Mead: tasty and healthy recipes

In Russia, mead has long been considered mead one of the main attributes of the holiday, due to which there is even a saying: "I drank honey, it flowed through my mustache - it didn’t get into my mouth." The brewing of a modern drink is not particularly difficult, which allows you to cook mead yourself - the recipe for cooking at home is notable for its special technology and nuances, but it will not be difficult to study them.

About mead

Mead is also called honey wine, characterized as an alcoholic beverage of weak strength, traditionally obtained by fermentation of yeast. As part of the classic mead, honey, water and hops, the drink is light and pleasant to taste.

To add additional ingredients to the recipe, such as aromatic herbs, berries, fruits, as well as experiment with varieties of honey, you can at your discretion.

Both young honey and old and even fermented honey are suitable for cooking. Properly brewed and infused mead is a little intoxicating, but leaves a sober head, and after its use it is rarely a hangover. The fortress starts from 3 degrees, for lovers of strong drinks there are recipes with the addition of moonshine or vodka to the finished product. This allows you to increase the strength to 75 degrees.

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Useful properties of mead

The drink can be considered useful and even healing, as it contains a large amount of honey, known for its properties for combating colds. If spices, berries, roots are added to the mead, it is even more filled with vitamins of various groups.

The diuretic effect of mead is also known. This is a popular drug in the prevention and treatment of kidney disease. Helps to remove toxins, toxins, cleanse the body.

In addition to preventing colds, mead is able to overcome bronchitis, it dilutes sputum and stretches it, freeing the airways.

The drink can be consumed hot, adding aromatic spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom. It resembles mulled wine in some ways with its strength and ratio of ingredients.

Helps in the fight against fatigue, restores tone and uplifting. It returns good spirits and positively affects the general emotional state.

Features of cooking at home

Different varieties of honey give the mead different tastes and saturation. If low quality honey is used, the mead even at the stage of fermentation will begin to smell unpleasant, and it can be considered spoiled.

Therefore, the main thing is to choose high-quality honey, and the variety and its storage duration depend on preferences. The traditional recipe for making mead at home from old honey allows you to get a classic drink with moderate saturation and pronounced taste.

Classic mead from old honey

Ingredients:

• old honey - 1.5 kg;
• pure water - 11 l .;
• dry yeast - 5 g;
• hop cones - 12 g.

Cooking:

1. Pour purified water into a pan, bring to a boil over medium heat.After boiling, introduce honey in small portions while stirring. Mix should be avoided to burn the composition to the bottom.
2. Boil the syrup for no more than 5 minutes, removing the foam that forms on the surface. When the foam stops appearing, add hop cones finely chopped with a knife. Then you can turn off the fire and cover the container.
3. Using a thermometer to measure the temperature - it should reach 45 degrees. Then add the diluted yeast and place the pan in a warm, dry place. There she should stand for about 5 days before a certain level of fermentation.
4. After 5 days, the composition is passed through several dense layers of gauze, cleaned of sediment and the liquid becomes ready for spill. Medovuha should be bottled in sterilized bottles, then cork them tightly and sent for storage to a place with a temperature of up to 14 degrees for a period of 5 days. Every day you need to reduce the level of pressure in the bottles, uncorking the container.

Such honey beer can be stored for no more than 1 month at a temperature of 10-12 degrees. Shake well before use. This is a traditional recipe for a drink in which the rich taste of honey prevails and a pleasant aftertaste remains.

In order for the drink to turn out and not turn into acidic vinegar, you need to choose the right fermentation catalyst.

The traditional recipe for preparing mead at home with yeast allows you to be sure in the quick launch of the necessary process and preserve the taste of mead. Yeast is better to use brewers, ordinary bakeries are of little use in this case.

Mead with yeast

Ingredients:

• honey - 300 g;
• water - 2 l.;
• dry yeast - 5 g.

Cooking:

1. Bring water to a boil, add honey after boiling, boil the mixture over moderate heat for no more than 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Be sure to get rid of the foam that forms during cooking.
2. Cool the resulting syrup, introduce portionwise dry yeast into the pan. Pour the mixture into a dry container, install a water seal, leave in a dry, warm place for a week.
3. At the end of the period, strain through dense cheesecloth, clean again in a cold place for several days. Such a product can already be drunk, but by increasing the exposure time, you can get a stronger degree and rich taste.

The home-made mead recipe without yeast suggests natural fermentation catalysts such as fruit juice.

Mead with yeast without boiling

Ingredients:

• honey - 300 g;
• pure water - 1 l .;
• brewer's yeast - 4 g;
• spices for flavor.

Cooking:

1. This recipe for preparing mead makes it possible to prepare a drink without boiling. To do this, you need an enameled container of a suitable volume.
2. Honey is dissolved in pure water, then dry yeast is introduced, as well as aromatic spices such as cloves and cinnamon, if desired.
3. The mass is left for a day under a water trap for natural fermentation.
4. After a day, filter the mead through several dense layers of gauze, bottle and leave in a cool place or cellar for several months. The longer the exposure time, the richer the finished drink.

