Mulling it over...

With Christmas exactly one month away, I've been feeling the holiday spirit at little more lately. One thing that I really like about Christmas is how so many of its traditions are brought forward and celebrated in modern homes. For example, it is thought that the idea of the Christmas Tree originated in Germany, where families decorated a tree to symbolize redemption and salvation. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both with familial ties to Germany (Albert was German), first had a tree in Windsor Palace in 1841 and decorated it with fruit, tinsel, candles, and ornaments. In Canada, the first recorded presence of a Christmas Tree was in 1781 at a party held for British and German well-to-dos at Sorel, Quebec.

Another interesting Christmas tradition involves food! Much of what we eat during the holiday season dates to Medieval and Victorian Britain, including mincemeat pies, puddings, and mulled beverages, or Wassail. According to Wikipedia (!), wassail is actually ale mulled with sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and topped with bread, however, through the years the ale has been replaced with wine or fruit juice. Germany, Poland, Romania and a host of other eastern European nations call mulled wine Gluhwein and the Nordic countries, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland call it Glogg.

I recently purchased Epicure's Mulling Spices and tried it the other night with fresh, unpasteurized apple cider from Archibald Orchards (100 mile diet qualifier!).Almost instantly, the house filled with the fragrant aroma of the past (and cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon). It was delicious!