Healthy Homemade Eggnog

One of the reason I love the holiday season so much is the plethora of warm and cozy beverages that are associated with the cooler months. There’s nothing like curling up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate or a salted caramel latte to watch a Christmas movie with family. Another favorite holiday beverage of ours is eggnog. My husband goes crazy over this stuff, and, when accompanied by a dash of good bourbon, it makes the perfect party drink. This healthy homemade eggnog is made with real food ingredients and makes an excellent treat!

“Tis’ the season . . .
To whip up a batch of eggnog just like grandma used to make – with loads of high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, stabilizers and carrageenan.

What, NO? You say that is not how your grandma made it, and that she didn’t make hot chocolate from a pouch, either? Well then, I suppose we will just have to put our noggins together and figure out how to get along without those things.

So what delivers a rich, creamy texture without the aid of a chemistry set? Oh yes, CREAM! Simple, wholesome, and rich in healthy fats, vitamin K, and other nutrients, this is the real deal. Add in some egg yolks and optional gelatin hydrolysate, and eggnog becomes quite the nutritional powerhouse. I love to use it as creamer in my tea or coffee.

Now, About Those Raw Egg Yolks
They’re rich in enzymes, protein, essential fatty acids, niacin, riboflavin, biotin, choline, vitamins A, D and E, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, iron, iodine, copper, zin, amino acids that help build cartilage, and keratin for beautiful skin, hair and nails, but are they safe to consume? What about salmonella?

Personally, I’m not concerned with salmonella as long as the eggs are from healthy, pasture-raised chickens. This post from Food Renegade covers many of the reasons why, but here’s the short version. According to Joel Salatin:

“So far, not one case of food-borne pathogens has been reported among the thousands of pastured poultry producers, many of whom have voluntarily had their birds analyzed. Routinely, these home-dressed birds, which have not been treated with chlorine to disinfect them, show numbers far below industry comparisons. At Polyface, we even tested our manure and found that it contained no salmonella.

Pastured poultry farms exhibit trademark lush pastures and healthy chickens with deep-colored egg yolks and fat. As with any movement, some practitioners are excellent and others are charlatans. Knowing your product by putting as much attention on food sourcing as you do on planning your next vacation is the way to insure accountability.””