Eggnog Nutrition Facts: Here's What's Really In Your Holiday Drink!

Eggnog is a chilled, rich, dairy-based, and sweetened beverage.

The traditional recipe for making this drink involves using cream, milk, whipped raw eggs whites, sugar, and eggs yolks. Different types of alcohol, like whisky, rum, bourbon, or brandy, are also key ingredients to add to a serving of this festive treat.

Usually, eggnog is served cold, but sometimes, a serving can also be turned into a warm drink, usually on cold days. Eggnog flavoring can also be used to flavor other drinks like tea or coffee. It is also used in a half cup with egg-custard as a desert. Apart from having a sweet taste, the spices served on top of eggnog give it a spicy taste as well. The texture of eggnog is actually very thick compared to the texture of milk. Its texture is like vanilla ice cream in its molten state. This drink is rich and is such a delicious part of a festive diet. It's a tradition to serve it in crystal glasses only. Though this drink is very heavy, it doesn't have a good calcium or carbohydrate content.

You should always keep in mind some eggnog safety rules before giving it to small children and pregnant women. They can only enjoy the cooked version of eggnog. If you are using raw eggs, you can switch to pasteurized eggs for this purpose. The amount of nutrients in a serving is very high for eggnog. People also add artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, heavy cream, and sometimes caffeine to increase the nutritional content (vitamins and fats) and calories of this holiday season drink. Starbucks sells eggnogs during the holiday season.

Eggnog is often accompanied by distilled spirits; hence it becomes important to discuss the kind of alcohol to use for this. There is no rule about specific alcohol when preparing eggnog; you can choose the alcohol that is your favorite. However, there is just one exception to this: tequila. It is not a good fit for eggnog. In earlier times, sherry, madeira, and brandy were very popular for this purpose. But later, because of the popularity and cost of rum and whiskey, people started to use them with eggnog. These spirits were also available in bulk and had a small tax associated with them.

Eggnog History And How It Is Made

Eggnog is considered to have originated from a medieval European drink known as 'posset', which was created from hot, sweet, spiced milk curdled with wine or ale.

With the addition of eggs and figs, thirteenth-century monks relished this dish. Later, around the 17th century, sherry became more popular than using wine or ale. As these ingredients, milk, sherry, heavy cream (optional), and eggs, were costly and rare, this drink became a beverage of royals and celebrities. For common people, this was only a drink for special occasions and holidays. Eventually, posset became very popular across the Atlantic Ocean as well and became the favorite beverage of colonial Americans. It is still not very clear at what time the name 'eggnog' emerged and replaced the word posset. Americans used to love eggnog so much in their diet that they even rioted for it.

The recipe for preparing eggnog is very simple. To prepare eggnog at home, you need to have two cups of nut milk (it can be coconut or cashew), two pastured egg yolks, one tsp. of freshly ground nutmeg, half a tsp. of vanilla extract, one date or one tbsp. of honey for sweetness, and a cinnamon stick to add extra flavor and to simmer as well.

To prepare it, start by putting nutmeg, honey, dates, nut milk, and egg yolk in a blender and blend them until they get creamy and smooth. This will take around a minute. Now, heat this mixture in a saucepan over medium heat. You need to stir the mixture continuously for five minutes to avoid the mixture from boiling. You will see the mixture getting frothy at the start, but it will soon thicken after getting heated. Now, after five minutes, strain the liquid through a mesh strainer, and your eggnog is ready to serve with a cinnamon stick to make it healthier. Remember that eggnog contains a large amount of saturated fat and protein.

Other Names For Eggnog

Other names for eggnog are milk punch or holiday sludge.

Nutrition Profile And Calories Per Serving Of Eggnog

A small portion size of 8.81 oz (250 g) of eggnog contains various nutritional contents like 224 calories of recommended daily values, 0.38 oz (11 g) of total fat, 0.21 oz (6 g) of saturated fat, 0.7 oz (20 g) of carbohydrate, zero oz (zero g) of dietary fiber, 0.7 oz (20 g) of sugar, 0.42 (12 g) of protein, and very low amount of Vitamin D, vitamin C, Calcium, iron, potassium, cholesterol, and sodium.

Eggnog is a very strong drink because of the obvious ingredients in it. If you drink four oz (113.39 g) of the old-fashioned, non-alcoholic, and commercial version, you will drink approx 200 calories and 0.38 oz (11 g) of fats, or 13 % of the daily value for this nutrient. Vegan versions of eggnog are sold under the name of 'Nog'; they contain almond milk and are low in calories. Even silk nog, which is made of a soy milk base, contains 90 caloriesper serving of 4.22 oz (120 ml). Adding a half cup of eggnog to your daily diet, if you burn a lot of calories, is beneficial, but if you burn fewer calories and have cholesterol problems, you should decrease your serving size of this drink.

Why is eggnog only sold at Christmas?

Eggnog is a traditional Christmas drink that experiences most of its sales in the month of November and December as it creates nostalgia for people. It is available all through the year, but as it was a U.S. tradition to drink eggnog on Christmas, this month see it become more widely available in stores than is usual until the new year. You can see the hike in supply and marketing starting from Thanksgiving until the Christmas holidays. This is the reason why most people doubt that the sale of eggnog is only in the month of December. It is just that the sale is increased because of traditional customs.

Apart from this, eggnog is a very popular beverage in places that experience extremely cold winter months. This is one of the reasons the people of the northeast United States drink it more than the people living in the south. This beverage has been very popular for many centuries. It got started as a royal drink for the British. This warm and thick drink gets spiced up with a lot of spices and is served with a distilled spirit, like rum or brandy. Americans specifically use rum with eggnog to avoid the spoilage of eggnog. Because of this factor, it has become a seasonal or occasional drink. Nowadays, it has taken the form of a festive custom in most cold countries.