The Quest to Recreate a Lost and 'Terrifying' Medieval Mead

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-make-medieval-mead-bochet

by rwmj • 3 years ago

98 39 3 years ago

huytersd• 3 years ago

What’s the point of using honey if you’re just going to cook it until it’s caramelised. Might as well just use sugar syrup.

greggsy• 3 years ago

Medieval brewers didn’t have access to the wealth of sugar variations available on our shelves today. I don’t think so anyway.

Also, honey caremelises at a much lower temperature (as low as 70C) compared to sucrose and glucose (~160C) and fructose (~110C). Not sure how that changes the flavour profile, but it probably contributes towards the danger vibes that this article tries so hard to emphasise.

harimau777• 3 years ago

This suggests that sugar was introduced to Western Europe by the Crusades. So depending on the exact date, the brewers may not have had sugar alternatives to honey at all! Crazy to think that something considered such a basic ingredient in cooking may not have been available at all.

https://makingsenseofsugar.com/all-about-sugar/history-of-su....

Jedd3• 3 years ago

Also, honey caremelises at a much lower temperature (as low as 70C) compared to sucrose and glucose (~160C) and fructose (~110C).

Honey is about 70% fructose + glucose.

It's about 16-19% water.

So I'm not sure why it would caramelise at significantly lower temperatures than its constituent parts would suggest.

My hives may skew slightly as my bees harvest primarily from Australian native trees which can (seasonally) lead to a higher glucose:fructose ratio (and more prone to candying) but a recent composition report follows:

    Moisture 17.6%
    pH 4.08
    Electrical conductivity  0.32 (mS/cm)
    Hydroxymethylfurfural 1.7 (mg/kg)
    Sugar - Fructose 38.8%
    Sugar - Glucose 29.5%
    Sugar - Sucrose < 0.5%

egypturnash• 3 years ago

Back in medieval times, says Verberg, “They weren’t extracting the honey, they were crushing it.” In addition to bits of wax, the medieval meadmakers also had pollen and the occasional squished bee in their raw material—components missing from modern honey that would have added more flavor. For example, propolis, a sticky, antibacterial compound that bees produce for colony health, has a zingy taste, and beeswax itself can impart a fuller mouthfeel. “I found that that contamination is really good, and we’re really missing it,” says Verberg, a beekeeper who has made traditional meads.

sandworm101• 3 years ago

> beeswax itself can impart a fuller mouthfeel.

Yup. Eating wax will do that. It probably had other interesting impacts throughout the digestive process.

miriam_catira• 3 years ago

...when you spin out your own combs, it's actually quite difficult to avoid some contamination. I do try to prevent bits of bees however, because very few people seem to appreciate finding legs in their gifted jars of honey. ;)

hinkley2• 3 years ago

I wonder if just that little bit of trace of bee venom did anything to prevent bee allergies.

fuzztester4• 3 years ago

How is honey extracted from honeycombs nowadays?

floren• 3 years ago

I've made bochet. It's very different and quite tasty, and also a big hassle because you have to cook the honey for so long. The boiling honey smells amazing, though.

rwmj3• 3 years ago

You can make it with a sous-vide heater. It still takes a very long time (20h!), but at least the honey doesn't boil so you don't need to watch it. Here's a youtuber doing it (and I have done something similar so I can vouch it works): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTcniVE3sU0

inopinatus• 3 years ago

Nasty stuff, prison napalm. Even artisanal prison napalm.

Schattenbaer• 3 years ago

I've made this, but I have also used burnt honey as an adjunct in making imperial stouts.

It adds a toasted marshmallow note that goes very well with the roasted barley flavour.

One thing interesting thing is that boiling and burning honey attracts bees; I took to doing so at night and still bees would get into the house. These were African honey bees so may be a species thing, as they have a different temperament than other honey bees.

I remember that one university in my previous home town cross-bred Italian and African honeybees in an attempt to make a more docile bee.

tempodox• 3 years ago

Is it worse than Klingon blood wine?

Donny13• 3 years ago

One thing I found interesting while making bochet was just how many bees it attracted once it started heating up. I don't notice bees around my house regularly otherwise, but ended up closing all our doors and windows because we suddenly had 5+ bees flying around the kitchen.

rwmj3• 3 years ago

You were literally "taking food out of the mouths of babies"!

radarsat1• 3 years ago

Where the hell can you find raw honey though? Anything in the store seems to be pasteurized.

Although, I wonder, if you're cooking it like this anyway, does it matter if it's raw?

rwmj3• 3 years ago

I think unless you have your own bees or know someone it's probably very difficult. However you can make a mead/bochet just fine with ordinary store-bought honey. Be aware that there is a surprising amount of fake honey (dyed sugar syrup) out there.

CapitalistCartr2• 3 years ago

Raw honey is common here, in Florida. Lots of small stores have some from local beekeepers. I buy mine at the feed store where I get my layer's mash.

The Quest to Recreate a Lost and 'Terrifying' Medieval Mead

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