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Americans drink 135 million pounds of eggnog every winter.
Among the holiday treats that inspire debate, fruitcake may be the most divisive food, but eggnog is surely the most controversial beverage.
An informal Facebook poll revealed an audience split right down the middle, with half the respondents expressing love for the beverage and the other half having visceral reactions ranging from “yuck” and “gross,” to “blech” and “ew.” More than one anti-nog respondent demanded an answer to the simple question, “Why would anyone drink eggs and milk together?”
Even fans of eggnog might wonder who first decided to mix eggs, milk, cream and sugar, then drink the soupy concoction.
The answer is more than 800 years old.
Most culinary anthropologists put the blame – or the credit – for eggnog on drinkers in early medieval Britain, when “posset,” a mix of egg, milk and ale or wine, was served hot.
Even eggnog-haters might have to admit that the modern drink seems like a benign concoction when compared to its medieval predecessor.
With “nog” being an old English word for strong beer, “posset” eventually morphed into “eggnog.”
Medieval Britains mixed egg and milk not just with beer, but with whatever alcohol was on hand, from brandy to sherry. As desperate as these measures may sound, eggnog was a drink of the upper classes. Dairy was an expensive and relatively rare ingredient in medieval Britain, and even eggs were a relative luxury, making eggnog, or “egg flip,” as it was sometimes called, a treat reserved for the well-to-do.
However, in the New World, access to dairy cattle and laying chickens was common, and nearly everyone could afford their own eggs and milk. Colonists were also adept at distilling their own hard liquor. With the main ingredients readily at hand, colonists soon drank eggnog much more frequently than those who stayed behind in the Old World.
In 1800, author Isaac Weld, Jr. described an eggnog recipe as “new milk, eggs, rum, and sugar, beat up together.” Over the years, eggnog recipes became more refined and included nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ever more sugar.
While Americans today are leaders in eggnog consumption, Mexico, Germany, Peru and Iceland all have their own varieties. Mexican rompope is heavy with cinnamon and rum. While Puerto Rican coquito also includes rum, being made with fresh coconut juice or coconut milk changes the flavor considerably.
The Peruvian version – biblia conpisco – is made with a pomace brandy, while Germans stick closer to the original posset, with their Biersuppe translating as egg soup with beer. Iceland serves an alcohol-free version as a hot, eggy dessert.
The American recipe may take the prize for the heaviest, least healthy drink, with nearly half the drink’s calories coming from fat.
Loaded with sugar, American eggnog also supplies half a day’s cholesterol and up to 400 calories per cup. American eggnog, basically just a stirred custard, is the liquid equivalent of ice cream.
For those in love with the taste but not the nutritional burden, eggnog recipes now come in vegan, paleo, and keto varieties.
While George Washington’s recipe called for the eggnog to “set in cool place for several days,” some modern fans of aged eggnog take the idea much further. Cookbook author and eggnog enthusiast Alton Brown insists that “aged nog is the only true nog.”
Brown’s recipe calls for eggnog to spend six months to a year in the fridge. This causes “a curious chemical collusion to take place as egg proteins, alcohol, and milk sugars slowly join forces.
“The resulting elixir,” Brown said, “tastes not of eggs, milk, sugar or booze, but simply of eggnog.”
Of course, whether an aged concoction tasting “simply of eggnog” sounds nightmarish or heavenly depends entirely on the taster.
Alton Brown’s recipe can be found at altonbrown.com, while George Washington’s version is available at food.com. Be warned, however, that Washington forgot to include the quantity of eggs in his recipe, so prepare at your own risk.