Lambswool Wassail Recipe

I was inspired to try making Lambswool Wassail by a recipe in the NZ Gardener magazine this autumn. The drink is made with a sweet-spiced hot cider (or ale) and apples that are cooked until frothy. I had just harvested lots of windfall apples and had made a batch of homemade cider, so I had all the ingredients to hand. I was also totally intrigued by the name Lambswool Wassail and where it came from.

The lambswool part is believed to have come from being served at the ancient Celtic pagan festival of La mas ubal (the Day of the Apple Fruit), pronounced lamasool and from there corrupted to Lambs Wool. It also is a light colour and the drink is frothy on the surface (like lambs’ wool).

Wassail was a traditional Christmas and New Year toast, coming from “waes hael” – Anglo-Saxon for “your good health”. The hot drink was offered to visitors from a wooden wassail bowl throughout the festive period.  There is no definitive recipe for the drink; it varies from county to county using local ingredients such as ale, cider, apple juice and fruit.

I was delighted to discover that wassailing was a popular tradition of the Tudor Christmas season because this reminded me of a visit to Hampton Court Palace (owned by Henry VIII) with my godmother Sue 3 years ago where we had a tour of the spectacular royal kitchens and kitchen gardens. It was special because we both share a love of gardening and of cooking, and she bought me a Tudor Cookbook to mark the occasion.

The Lambswool Wassail recipe seemed like a good thing to try on a cold autumn evening, particularly as the article was extolling the virtues of ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away“, so it must be good for you:

There is some truth in this adage: the pectin in apples binds to bile salts (and excess cholesterol) and, instead of the bile salts being reabsorbed back into the system after digesting food, the salts are excreted. As a consequence, the body dips into its cholesterol reserves to make more bile salts, thus reducing blood cholesterol levels of the harmful kind – low-density lipoprotein (LDL). High levels of LDL have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease. Apples may also promote gut health. NZ Gardener Mar 2020

This is the full recipe but I made it with 1.5l of cider and 6 small apples. I love spices so I left the quantities of those the same, and I didn’t use any sugar. This recipe is made with whipped cream but I discovered afterwards that the traditional version relies just on the frothy whipped apple for its lambswool topping. I served mine in heatproof wine glasses.

3.7 l apple cider
12 small apples, peeled and cored
1/2 cup sugar (to be added if the cider is very tart)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

In a large enamelled pot, slowly heat 3/4 of the cider until warm but not boiling.
In another enamelled pot, pour in remaining cider and the apples, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger, and bring to the boil.
Vigorously simmer the apples until they lose their shape and become “frothy”.
Pour 3/4 of the cider into a large glass serving bowl which has been slightly heated so that the warm fluid will not crack it.
Pour the remaining hot cider with the spiced apples into the serving bowl.
Whip the cream with the salt and brown sugar until it peaks.
Spoon the cream onto the lambswool or add the cream to each tankard of the lambswool as it is served.