Recipe without yeast and boiling

Ingredients:

• dark buckwheat honey - 0.5 kg;
• freshly squeezed berry juice (cherry, blackberry, strawberry, cranberry, etc.) - 1 l.;
• hop cones - 4-6 pcs.

Cooking:

1. For the preparation of juice, fresh berries are used, which it is advisable not to rinse before squeezing.
2. You will also need an oak barrel, in which the drink will be aged.
3. The ingredients are mixed in one pan, left in a dark place for a week. All this time, the mass must be mixed daily, preventing the fermentation process from stopping.
4. After a week, without decanting, carefully pour into an oak barrel, trying to avoid sediment. Cork the barrel with a special wedge, which can later be replaced with a tap, left in a cool dark place or in the cellar.

Such a drink is aged for a long time - at least 3 years. The longer, the richer the taste and aroma, as well as the strength. Therefore, those who want to quickly try homemade mead, it is better to think about a traditional recipe using yeast.

On alcohol

The use of strong alcohol in the usual recipe for preparing mead at home adds to the drink a substantial strength. Mead on alcohol is saturated and intoxicating more than usual.

Ingredients:

• honey - 2 kg.
• pure water - 2 l.
• alcohol 75% - 1 liter.
• lemon peels.

Cooking:

1. Pre-pour lemon peels with alcohol for a day, then strain the brewed liquid.
2. Pour water into a pan, after boiling, gradually introduce honey, cook over moderate heat, stirring for 4 hours.
3. Add alcohol, send for 14 days to a warm place for fermentation. After two weeks, filter through dense gauze, keep in a cold place for at least 5 months to obtain the desired level of strength.

Mead with hops

Hopped mead is considered the oldest type of this drink, and its recipe without hops yeast has been known since ancient times. Hop gives strength to the drink, but not excessive, but rather moderate. It gives a beautiful color and a pleasant bitterness.

Ingredients:

• honey - 1 kg.
• hop cones - 3-4 pcs.
• pure water - 8 l.
• gelatin - 1 tsp
• spices to taste.

Cooking:

1. In a pan with boiling water, add portioned honey, mix well and let stand for 24 hours in a dark place. Boil the resulting syrup again and cook over moderate heat for an hour. Add hops to the container, bring the mass to a boil and maintain the temperature for another hour. All actions are repeated 4 times.
2. Pour the cooled mass into an oak barrel, introduce gelatin diluted with water and spices - cardamom, cloves. If there is doubt about the correctness of the fermentation process, you can additionally introduce dry yeast. Soak for three weeks.

After the first fermentation, bottled and stored in a cellar or cool place for at least 3 months.

Mead with raspberries

Adding wild berries to the original recipe makes the drink even more tasty and healthy, since berries such as raspberries, cranberries, strawberries are a natural storehouse of vitamins and antioxidants.

Ingredients:

• honey - 500 g;
• raspberries - 500 g;
• pure water - 2 l .;
• dry yeast - 1.5 tsp

Cooking:

1. Boil clean water in a saucepan, add honey, stirring thoroughly. Boil for 5 minutes, removing periodically accumulated foam on the surface. Pound fresh raspberries, add to honey. Leave the mass to cool to 30 degrees, stirring regularly. At this time, dissolve the yeast, add them to the honey syrup.
2. Leave the pan, having covered it with a lid, in a dry place for 2 days in order to start the fermentation process.
3. Strain the mead, bottle, leave for 2 weeks in a cool place.

Useful tips and tricks

The main value in the preparation of delicious mead is honey. It is he who is responsible for the taste and aroma of the prepared drink. Therefore, treat the choice of honey should be with particular care.

1. To prevent honey from sticking in the process of boiling, it is necessary to control this process and constantly stir the mass in a saucepan.
2. Foam formed on the surface during cooking can make the mead cloudy and ruin the appearance, as well as precipitate. That is why it should be constantly removed.
3. Spices and additives in mead can be added depending on personal preferences. One of the best additives is lemongrass, which gives the taste a special piquancy.
4. Mead should be consumed chilled, but in winter you can warm it for some time to get a hot and healthy drink.
5. Store better at temperatures up to +10 degrees, away from sunlight. You should not freeze the drink, as all the beneficial properties of the ingredients in the composition will be lost.
6. In combination with mead, pears, ripe melons, and a variety of cheeses will be very tasty.

We must not forget that honey is a strong allergen. In the presence of individual intolerance to this product, it is necessary to refrain from the use of mead.

Mead, which is offered by shops, is not always as healthy and tasty as self-made according to ancient recipes of ancestors. It contains a large percentage of chemical elements and a minimum of natural components. Therefore, learning how to make a honey drink at home is a great opportunity to get benefits for the body and have fun.

It is pleasant to drink such a drink at any holiday or alone, use it to prevent diseases and maintain immunity, and also keep warm on cold winter evenings.

Choosing only high-quality ingredients, as well as experimenting with the composition, you can regularly enjoy a drink such as mead.