Here we go a’wassailing!
Never have I ever encountered so many people in my current friend circle (since moving) that didn’t know what Wassail was! I LOVE this warm fall spiced drink and am creating a little army of children who do too. I set out on a quest, with the kids, to find a favorite wassail recipe. You’ll find after doing your own google search that there are many ways to make it and therefore, they are not equal to receive praise. I picked a handful of recipes with differing ingredients and put the kids to to the task.
Keep in mind, I have a faithful crew from our club that come every Monday and Wednesday morning for 25 minutes before the bell rings for class. Using this time, we read our recipe and made our math conversions, took turns adding the ingredients, then they left the crockpot with me to simmer and fill my class with its warm, spicy scent.
In creating these wassails, math was instantly involved because many recipes create a large batch, too much for the 4 quart crock pot I committed to using. My upper grade students helped convert the fractions, my lower grade students equated oz to cups (our measuring glass only had ounces), and poured.
The following meetup I reheated the wassail in my electric kettle (*read my kettle tangent at the end) to taste and discuss while we prepped and made another recipe.
Listed here are the wassail recipes we used with conversions so the juice will fit in a small crockpot.
Wassail Recipe 1
- 1 1/2 quart apple cider
- 2 c. orange juice
- 1/2 c. lemon juice
- 12 whole cloves
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 1 pinch ground ginger
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
I left the crock pot on low until my lunch break, then I turned it off to cool and transfer back to the emptied glass cider jug about 30 min later during my conference and keep in the fridge. (Of course I sampled and shared some of the extra!) I also repeated this routine on the following mornings.
Wassail Recipe 2
I’ve always liked a wassail with red hots as a listed ingredient, so here we go. *Note, check to be sure your students can have red dye.
- 3 c. apple cider
- 2 c. pineapple juice
- 3/4 c. orange juice
- 1/2 c. lemon juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp whole cloves
- 1/2 c red hots or cinnamon imperials (baking decorations)
For future wassail creators, use less red hots. We did like this recipe though!
Wassail Recipe 3
I’d yet to have wassail made with hibiscus tea and this seemed delightful. We’re putting together two of my favorites!
- 4 c. apple cider
- 1 c. orange juice
- 2 hibiscus tea bags
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tsp whole cloves
- 1 piece crystalized ginger (or 1/2 inch fresh ginger)
- 1 apple sliced
- 1 orange sliced
I picked up on what I liked best out of the three and want to try my own blend now!
Students seemed excited each morning to taste test what they made the previous time. We talked about why the drink was sticky when we made a mess and discovered how to tell if something had sugar in it just be the sticky factor. Also, “Where did the sugar come from? We never added any.” This led to discussion about natural sugars in fruits. Of course, you can take the conversations farther and look at ingredients on the juice cans (concentrates). Our time was cut short for that.
Have a favorite wassail recipe or tip? Please share!
***Kettle Tangent: I have kept an electric water kettle in my classroom for years!!! SOOO many times it’s come in handy, especially in teaching evaporation, changes in state of matter, water vapor as a gas, steam vs smoke, the water cycle, cloud formation, etc. Plus, during conference or early mornings, I can steep a tea bag easily. I practice common safety with this item and steer clear of putting children at risk of being burned by the steam, but of course, this makes for a great a safety talk too.
There are dozens of electric kettles, yet for my classroom, I stick with the simplest, cheapest design. I’ve used mine for years with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade science lessons (and my own tea breaks!). It is one of my classroom essentials!
https://amzn.to/37kSB5i
