Lambswool Wassail

Roasted apples.

A sort-of medieval recipe, I haven't found a good primary source, only other people saying that it is medieval. A small verse:

Next crowne the bowle full of
With gentle lambs wooll,
Adde sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With a store of ale too,
And thus ye must doe
To make the Wassaile a swinger.

No reference was listed, and it sounds fake; but I haven't had time to investigate further. Anyway the recipe is unusual and delicous regardless of provenance.

3 liters of apple juice or cider (I did part unfiltered apple juice, part carbonated apple juice)
6 large apples
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Remove wax from apples and cut out the cores. Place them in a cake pan and add about 1/2" of water. Roast the apples for 35-45 minutes, until they are mushy and the skin is peeling off.

Meanwhile, put the sugar in a pan and add enough juice to cover it. Heat over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the nutmeg and ginger. Keep it over low heat.

Remove and discard the skin from the roasted apples. I found that different varieties of apple peeled differently, and some apple flesh needed to be scraped off the back of the pulled-off skin, but it wasn't difficult.

Puree the apple flesh in a food processor or blender until it is totally smooth like thick apple sauce. If using a blender, add enough juice to get it to blend, but not enough to really liquefy it. It needs to be thick and drier than usual applesauce.

Set a crock pot on high heat. Pour in the apple juice/cider and the sugar mix. Stir together. Then pour in the pureed apple and whisk it. It should float to the top and resemble a wool fleece soaking in cider. Let it heat up to desired temperature, then set the crock pot to low or warm to maintain temperature for the duration of your winter feast.

Apple Sherbet

4-5 apples
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbls. honey
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream

Remove wax from apples by dipping in hot water for about 30 seconds, then scrubbing off the wax with a rough cloth.

Run apples through a juicer until you have 2 cups of juice. Stir together all ingredients. Chill in the fridge until it is completely cold. Churn in ice cream machine for 20 minutes, then transfer to a container and freeze until hard.

Apple Chutney

4 cups apples, diced to 1/2" pieces with the cored removed
1/2 cup onion, minced
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 Tbls. apple cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. mustard seed
1/8 tsp. chili powder
1/8 tsp. saffron powder
3/4 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it is boiling, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 50-60 minutes, until the liquid is reduced to a small amount of thick syrup. Remove from heat and let cool completely so that it can continue to thicken.

Tomato Chutney

In Mossflower, this is served to accompany Deeper 'n Ever Turnip 'n' Tater 'n' Beetroot 'n' Bean Pie.

2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup candied ginger, minced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
2 Tbls. raisins or other small dried fruit
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. fennel seed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbls. honey
1 tsp. arrowroot powder

Combine all ingredients in a pan. Let sit for 5 minutes. Put over medium heat and simmer for a few minutes until thick. Let it cool completely to continue to thicken.

Cherry Soup

1 pound cherries, any variety, pits and stems removed
2 tablespoons apple juice, as desired for sweetness
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk or nut milk

If using canned cherries, drain out and discard the syrup. If using fresh cherries and juice comes out from pitting them, use the juice!

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Be sure to blend it thoroughly. Strain the skins out if necessary.

Serve chilled.

The soup pictured above was made with equal amounts of fresh pie cherries and fresh black cherries. A beautiful color. The black cherries were sweet enough that apple juice was not needed, and the tartness of the pie cherries added a wonderful zing to the flavor.

Beetroot Salad

1 pound beet roots
1/2 apple juice, or other fruit juice
2 Tbls. olive oil
4 Tbls. minced chives, mint, or parsley, or a combination
Salt
2 cups, packed, of chopped lettuce and beet greens

Scrub the beets and grate with a large-holed grater. Toss with the lettuce and greens. Combine the juice, olive oil, and salt to taste. Toss with the beets and greens.

Serves 4.

Apple Cider with Damson Plums

To make 1 pint:

1 lb of apples
1/4 lb of plums, with the pits removed

Run the apples through a juicer. Skim off the foam.

Put the plums in a blender with a bit of the apple juice, and blend until as liquefied as possible. Stir into the apple juice.

Squeeze the juice through a cloth bag to strain. (Squeeze into a bowl or serving vessel).

Serve chilled.


You can use what is called a jelly bag, or cheesecloth. What I find works the best is just to make a large, rectangular bag with muslin or fine linen. It's cheap and reusable, you can make it as big or small as you need, and works much better than cheesecloth, which is too loose of a weave.

Other notes. I tried this with two different methods, using apples and plums that were all from the same batches. (Got at a farmers' market, so they were literally each from the same orchards).

I wanted to see if cooked fruit or raw fruit would yield a better flavor. The raw fruit won. You can read all my notes on the matter below.

Ingredients: 1 lb. apples, cored. 1/4 lb. plums, pitted.

Raw method: Put apple through juicer. Skim foam. Liquefy plum in blender. Stir into apple juice. Strain.

Cooked method: Apple and plum in 1 cup water in pot. When water boils, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Apples will be soft. Liquefy in blender. Strain.

Results for raw method: Fast and easy. Easy to squeeze through the cloth. Only bits of plum skin remain from straining. Yields about 1 pint. Thick, but not as thick as the cooked. Sweeter than the cooked. Remained homogeneous after several hours. 12 hours later, slight separation. Top 3/4 was thick, bottom 1/4 was thin, but when drinking there was no discernible difference in flavor or texture between the two liquids.

Results for cooked method: Takes much longer to make, between cooking and cooling before straining. Difficult to squeeze through the cloth. Basically applesauce remains from straining. Thick, creamy texture--almost too thick, like it feels like it needs to be chewed. Yields just over 1 pint. Remained homogeneous after several hours. Mild applesauce flavor. Not as sweet. Can't taste the plums. 12 hours later, still homogeneous.

Felix Felicis

1" piece of ginger root
pineapple, canned or fresh (if using fresh, peel and cut into pieces)
apples
1/3 cup lemon juice (or a peeled lemon to juice)
1 cup water
1/2 lb. dry ice

Makes about 2 liters

Put the lemon juice in the measuring bowl (or run a lemon through the juicer into the bowl). Juice the ginger with the first apple, then continue to juice apples until you have 4 cups of juice. Juice the pineapple (you can use the juice in the can too) until you have 8 cups of juice. Transfer to a serving bowl or to a larger container if necessary. Stir in the water and stir around to help diffuse any foam that may have formed from juicing. Add the dry ice. You can start serving it after 15 minutes (to make sure it's all carbonated). Or, you can take out the ice after 15 minutes (or wait for it to all dissolve) and transfer the potion to an airtight container for storage. Store in the fridge.