Tasting notes

The ancient tradition of wassailing is having a resurgence

Wassailing, 21st-century style

IN OUR AGE OF technology, serenading an apple tree to ensure a successful harvest might seem quite crackers. Warding off evil spirits from the orchard with toast slices and splashes of cider even more so, but the ancient customs of wassailing have been observed with gusto at many events this past week.

At Sheppy’s Cider in Somerset, a volley of gunshots accompanied the salutations of ‘waes hael’ (‘be well’), while at Thatchers, the Wassail Queen and Green Man were joined by the Mendip Morris Men for their revels. Today in East Sussex, the founders of Bignose & Beardy cider will lead wassailers bearing flaming torches through their orchard in Framfield, ‘making a heck of a racket with rattles and drums’ before winding up at the oldest apple tree to offer bread twists in return for good fortune.

For the four-year-old company, which relies heavily on fruit donated by local farmers and residents, it’s the perfect opportunity to thank their contributors, says co-founder Steve Stark. ‘Our apples come from within a 20-mile radius, and about 20 per cent come from people with old orchards,’ he says. ‘We keep finding abandoned orchards, too.’ The cider made by Stark and his partner, Phil Day, is flat and unfiltered, produced in small batches and left to ferment for months. ‘We’re not in any hurry,’ explains Stark; so the age-old traditions of wassailing hold great appeal. And by keeping his apple donors content, future harvests will be in good hands, too. bignoseandbeardy.com

Clockwise from mainpicture Members of the Leominster Morris perform in the Oldfields orchard cider wassailing ceremony near Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire; Thatchers’ Cider Wassail; the Wassail Queen at Sheppy’s Cider