Mead is an ancient Slavic drink thathas an extremely rich history and goes back to the distant past. The name itself is relatively young - in those ancient times the Slavs simply called it "medok". This is not surprising, because honey has always been considered one of the main sweet products in Rus'. Mead is quite difficult to prepare at home, but we will help you with this difficult task.
Classical mead
List of ingredients needed for its preparation:
- Water - 2 liters;
- Honey - 300 g;
- Hop cones - 5 g;
- Nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon;
- Yeast - 1 tsp.
Preparation:Boil 2 liters of water in an enamel saucepan. As soon as it starts to boil, carefully pour in all the honey, stirring lightly with a spoon. To prevent the honey from burning, be sure to watch the boiling liquid. After 5 minutes, remove the foam that has formed on the surface. As soon as it has been removed, you can add hop cones, nutmeg and a small pinch of cinnamon. After removing the dishes from the heat, be sure to immediately cover it with a lid. In the resulting liquid, dilute a teaspoon of yeast - they can be either regular store-bought or beer. But first, the drink needs to cool to 50 degrees. If the temperature is higher, the yeast may simply die. Then the pan must be placed in a place where the temperature is constantly maintained at 25 degrees. As soon as the fermentation process begins, foam will form on the surface of the solution. If you do not want to get real vinegar instead of delicious mead, fermentation should take place in a container with a water seal. One of the excellent examples of such a container is the most ordinary glass jar. It is into it that you will subsequently need to pour the fermented liquid. Close the lid very tightly, the container must be hermetically sealed. Make a small hole on its surface, place a small plastic tube or soft hose in it. One end of it should be above the surface of the future mead, and the other immersed in a container filled with water. In order to determine whether the fermentation process is complete or not, light an ordinary match and bring it to the liquid. If the fire does not flare up, then the mead is already ready. Be sure to strain the resulting drink through cheesecloth folded in several layers. After that, the liquid must be poured into pre-prepared plastic bottles. To keep their original taste for a long time, place them in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. Usually, mead prepared at home is prepared in just five days. If this drink was prepared in compliance with all the rules, it will taste like soft sparkling champagne. The quality of mead directly depends on the type of honey, its color, sweetness and other parameters. Today, this drink can even be bought in stores, but it is unlikely to be similar to a drink made at home. The main advantage of this low-alcohol product, made with your own hands, is natural products, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about a store-bought drink.
Dry mead
There are many ways to prepare this ancient drink. One of them is a yeast-free recipe for mead at home. For it, you will need the following ingredients:
- Water - 1 l .;
- Honey - 2 kg .;
- Cherries - 4 kg.
Preparation:Take an enamel saucepan, pour water into it, bring to a boil. As soon as the first bubbles begin to appear, carefully add honey, stirring with a spoon. When you have a fairly homogeneous mixture, reduce the heat and cook for about 15 more minutes. Foam will constantly appear during cooking. It must be removed, otherwise the taste and color of the drink will be spoiled. Cool the syrup obtained after cooking to a temperature of 50 degrees. Now you need to prepare the cherries. First, they need to be thoroughly washed, remove the pits. When these steps are done, pour the berries into a pre-prepared container and fill them with syrup. Do not close the tight lid, just cover the neck with a wet towel and leave in a warm place. As soon as the first signs of fermentation begin to appear, very tightly seal the bottle with liquid and put it in a dark, cool place. The mead will be ready only in three months. The recipe for a drink at home without using yeast is quite simple, as soon as the drink is ready, you will be able to enjoy the incomparable original taste of this ancient Slavic elixir. Mead made at home is undoubtedly a very healthy drink if consumed in moderation. Its strength can vary from 5 to 16 degrees - it all depends on the chosen recipe used for its preparation. In ancient times, drinking a honey drink was equated to a ritual, since then people believed that honey and milk rivers flowed in the world of gods. Having tasted mead, it was believed that a person tasted a divine delicacy and became a little purer in spirit. As was said earlier, many types of this drink are known. The most common and often prepared of them are set and boiled mead. They differ from each other in the degree of sterilization of honey. The ancient drink is divided into two types and by the time of adding its main ingredient. In the first of them, honey is added after the drink is almost ready, in the second - much earlier.
Spicy mead
A very tasty recipe, for the preparation of which spices are used. Ingredients needed for spicy mead:
- Honey - 750 g;
- Water - 3 liters;
- Yeast - 10 g;
- Egg white - 1 piece;
- Carnation - 2 pieces;
- Ginger ground - 1 pinch;
- Nutmeg - 1 teaspoon;
- Cinnamon is on the tip of the knife.
Preparation:Carefully mix the honey and egg white, bring to a homogeneous mass, then pour in water and put the resulting mixture on the fire. After everything boils vigorously, reduce it and cook for 10 minutes without covering the pan with a lid. Next, you need to add all the spices to the mixture - you can pre-mix them in one dish. After adding the spices, cook the mixture for about 50 minutes, do not cover with a lid. When the mixture is ready, it will become almost transparent in appearance, its mass will decrease almost twice. Remove the pan from the fire, let the drink cool well. After which it is imperative to strain it through a fine sieve. After that, pour the drink into a three-liter jar and add yeast there. Next, you need to mix everything thoroughly with a deep spoon or ladle and cover with a clean gauze napkin. In order for fermentation to begin, move the jar to a warm place. After 24 hours, you need to close the tincture tightly with a lid and put it in a cold room for six months. After the mead has been infused for the required time, it can be poured into bottles and stored in the refrigerator or a cool cellar. Now you know how to make mead at home. This ancient drink can not only quench your thirst, but also lift your spirits, giving you a charming taste and excellent aroma. If the hostess serves mead at the festive table, all the guests will be pleasantly surprised. It is unlikely that there is a person who would not want to try a drink with such a rich centuries-old history. We recommend reading:
