Mead, also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with water sometimes with the addition of spices, hops, grains or fruits. Archeological evidence indicates that it may have been made in China as early as 7000 BC,and literary evidence indicates that it was made by Hindus between 1700-1100 BC. According to Aristotle, it was the favored drink by the ancient Greeks of the Golden Age and it is still being made and consumed by devotees today. My paternal grandmother, Helen S. Wright, included several recipes for mead in her book Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wine.
Here is the general recipe for mead in Grandmother’s words:
On five pounds of honey pour five quarts of boiling water; boil, and remove the scum as it rises; add one-quarter ounce of best hops and boil for ten minutes. Then pour the liquor into a tub to cool; when all but cold, add a little yeast spread upon a slice of toasted bread. Let is stand in a warm room. When fermentation is finished, bung it down, leaving a peg-hole which can afterwards be closed, and in less than a year it will be fit to bottle.
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