As far as food and drink go, there’s nothing quite so wedded to a particular season as eggnog is to the holidays.

For many people, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without the ability to enjoy a cup of the thick, creamy and incredibly rich stuff.

Some like to add a shot of brandy, rum or whiskey to the bowl to warm them up on a snowy, winter day.

As Martha Stewart might say, it’s a good thing.

That’s a sentiment echoed by Susan Krumm, an Extension agent in family and consumer sciences with K-State Research and Extension-Douglas County

“It’s something we have every year, it’s just part of the whole festivity of Christmas and our family traditions. When we pull out the eggnog, it’s right before we start unwrapping presents,” she said.

“It almost reminds me of homemade ice cream that hasn’t been frozen yet, and I’ve always liked that flavor. It’s nice to have it at the end of a day that has just been filled with celebration.”

Of course, when Krumm serves eggnog at family gatherings, she leaves out the liquor so that everyone, including children, can have some.

It’s just a welcome addition to any holiday spread.

Eggnog is a thick, creamy drink that many look forward to consuming during the holidays. The drink's main ingredients usually are sugar, eggs and milk.

“What’s so fun about eggnog is that you can really garnish it in so many ways. To make it more of a true masterpiece, you could use chocolate curls on top or maraschino cherries. You could even do things like orange slices, peppermint sticks or candy canes,” Krumm said.

Yes, it’s self-indulgent, as it’s loaded with eggs, sugar and heavy cream. But that’s what is expected of eggnog.

“People do hold onto traditions, flavors and tastes that they know. If this is the only time they drink eggnog, a lot of people feel like they don’t want to compromise. They want what they want,” said Nancy O’Connor, marketing director and nutrition educator for the Community Mercantile Co-op, 901 Iowa.

Pasteurized for safety

Eggnog isn’t that difficult to make. But there is one thing cooks must remember about the egg-and dairy-based drink if they decide to prepare a batch.

Don’t eat raw eggs.

“That is my bottom line. And this includes the health-food milkshakes made with raw eggs, Caesar’s salad, hollandaise sauce, any other foods like homemade mayonnaise, ice cream or eggnog made from recipes in which the raw egg ingredients are not cooked,” Krumm said.

The reason is that uncooked eggs can be carriers of the food-borne bacteria salmonella. A particular strain, salmonella enteritidis, may be found present in the egg itself, or on the unbroken shell.

In order to kill any bacteria, homemade eggnog should be pasteurized, as commercial brands of eggnog are.

After the eggs and sugar have been beaten together, and heavy cream or milk stirred in, the eggnog should be cooked over low heat while stirring constantly, until it reaches at least 160 degrees.

The mixture should be thick enough to coat a metal spoon with a thin film.

Then the eggnog should be removed from the heat, and the remaining heavy cream, milk, vanilla or other flavoring stirred in. Then it should be covered and refrigerated until thoroughly chilled.

“It should never sit out more than two hours. Bacteria loves to feed on food in the temperature danger zone of 41 to 140 degrees. I would recommend getting it back in the refrigerator before those two hours are up,” Krumm said.

That goes for commercial eggnog, too.

One way around this is to simply use pasteurized egg substitutes such as EggBeaters. Eggnog made with these products doesn’t have to be cooked, and it’s free from the cholesterol derived from eggs, though there will still be cholesterol from the dairy product used.

“We also can make it healthier by using skim milk, but it’s not going to be that thick texture that a lot of people desire. It’s the fat in the milk that is allowing it to thicken with the sugar and eggs,” Krumm said.

Better to have limited amount

Or you can just do what most people do, and buy your eggnog at the store. There are plenty of good brands and varieties on the market to suit any taste.

The Community Mercantile Co-op actually carries five kinds of eggnog: White Wave Silk Nog (nondairy and made of organic soy milk), Organic Valley Organic Eggnog, Anderson Erickson Classic and Lite eggnogs and Newhouse Dairy Eggnog, produced in Wellsville and sold in old-fashioned, quart glass bottles.

Yes, but soy nog?

“People who haven’t tried it shouldn’t knock it, because it’s a wonderful alternative. Per half cup serving, it has just two grams of fat, and none of it is saturated, because there are no eggs in it. It has no cholesterol, either,” O’Connor said.

“It’s thinner than regular eggnog, but for many people, that’s not a bad quality. It has a wonderful flavor, and you can feel a little bit better about drinking it.”

One plus of buying commercial eggnog is that you can buy just a quart of it, as opposed to following a recipe that produces a much bigger batch.

“You wouldn’t want foods that rich hanging around your refrigerator at this time of year. It might be a more intelligent route to go buy commercial, then you don’t have so much of it, which is probably a good thing,” O’Connor said.