Yesterday we provided four ways to make low calorie egg nog.

Today, calories be damned. Here are the real deal, classic egg nog, along with four wonderful flavored egg nog variations.

FULL STRENGTH EGG NOG RECIPES

If you’re not counting calories, take a look at these delicious recipes:

 
Here’s how to make flaming egg nog.

While it’s quite elegant, you don’t need a punch bowl and handled cups to serve egg nog. Use whatever glasses you have, and pour the nog from a pitcher.

Egg nog, always festive, is even more so in chocolate, coconut or other flavors. Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

MORE EGG NOG DELIGHTS

Egg nog doesn’t need to stay in a glass. Here are options from cookies to truffles:

 
THE HISTORY OF EGG NOG

Who invented egg nog? The facts aren’t clear, but here’s the egg nog history as we know it.

With all of the holiday advice on how not to overeat, we haven’t heard one word about avoiding the most caloric food of the season: egg nog.

Delicious and addictive (you can’t help but want another cup…and another), there’s a good reason to steer clear of the egg nog bowl: the calories.

Our survey of five supermarket brands showed 190 to 230 calories per tiny four ounce portion. That’s without the rum and brandy, not to mention the vanilla ice cream added to many party egg nog recipes. Have a cup or two and you can easily consume 1000 calories.

So, you might want to taste just a spoonful (or none at all) of the real thing, and celebrate with one of our four diet egg nog recipes.

Diet egg nog is not the same richer-than-rich experience; but it’s a the first step toward a new years’ resolution to eat a healthier diet!

Egg nog: one of the most caloric foods on earth. Photo courtesy AllEggWhites.com.

Tomorrow: Egg nog recipes with lots of calories.

Until then, here’s the history of egg nog.

Marinated with some heat, garnished with red and green, we could eat a dozen of these Christmas oysters. Photo courtesy Louisiana Seafood.

Oysters are a treat at any time of the year.

The old advice to avoid them except in months that end in “r” came from the time before refrigeration, to avoid potential spoilage in the warmer spring and summer months.

“Christmas oysters” are garnished in red and green for a festive Christmas appetizer.

To warm up the holiday season, the recipe below, from Louisiana Seafood, has a bit of heat—which is how they like things in Louisiana.

If you don’t like heat, substitute green bell pepper for the jalapeño and eliminate the hot sauce.

The recipe calls for Louisiana oysters, but you can use any variety that are fresh and appealing. Our personal preference is for jumbo Pacific oysters from Willapa Oysters—the larger and meatier the oyster, the happier we are.

CHRISTMAS OYSTERS RECIPE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. CLEAN shells and shuck oysters. Strain and reserve liquid. Reserve bottom half of shell; discard top half.

2. COMBINE oyster liquid, red onions, cilantro, jalapeños, lime juice, lime zest, tomatoes, hot sauce and olive oil. Add oysters and marinate for 5-7 minutes.

3. ARRANGE oyster shells on a bed of ice or kosher salt (it’s much less expensive to use in bulk than coarse sea salt). We prefer shredded red cabbage with some white cabbage mixed in—it’s more festive for the holidays (you can shred it in the food processor or slice it thinly with a knife) and you can eat it with some lemon juice or cocktail sauce. Place 1 oyster on each shell and top with cherry tomato half, red onions, 1 slice of jalapeño, some juice from marinade and a couple of crystals of sea salt.

Growing oysters off the coast of Louisiana. Photo courtesy Louisiana Seafood News.

4. GARNISH with fresh cilantro leaves and serve immediately.
 
Find more of our favorite seafood recipes.

*Any oysters eaten raw must be freshly shucked, to avoid bacteria build-up.

By the 18th century, candles lit up Christmas
trees (how did they not set the place on fire?
Engraving by John Whetten Ehninger
published in 1870 in Harper’s Bazaar
magazine. Image courtesy Wikimedia.

This tip is about making a cheese Christmas tree. But first, here’s the history of the Christmas tree, also called a yule* tree:

Long before the advent of Christianity, evergreen plants and trees had special significance during the bleak winter months.

Early Romans marked the winter solstice† with a feast called the Saturnalia (in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture), celebrating that farms and orchards would soon be green and fruitful again. As part of the festivities, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

In Northern Europe the Druids,** the priestly class of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life.

The use of evergreen trees, wreaths and garlands to symbolize eternal life was shared by the ancient Chinese, Egyptians and Hebrews. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, tree worship was common among pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity.

Other ancient peoples would hang evergreen boughs over their doors and windows, a tradition that continues today—although back then, there was a prevailing belief that evergreens would keep away evil spirits, ghosts, witches and illness.

