Wassail

Fifteen Cornwall

On the beach
Watergate Bay
Cornwall
TR8 4AA

Forgive me, but if someone had asked me only a week ago what a “wassail” was I’d have guessed a rare species of bird. Now, thanks to Jamie Oliver’s posh seaside restaurant, Fifteen Cornwall, I am – for the first time – delighting in the wonder of this delicious hot cider drink and saying, unequivocally, this is no bird.

Fifteen’s Cornish Wassail is "Cornish Orchards farmhouse cider mulled with locally pressed apple juices, star anise, clementine and honey". Mine was warming and fruity: not tart, mind, and not too sweet neither. I couldn’t tell you how it was prepared – I was planning to ask Jamie but he was nowhere to be seen, and his youths were probably too occupied overcooking pheasant to help me with my research.

Then again, and this is simply a suggestion, try throwing all of the above into a pot on heat, and see where that gets you.

Forget mulled wine – well, leave it on the back hob a while – and let's all fill our wassailing bowls instead.