God send our master a happy new year:
A happy new year as e'er he did see,
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

The full lyrics to this old English carol which was written in the days of landed gentry and serfdom can be seen at the website below. This Carol is a real record of social history.

English Wassailers dressed in Elizabethan costume can be seen and heard here:

Anyway, back to the mulled wine. It's very simple to make mulled wine and the resulting drink is the perfect warmer on a cold winters night, or for a family party.

1. Take a bottle of red wine. Any bottle will do. There is no need to use expensive wine for this.
2. Pour it into a large pan
3. Add a cut orange. Cut it into segments but don't peel it.
4. Add a cinnamon stick, or a good pinch of ground cinnamon
5. Add an unpeeled, quartered lemon
6. Add a good pinch of ginger if you like it
7. Mull your white over a low heat until it is very hot. Keep a close eye on it as you don't want it to boil.
8. Pour the hot wine into a jug and it's ready to serve

You can vary this recipe and use other fruit and spices, depending on what you prefer.

Be very careful, though, this mulling process make the wine go to your head a lot quicker!