St Lucy's Day,The Twelve Days of Christmas and A Pomegranate in a Pink Apple Tree Mocktail Recipe! (2024)

St Lucy’s Day,

The Twelve Days of Christmas and

A Pomegranate in a Pink Apple Tree Mocktail Recipe!

Day Thirteen on the Advent Calender

13th December ~ Hannah’s Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Hannah, my daughter, who sometimes guest writes for me on my blog, today is her birthday,and, it is also Saint Lucy’s Day or Santa Lucia. Although the day is celebrated in Catholic countries throughout Europe, I am instinctively drawn to how the festival is celebrated in Sweden and Scandinavia; the oldest daughter of the family rises just before dawn and dresses in a white gown with a red sash, which symbolises Lucia’s purity and her martyrdom. On her head she places a crown of lingonberry twigs and leaves in which candles are set, in memory of the candles Lucia wore when she visited the prisoners. She is now the “Lucia bride” or the “Queen of lights”. You can see the birthday girl’s guest blog posts here:Keith Brymer Jones Pop Up Store in Portobello Road with the New Home Fragrance Collectionand .

Today is also the FIRST day of The Twelve Days of Christmas, a fun and imaginative festive event run by Innocent (Drinks),where twelve food bloggers were selected to be part of their Mocktail recipe challenge! I was lucky enough to be picked, and I was given a special project to create a drink, non-alcoholic, with some of the juices from their range. Not only that, but, Iwasgiven a day from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas to work with, and my day was, and you can probably guess already from my post title, the FIRST day, which we all know is A Partridge in a Pear Tree. I have to say that of all of the challenges I have participated in, this has to be the most fun, so well done Innocent and their PR team for coming up with such an innovative idea.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Having been given my day from the Christmas song, and I was thrilled when I was given the first day as it is my favourite day as it happens – the partridge on the pear tree alwaysfascinatedand amused me when I was little; I then had to create my recipe around the verse. So, I decided to use Innocent’s apple juice as a base for my mocktail, and what better than a layered drink, so grenadine (pomegranate syrup) was my chosen addition along with some cloudy lemonade. Their Apple Juice won a gold medal in the Great Taste Awards in 2011, and I can see why, as it was bursting with apple flavours and was pure and unadulterated, no additives or colouring is added. Having created myA Pomegranate in a Pink Apple Tree Mocktail recipe, I sent my images and recipe over to Innocent and they took professional photos of my mocktail and made a fabulous recipe card up for me, that I am sharing below. Like I said, what a FABULOUS challenge!

I LOVE the card they made for me, and am also VERY pleased with my mocktail creation too! My original idea was to have slices of pink apple adorning the rim of the glass, as well as dipping the rim in some lemon juice and then some pink sugar………but, the photographer could not get hold of those bits and bobs in time for the photo shoot – but you can add those to this drink if you make it for a sparkling pink fizzy drink! I have been told that at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas challenge, we will all be sent a link to a special eBook of all of the mocktails, that Lavender and Lovage readers can download; I will of course let you know about that when I have news! In the meantime, enjoy my pretty non-alcoholic co*cktail, which looks the part for a party and is perfect for designated drivers or those who don’t drink. With thanks to Clemmie, Annikaand Inncoent for inviting me toparticipate in thisfabulous,festive,frivolousand fun blog Christmas party! See you later with some nibbles to accompany myPomegranate in a Pink Apple Tree Mocktail! Karen

Disclaimer:

With many thanks to Innocent – I was sent an Inspiration hamper of ingredients and some supermarket vouchers to create my mocktail recipe with.

What is your favourite co*cktail or mocktail?

Would you eat the cherry of the stick first or use it as a swizzle stick first?

Downloada pdf of my mocktail recipe here:

A Pomegranate in a Pink Apple Tree

You can ALL download an eBook of ALL the Mocktails here:

12 days of mocktails

Here are the first seven days of the Twelve Days of Christmas Mocktail Bloggers:

1st Day is Karen from Lavender and Lovage

2nd Day is Marie from The English Kitchen

3rd Day is Nanya from Simply Sensational Food

4th Day is Helen from Fuss Free Flavours

5th Day is Dom from Belleau Kitchen

6th Day is Kate from The Little Loaf

7th Day is Jac fromTinned Tomatoes