Information AboutMead |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MEAD | |
| beekeeping | |
| germanic paganism | |
| mead | |
| slavic cuisinebeekeeping | |
| germanic paganism | |
| mead | |
| slavic cuisine | |
| fermented beverages | |
| honey | |
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Mead () is a Fermented Alcoholic Beverage made of Honey , Water , and Yeast . Meadhing () is the practice of brewing honey. Mead is also colloquially known as "honey Wine ". A brewery that deals specifically in Mead is called either a Meadery or a mazery.
A mead that contains fruit (such as Strawberry , Blackcurrant or even Rose Hips ) is called melomel and was also used as a means of Food Preservation , keeping summer produce for the winter. Mulled mead is a popular winter holiday drink, where mead is flavored with spices (and sometimes various fruits) and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it. HISTORY (1869–1940): ''Illustrated World History: King The first known description of mead is in the hymns of the and (later) Hinduism dated around 1700 – 1100 BC . During the " Golden Age " of Ancient Greece , mead was said to be the preferred drink.1 Aristotle ( 384 – 322 BC ) discussed mead in his '' Meteorologica '' and elsewhere, while Pliny The Elder (AD 23 – 79 ) called mead ''militites'' in his '' Naturalis Historia '' and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead.2 Around AD 550 , the Brythonic Speaking Bard Taliesin wrote the '''' or "Song of Mead."'' Llyfr Taliesin '' XIX The legendary drinking, feasting and boasting of warriors in the Mead Hall '' Heorot '' in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem '' Beowulf '' is echoed in the mead hall ''Dyn Eidyn'' now modern day Edinburgh in the epic poem '' Y Gododdin '', both dated around AD 700 . Mead is still drunk by modern Celts, Welsh for mead is ''Medd'', and ''Leanne Meala'' in Scottish Gaelic . Mead was the historical beverage ''par excellence'' and commonly brewed by the Germanic Tribes in Northern Europe . However, heavy taxation and regulations on the ingredients of alcoholic beverages such as the Reinheitsgebot or ''Purity Laws'' led to commercially made mead becoming a more obscure beverage up until recently.3 Some Monasteries kept up the old traditions of mead-making as a by-product of Beekeeping , especially in areas where Grape s could not be grown. In many parts of Europe it was traditional to supply a newly married couple with enough mead for a month, ensuring happiness and fertility. From this practice we get ''honeymoon'' or, as the French say, ''lune de miel''4, p.225, p.14 However, this etymology is not accepted by linguists. Etymonline reference Mead was also popular in Central Europe and in the Baltic States . In Polish mead is called '''' (pronounced ), meaning "drinkable honey". In Russia , mead remained popular as Medovukha and Sbiten long after its decline in popularity in the West. Sbiten is often mentioned in the works of 19th-century Russian writers, including Gogol , Dostoevsky and Tolstoy . In Finland , a sweet mead called '''' ( Cognate with Zymurgy ), is still an essential seasonal brew connected with the Finnish Vappu ( May Day ) festival. It is usually spiced by adding both the pulp and rind of a Lemon . During secondary fermentation, Raisin s are added to control the amount of sugars and to act as an indicator of readiness for consumption; they will rise to the top of the bottle when the drink is ready. Ethiopia n mead is called '' Tej '' and is usually home-made. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of ''gesho'', a Hops-like Bittering Agent which is a species of Buckthorn . A sweeter, less-alcoholic version called ''berz'', aged for a shorter time, is also made. The traditional vessel for drinking ''tej'' is a rounded vase-shaped container called a ''berele''. IN LITERATURE ''Forthcoming'' VARIETIES Mead can have a wide range of flavors, depending on the source of the honey, additives called "adjuncts" or " Gruit " (including fruit and spices), yeast employed during fermentation, and aging procedure. Mead can be difficult to find commercially, though some producers have been successful marketing it. Consumers must bear in mind that some producers have marketed white wine with added honey as mead, often spelling it "meade". Blended varieties of mead can be known by either style represented. For instance, a mead made with cinnamon and apples can be referred to as a cinnamon cyser or as an apple metheglin. Some meads retain some measure of the sweetness of the original honey, and some can even be considered as dessert wines. Drier meads are also available, and some producers offer sparkling meads, which (like Champagne ) can make for a delightful celebratory toast. There are a number of faux-meads, which are actually cheap wines with large amounts of honey added, to produce a cloyingly sweet liqueur. It has been said that "a mead that tastes of honey is as good as a wine that still tastes of grape". Historically, meads would have been fermented by wild Yeast s and Bacteria (as noted in the above quoted recipe) residing on the skins of the fruit or within the honey itself. Wild yeasts generally provide inconsistent results, and in modern times various brewing interests have isolated the strains now in use. Certain strains have gradually become associated with certain styles of mead. Mostly, these are strains that are also used in beer or wine production. Several commercial labs, such as White Labs, WYeast, Vierka, and others have gone so far as to develop strains specifically for mead. Mead can also be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength. Krupnik is a sweet Polish liqueur made through just such a process. A simple version of this called "honey jack" can be made by partly freezing a quantity of mead and pouring off the liquid without the ice crystals (a process known as Freeze Distillation ), the same way Applejack is made from Cider . Mead variants ]]
RELIGIOUS USAGE Germanic neopaganism In direct relation to the ancient use of Germanic tribes of mead, Mead is now an integral ritual component in Ásatrú and in Germanic Neopaganism . It is privately brewed by some adherents for drinking purposes as well as for religiously significant occasions such as Blóts and Sumbel . Ethiopia Ethiopian mead is traditionally used in funerary rituals. FESTIVALS
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