Mead – the Honey Drink
What is Mead?
Mead is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting a mixture of honey, water,and yeast. Honey itself contains yeast naturally, so the earliest forms of mead probably relied on the natural yeast in the honey to trigger fermentation. Mead is neither wine nor beer. Rather, it is its own unique category of alcoholic beverage, generally with an alcohol content between 10%-18%.
In addition to “traditional” mead made from the basic recipe of honey, water, and yeast, a number of additional specific varieties are known by the following names:
The History of Mead
Mead is the oldest known alcoholic beverage. The history of mead goes back at least 8000 years. Mention of mead has been found in the writings of ancient Egypt, Greece, and on the island of Crete. Mead is mentioned in the Bible, and the Hindu scriptures.
The Roman god Bacchus is known as the God of Wine, but Bacchus was originally known as the God of Mead. The first Queen Elizabeth owned her own recipe for mead, and Chaucer wrote about mead in the Canterbury Tales. Shakespeare was known to have enjoyed mead.
Mead was a much appreciated drink in many cultures before the widespread consumption of wine. And even as wine became more popular among the wealthy, the peasant classes continued to enjoy mead, as it was easy to make and the ingredients were readily available.
Mead has long been associated with love and romance. For example, many people
believe that the word “honeymoon” is related to mead. According to legend, when a couple married in ancient Babylonia, the bride’s father would provide mead to the newlyweds for a month after the wedding. Mead was said to encourage fertility. This “Honey Month” of drinking mead wine eventually became known as the “Honeymoon.”
More Information About Mead
For more information about mead, including a variety of recipes for home brewing, see the excellent article provided by The National Honey Board.
For a list places to buy mead, check out The Joy Of Mead.
For a great video about mead, see this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv_TV7VYa60
And finally, for a website all about mead, see GotMead.com.
The popularity of mead has gone up and down over the centuries. These days it appears to be on the rise again. Try making some mead at home, or purchase one of the many varieties available from around the world. Enjoy!
Photo courtesy of Grapetonix.
