Wassail

The Wassail Bowl was traditionally partaken of in England on Christmas Eve.

It is referred to in Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream and in Oxford University it was representative of an ornate silver gilt bowl holding ten gallons of liquid, drunk out of on St.David's Day.
 
Here is an old traditional Wassail bowl recipe taken from George Roberts Cups and their customs (1869). Some objects from the Museum of Kitchenalia used to prepare this would include, sugar nippers to break down the sugar from its solid cone shape and a nutmeg grater to add spice to the drink

19c Sugar nippers

©MuseumofKitchenalia

Georgian Nutmeg grater ©MuseumofKitchenalia

The Wassail Bowl

Put into a quart of warm beer one pound of raw

sugar, on which grate a nutmeg and some ginger;

then add four glasses of sherry and two quarts more of

beer, with three slices of lemon; add more sugar, if

required, and serve it with three slices of toasted bread

floating in it.