Mead, in german called "Met", also known as honeywine, or, in the old germanic and wikings time, as drink or "nectar of the gods". They knew why they called it that..
It contains all the good stuff from honey, lots of vitamins and minerals; warmed it tastes wonderful at cold winter nights, and helps against colds, both warming you up, soothing a sore throat, making you nicely sleepy and providing biochemical support for your immune system to fight off the intruders.
As one of the oldest, or the oldest alcoholic drink known to mankind, it deserves a special hommage: it is known since about 7000 BC from China (!), at least 3500 BC in egypt, and has been brewed by the Germanics in central Europe around 1000 BC, long before the Wikings roamed the region.
One idea how the Germanics came to make mead so early is the following: for long trips by sea, bee pollen were stored on board and eaten by the crew to prevent skorbut. To protect the pollen, they were covered with a layer of honey. If the honey was too young, and thus contained too much water, or if the container was not air-tight such that the pollen could draw water from the outside air, then spontaneous fermentation could occur. The resulting mead was an unexpected surprise for the Germanics, and thus was considered a gift of the gods.
Making mead caught on easily with the Wikings, who liked roman wine, but lived in regions too cold to grow grapes.Wiki tells us this how they might have made it:
| “ | Take of spring water what quantity you please, and make it more than blood-warm, and dissolve honey in it till 'tis strong enough to bear an egg, the breadth of a shilling; then boil it gently near an hour, taking off the scum as it rises; then put to about nine or ten gallons seven or eight large blades of mace, three nutmegs quartered, twenty cloves, three or four sticks of cinnamon, two or three roots of ginger, and a quarter of an ounce of Jamaica pepper; put these spices into the kettle to the honey and water, a whole lemon, with a sprig of sweet-briar and a sprig of rosemary; tie the briar and rosemary together, and when they have boiled a little while take them out and throw them away; but let your liquor stand on the spice in a clean earthen pot till the next day; then strain it into a vessel that is fit for it; put the spice in a bag, and hang it in the vessel, stop it, and at three months draw it into bottles. Be sure that 'tis fine when 'tis bottled; after 'tis bottled six weeks 'tis fit to drink.[17] | ” |
In simple words: take lots of honey, add some water, maybe some lemon juice, brewer's yeast and some additional nutrients for the yeast, put all that in a big jar with gas valve so it won't explode, and let it do its thing.
And, maybe a year later or less, fill the golden liquid into bottles and distribute it to friends.
That's where I come in, have a dear friend come over with one of those bottles, and we drink to our health all night. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment