Wildflower Farm Spiced Cider

Spiced Cider

It is another one of those beautiful, bright, frigid winter days here today. The air is crisp and the sky is..... a beautiful light cerulean blue. The sunlight plays all over shining on the frozen earth beneath it, and into the house through the prism that causes rainbows to swirl all over the kitchen. it is truly a beautiful winter day. In just a little while, we will head out to the grocery store. When we get back, I will make some hot spiced cider. It is a simple recipe and a long standing tradition here, in fact, it predates our farm days. The photo for this was taken at our old place back in the city before we packed it up and started over again here for the last time.

But this is a lovely tradition and as this region of MA is apple country, all orchards, it seems a fitting winter treat after a day of walking around in the cold.

Ingredients: Half a medium container of apple cider (we like ours to be locally produced and organic,) 2 and a half cloves, 3 cinnamon sticks. cinnamon sticks as a garnish.

You will need about 2 to 6 cups, a pot, a large wooden spoon, soup ladle, and your stove top.

Throw your ingredients all except the cinnamon sticks for garnishing, into your pot. Turn the stove on fairly low, mix now and then and keep an eye on it. Turn down the heat once the cider gets hot to prevent it from boiling. Once your apple cider is hot enough, get your soup ladle, and use it to fill your cups. Add the cinnamon stick garnish and you have a fabulous winter treat!

For even more of a treat serve it with some sort of spicy molasses cookie. Yums...........

On cold winter days and evenings there is quite often a pot of this stuff on the stove hot and sweetly spicy, waiting for our guests who are coming in cold and tired carrying heavy luggage, traveling across the state, across state lines, or across the world. I have never yet had this delicious drink fail to bring some warm winter joy to those who stop here when the night is dark, the snow is deep, and the cold is too much to with stand.