I never hoped to even sample mead (I thought it was exclusively the stuff that legendary knights and witches drank in the Arthurian Romances) but I just made a batch and it's so good that I decided to share the recipe online.
In history and fiction
Mead has been consumed in real life since pre-historic times. It's described in Sanskrit, Greek, Roman and Old Norse sources as the delight of gods, heroes & poets and mentioned in 20th century fantasy tales, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Early medieval poems Y Gododdin and Beowulf were set in mead-halls, where ancient Germanic people held their feasts. Skaldic poetry was called mead poetry and the Prose Edda relates why and how: The wise creature Kvasir was born from the saliva of gods -the Aesir & the Vanir. He travelled from place to place to share his knowledge but he was murdered by two dwarfs -Fjalar and Galar- who drained his blood and mixed it with honey. The people who tasted mead became skalds, like Kvasir. Odin was very jealous and stole the drink for the gods, permitting men to have only a little that came out from his anus. The warriors that reached Valhalla also had their share of Kvasir's blood. According to the Poetic Edda, Odin's guests were never thirsty because the goat Heiðrún produced sufficient mead to fill a cauldron every day:
- "Heiðrún heitir geit, er stendr höllo á
- ok bítr af læraðs limom;
- skapker fylla hón skal ins skíra miaðar,
- knáat sú veig vanaz."
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Method and variations
There is no recipe for mead in written form but Kvasir's
name stems from the Proto-Germanic base -kvass- which means 'to
squeeze', implying the circumstances of Kvasir's birth as well as the method for preparing the beverage. (Incidentally, kvass -the name of a fermented drink that's popular with Slavs- is derived from the same root. Although kvass originated in ancient Rus', where Vikings also settled in the 9th century, it's very different from mead.) The beverage was something of a luxury during the Middle Ages, enjoyed only by the rich while the poor drank ale. It became more affordable later on and is still brewed with great care in Scandinavia as well as Poland, where it has been the national drink until the 17th century.
Medieval and original versions used only water and
honey. The Welsh variety called metheglin was flavored with spices but other recipes were based on herbs and/or fruit. Fermenting required knowledge, skill and patience. In traditional and homemade recipes today the process is facilitated by adding wine yeast. Crushed fruit generally yields strong alcoholic drinks and longer periods of brewing (sometimes up to a year) also result in higher alcohol content. Excellent mead has always been described in poetry as 'sparkling'. Transparency
depended on various factors: originally the length of fermentation but nowadays filtered or sping water, yeast at the right
temperature, the use of enzymes that will balance the fruit pectin if
fruit is added to mead, and special equipment, like hydrometers that
monitor the progress of fermentation, all play a role in making the perfect batch.
A 17th century version
The Accomplisht Cook (1660) by Robert May features three recipes for mead, two with exotic spices and one with added lemon. "_To make excellent Mead much commended._
Take to every quart of honey a gallon of fair spring water, boil it well with nutmeg and ginger bruised a little, in the boiling scum it well, ad being boil'd set it a cooling in severall vessels that it may stand thin, then the next day put it in the vessel, and let it stand a week or two, then draw it in bottles.
If it be to drink in a short time you may work it as beer, but it will not keep long.
Or take to every gallon of water, a quart of honey, a quarter of an ounce of mace, as much ginger and cinnamon, and half as much cloves, bruise them, and use them as abovesaid.
_Otherways._
Take five quarts and a pint of water, warm it, and put to it a quart of honey, and to every gallon of liquor one lemon, and a quarter of an ounce of nutmegs; it must boil till the scum rise black, and if you will have it quickly ready to drink, squeeze into it a lemon when you tun it, and tun it cold."
MEAD
This is the 2nd recipe from The Accomplisht Cook, divided by six. It yields about 0.7lt of rather cloudy mead, primarily because of the ground spices.
I n g r e d i e n t s
600ml filtered water
150g clear honey
a whole nutmeg
fresh ginger
a stick of cinnamon
a few cloves
M e t h o d
1. Boil the water and honey, scum, pour into a metal bowl and leave until it's thin. The next day, crush 1/4tsp each of nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon and 1/8tsp cloves in a mortar and place in a tea strainer. Strain the liquid into a jug or bottle with large neck. Immerse the tea strainer in the water & honey mixture, and let steep, covered, in a warm room for 1-2 weeks. Pour into a clean bottle and seal tight.
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