Eggnog really makes you wonder: How did humans first think chugging a
spiced and spiked egg-yolk-and-milk mixture was a good idea? It’s a bit
like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast:
“Now that I’m grown, I eat five dozen eggs, so I’m roughly the size of a
barge!” Yet despite its “love it or hate it” fame, eggnog has charmed
drinkers for nearly a millennium.
While culinary historians debate its exact lineage, most agree eggnog
originated from the early medieval Britain “posset,” a hot, milky,
ale-like drink. By the 13th century, monks were known to
drink a posset with eggs and figs. Milk, eggs, and sherry were foods of
the wealthy, so eggnog was often used in toasts to prosperity and good
health.