THE CHRISTMAS TREE APPEARS

The decorated evergreen tree first appeared at the turn of the 15th century in the upper Rhineland, an area in the middle western border that includes Bonn, Düsseldorf and Köln (Cologne), cities on the Rhine River. The area is home to many evergreens, including fir, pine and spruce trees.

According to TheHolidaySpot.com, in 1605, a groundbreaking moment in Christmas occurred: an evergreen tree was brought indoors and decorated. It occurred in Strasbourg, a city on the Rhine that is now part of France. The tree was adorned with paper roses, lighted candles, wafers, nuts and sweets.

The concept spread through Germany, and in 1800 the Christmas tree was brought to the U.K. by Queen Charlotte, the German-born wife of George III, who decorated a small yew tree in with candles, sweets and toys. The tradition did not spread outside of the royal court until 1848, when the Illustrated London News magazine published an illustration featuring the royal family gathered around their Christmas tree. That’s all it took for Christmas trees to begin to pop up in British homes.

Germany, home of the Christmas tree, threw themselves into the tradition in a big way:

AMERICANS INVENT LIGHT BULBS…AND
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Electric Christmas lights were born in the U.S.A. It was in New York City, in 1882, that the first Christmas tree was lit by electricity.

This pioneering effort was accomplished by Edward Johnson, using 80 small electric light bulbs. Johnson was an inventor who worked for Thomas Edison, whose laboratory had delivered the first workable incandescent light bulb in October 1879. Johnson went on to create the first strings of electric Christmas lights, which were mass produced around 1890.‡

Tree lights really took off when American Albert Sadacca replaced the white lights with brightly colored bulbs. The company he founded became the largest Christmas lighting company in the world. The first artificial tree appeared in the 1930s. The early ones were silver, designed to be lit by a revolving colored light source under the tree.

An edible version of the historic Christmas tree. Here’s the recipe. Photo courtesy Cabbot Creamery.

HOW TO MAKE A CHEESE CHRISTMAS TREE

As long as you can cut even cubes, this is an easy and fun project.

Select your favorite semihard cheeses: young Asiago, Cheddar, Colby, Edam, Fontinella, aged Gouda, Jack, Manchego, Provolone and Queso Blanco, for starters (learn more about these cheeses in our Cheese Glossary).

Cheeses that already are formed into rectangular blocks are the easiest to cut into cubes. Here’s the full recipe.

*The word derives from the name of a pagan feast lasting 12 days.

†The winter solstice, which typically occurs on December 21st, is the shortest day of the year. It’s the on which the noontime sun is at its lowest altitude above the horizon. More.

**The Celts and Druids occupied Britain, Ireland, and Gaul (France), and possibly other parts of Celtic Europe and Galatia during the Iron Age. In Britain, they built the magnificent and fascinating monument, Stonehenge.

‡It seems amazing, but electricity in homes and businesses is fairly recent. According to Wikipedia, by 1900 most American cities had electric street lights and most new houses were wired for electricity. By 1920 almost all businesses had electricity, and many houses were converted from gas light to electric light in this period. By 1930 even cold water tenements had electric lights. However many rural areas and farms still did not have lights due to the cost of wiring. By 1950 most homes had electricity.

Green cardamom. Photo courtesy Suvir
Saran | Indian Home Cooking.

Cardamom, a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), is a highly aromatic and flavorful spice from from a plant native to India and its northern neighbors, Bhutan and Nepal. The name derives from the Latin cardamomum and the Greek kardamon, which referred to a particular Indian spice plant.

The shell of the pod has very little flavor. The small seeds inside are intense in both aroma and taste. You can buy cardamom whole (pods), shelled or ground, in black, green and white varieties.

If a recipe simply calls for “cardamom,” use the green variety, which has exotic floral notes. Black cardamom (actually brown in color) is stronger, smokey and resinous. White cardamom, preferred in Scandinavia, is green cardamom that has been sun-bleached for aesthetics; there is no difference in flavor.

Cardamom, often seen as an exotic spice in the U.S., is popular in numerous cuisines worldwide.

 
HOW TO STORE CARDAMOM

Store cardamom pods in a tightly sealed glass jar, away from heat and light. They can keep indefinitely.

WAYS TO USE CARDAMOM

If you have cardamom sitting in the cupboard, it’s time to break it out. The spice fits into any recipe that calls for allspice, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, mace, nutmeg, preserved lemon or rose. Start by adding a pinch, then more to suit your taste. Beyond curries and other international dishes, use cardamom in:

 
FOOD TRIVIA

Cardamom is the world’s third most expensive spice by weight, following saffron and vanilla. But in most cases, just a pinch is needed.

As with many spices, cardamom also has health benefits, which range from improving digestion to increasing one’s metabolism.

FEEL LIKE BAKING?

Make this cardamom cookie recipe from Martha Stewart.
 
Find more of our favorite spices in our Salts & Spices Section.

