Honey Mead

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 456, 19 March 1948, Page 27

Honey Mead

Dear Aunt Daisy, I wonder if you would be so kind as to supply me with a recipe for making honey mead. I have tried everywhere, but no one seems able to help me. "Motu." Yes, here are two old recipes for mead, and also a good Yorkshire one for honey beer. One recipe says "brewer's yeast," but I should think you could safely use either compressed or dried yeast, at your own discretion: OLD-FASHIONED HONEY-MEAD: Beat the whites of 2 eggs slightly and put in a large pan with 3 gallons of water, 51b. of honey, 1 blade of mace,

14 an inch of cinnamon, 3 cloves and YZoz. of whole ginger (crushed). Stir briskly till the mixture reaches boiling point, then simmer gently for 1 hour. Let cool and strain into a cask, then stir in 1 tablespoon of brewer’s yeast. Cover the bung-hole with a folded cloth till fermentation ceases, then close it tightly and let the cask stand in a cool, dry place for 9 months. Draw off the mead carefully from the sediment and bottle it, corking tightly. It is now ready for use, but is much improved by keeping. HONEY MEAD: Allow Lib. or more of honey, 1 white of egg, a little yeast, to 3 quarts of water. Beat egg white slightly, and mix in large saucepan with water and honey. Stir frequently. Sim-

mer slowly for 1 hour, then leave. When lukewarm strain into cask, Stir in the yeast, and cover bung-hole tightly. When | termentation has ceased, leave for 9 to 12 months before bottling. HONEY BEER (Yorkshire): Four quarts water; 40z, clear honey; loz. ground ginger; 1lb. white sugar; 2oz. lime juice; juice of 3 lemons; large teaspoon fresh yeast spread on bread. Boil 2 quarts of the water with the ginger for ¥2 hour, Put into.a pan with the white sugar, lime juice, honey, lemon juice and the remaining 2 quarts water (cold). When just at blood heat, add the yeast spread on a piece of bread. Let it remain for 12 hours, then. strain through a muslin bag. Allow to settle for an hour or two, then bottle,