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Holiday secret revealed: Why you only get eggnog at this time of the year

Canadians drank almost eight million litres of eggnog in 2016
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Eggnog first emerged as a Christmas holiday favourite in England, where the aristocracy popularized, before becoming a favourite in North America by the 1800s. (Black Press file photo)

According to Statistics Canada, Canadians consumed 5.2 million litres of eggnog in December 2016 — more than twice the volume of eggnog — 2.6 million — consumed in November 2016.

The English aristocracy first popularized eggnog as a holiday favourite before it jumped across the Atlantic Ocean to become a favourite in North America in the 1800s.

The frothy egg concoction made out of milk, cream, spices, nutmeg, and clove remains a subject of interest for marketing experts, who are continuously forced to answer an enduring question about it: why is not available outside the holiday season?

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The answer, according to a recent article in Slate, is simply: it does not sell outside the winter months, and customers have been resentful, event critical of merchants, who offer it for sale too ‘early.’

December is also the peak month for sales of whipping cream. In December 2016, Canadians bought 5.7 million litres of whipping cream. October — the month of Thanksgiving — generally records the second-highest sales with 4.9 million litres sold in October 2016.


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wolfgang.depner@saanichnews.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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