The mistletoe plant has ovoid green leaves with small white berries. Why is it associated with Christmas? Here’s one explanation:

The Druids of Britain (think Stonehenge), circa 100 C.E., thought that mistletoe had magic properties: a cure for disease, a fertility aid, protection from witches and so forth. In a special ceremony held in late December or early January, priests would cut pieces of mistletoe from oak trees* and people would hang them in their homes.

Over the centuries, the custom of hanging mistletoe at home endured, and around 800 C.E. it may have become joined with a Viking legend.

In that legend, the god Balder is killed with a poison made from mistletoe (mistletoe is, in fact, poisonous). He is brought back to life by his mother, the goddess Frigga, who is able to reverse the effects of the poison.

Overjoyed, Frigga then kisses everyone who walks under the hanging mistletoe. Fast forward another 13 centuries: We’re still kissing people under the mistletoe.

Enjoy a Mistletoe Margarita—just don’t use real mistletoe! Photo courtesy Hornitos Tequila.

You can simulate mistletoe in a cocktail with a few mint leaves; but never let real mistletoe anywhere near edibles if you want to avoid acute gastrointestinal problems.

*Mistletoe is a parasitic plant. It grows attached to the branches of a tree or shrub, from which it absorbs nutrients.

RECIPE: CHRISTMAS MARGARITA/MISTLETOE MARGARITA

Ingredients Per Drink

Why buy artificially colored, artificially
flavored, HFCS- and preservative-laden sour
mix, when you can make your own from
simple, honest ingredients?†

Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients except garnishes and sugar in a pitcher. Chill.

2. RIM the glass with sugar before pouring in the cocktail: Simply run a lime wedge around the edge of the glass and then dip the rim of the glass in a plate of sugar.

2. POUR and garnish each glass with 2 mint leaves and/or other garnishes. Serve on the rocks or straight up.
 
Find more of our favorite Christmas cocktails.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SOUR MIX

That specialty product called sour mix—also called Margarita mix, sweet-and-sour mix and whiskey sour mix—is simply a lemon/lime flavored simple syrup (also called cane sugar syrup), a sweetener that dissolves easily in cold beverages.

Simple syrup can be flavored. When it is citrus flavored, it is called sour mix or sweet and sour mix—sweet from the sugar, sour from the citrus.

Commercial products abound; but as with many prepared foods, you can make a better, less expensive version by just using sugar, water and citrus juice.

In fact, if you mix up your fair share of cocktails, you should always have some simple syrup at the ready. When you need sour mix, just stir in the citrus juice.

HOW TO MAKE SIMPLE SYRUP & SOUR MIX

†You’ve seen the three ingredients of natural sour mix in the recipe above. Here’s what’s in a commercial brand like Mrs. T’s: water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium hexametaphosphate, gum acacia, potassium sorbate (preservative), polysorbate 60, natural flavor, ester gum, sodium metabisulfite (preservative), calcium disodium EDTA (preservative), calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, yellow color 5, yellow color 6.

Do you find yourself with bottles of spirits you don’t use often: the Limoncello you bought on impulse, the cachaça you used once to make Caipirinhas, the saké you never get around to drinking with take-out sushi?

Could you use the space they take up to store something else?

Look for holiday cocktail recipes that use those ingredients, and clear those bottles from the shelf.

Jason Oh, Beverage Manager of the Haru Japanese restaurant chain, shared his recipes for some of Haru’s holiday cocktails, including a Cranberry Caipirinha. It’s helping us use up the cachaça, while looking colorful and tasting great.

Have Limoncello? Here’s a recipe for a Limoncello Cranberry Spritzer.

CRANBERRY CAIPIRINHA RECIPE

Ingredients

Christmas is in the air and on the palate with this Cranberry Caipirinha. Photo courtesy Haru Sushi.

Preparation

1. MUDDLE limes, cranberries and orange slice in a shaker; mix in brown sugar.

2. ADD cachaça, cranberry juice and cinnamon sugar. Shake and strain into a rocks glass.

3. GARNISH with one or two cinnamon sticks.

 
Find more of our favorite holiday cocktails.

A FOLLOW-UP TIP

If you have more than a few bottles that need to be drunk—and no occasion in sight—simply give them as “party favors” to the people who come over for the Cranberry Caipirinhas.

Your white elephants are someone else’s celebration!

Yesterday we discussed that cup of good cheer, mulled wine, as a traditional Christmas drink.

Today we present the other drink of holiday song, the wassail bowl (pronounced WOSS-ul).

Wassail is an Anglo-Saxon term meaning “good health.” During the holiday season in merrie olde [medieval] England, a host would invite friends over for a celebratory drink. The festivities began when the host held up the bowl and exclaimed, “Wassail!”

Punch was drunk, songs were sung. The tradition began in the 14th century in southern England, where the apple groves produced a lot of cider. The first wassail bowls contained hot mulled cider.

But your wassail bowl can contain whatever type of punch you like, hot or chilled.

While recipes have evolved, the first wassail bowls contained hot mulled cider. Photo courtesy FeastsFromThePantry.com.

While wassail is a spirited drink, you can make a non-alcoholic versions as well.

Here’s a video recipe for wassail.

This non-alcoholic version of a wassail recipe combines apple cider and pineapple juice: certain to be popular with the kids.

Start wassailing!

You can serve mulled wine in a mug, brandy snifter, wine glass or other vessel of choice. Photo courtesy Spice Islands.

Mulled wine, a traditional winter drink in northern Europe, is hearty red wine that’s warmed, sweetened and spiced.

It’s a popular holiday drink. The word mulled means heated, sweetened and spiced. The expression “cup of good cheer” that comes to us from Merrie Olde England refers to hot mulled cider and wine.

Glögg is the Swedish form of mulled wine, Glühwein is the German variation, vin fieri (“boiled wine”) is Romanian, and so forth. Hot buttered rum (also called rum toddy), the Colonial favorite, uses similar spices and brown sugar (both rum and sugar came from the Caribbean).

Different countries use different spices (cloves and black pepper versus cinnamon and star anise, e.g.) and sweeteners (sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses). But the end result is the same: fragrant, warm, sweet and comforting.

While delicious and festive, recipes originated not as party fare but as a way to save wine that had turned (throw in enough sugar and spice and anything tastes good). Ale was/is also mulled.

You can buy pouches of pre-mixed mulling spices, but it’s just as easy to pull out the cinnamon sticks, measure out a little allspice, mix in some dried orange peel and drop in a few whole cloves.

You can cook up the ingredients and keep them in the fridge, reheating when friends and family stop by.

Check out our article on mulled wine, cider and glogg and enjoy a cup of good cheer.

Tomorrow: how to make a wassail bowl.

HOT MULLED WINE RECIPE

There are as many mulled wine recipes as there are people who make them. This recipe, from Estancia Winery, mixes Estancia’s Pinot Noir with apple cider.

Ingredients

Hot buttered rum at left, flanked by a Scotch toddy (substitute Scotch for the rum). Photo courtesy National Honey Board.

1. PEEL long strips of rind from the orange, lemon and lime and place in a saucepan along with the sugar/honey and the juice of the orange.

2. ADD the cloves, cinnamon sticks, 3 gratings of nutmeg, zest of orange, bay leaves and sliced vanilla pod.

3. POUR enough wine and cider to cover the sugar and place over medium heat. Stir frequently until the mixture boils and thickens slightly (roughly 5 minutes).

4. POUR in the rest of the wine and cider and turn the heat down to low.

5. ADD the star anise and leave the mixture to heat through for about 10 minutes without boiling. Make sure to leave the spices and zest in the pan.

6. LADLE into glasses or mugs and garnish with slices of orange, nutmeg or cinnamon sticks and enjoy!
 
FOOD TRIVIA

Some American food holidays are on dates that make no sense:

If you ate more than this for Thanksgiving,
you may need this article. Photo courtesy
WilliamsSonoma.com.

During the holiday season, articles with tips on how to avoid overeating abound, starting with Thanksgiving dinner.

If only we could follow that sensible advice! If you and your family have self-control on Thanksgiving, well, we wish we were you.

However, if you have tendencies to overeat, and then suffer from bloating, indigestion and overall discomfort, here are some cures:

1. Head for the antacids. Don’t wait: Swallow a dose of Pepto-Bismol ASAP. It provides relief for indigestion, heartburn and upset stomach, among other digestive upsets.

2. Take a walk. Even if you can barely move, you’ll really benefit from a walk around the block. Walking helps food move through the digestive tract.

3. Try some gentle massage. As much as your abdomen feels that it doesn’t want to be touched, use your palms to massage it, in a circular motion around your navel.

4. Drink herbal tea. Even if you’re convinced that you can’t ingest another thing, sip some herbal tea: It will help to reduce the bloat. Take advantage of fresh herbs in the kitchen—basil, cilantro, ginger, mint, oregano, rosemary and/or sage are good. Steep 4 to 6 teaspoons in a cup of boiling water. Or, grab a camomile or mint tea bag.

5. Lie down. Don’t hesitate to excuse yourself and get horizontal after eating a big meal. Just 20-30 minutes in a reclining position helps your stomach muscles move and digest all that food.

6. Try a heating pad and breathe deeply. Breathe deeply to relax clenched stomach muscles that may contribute to sdiscomfort. Something warm—not scalding hot—on your abdomen for about 20 minutes can also make you feel better.

Do you have an overeating “cure?” Let us know.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at THE NIBBLE.