Name: Sarsaparilla Mead
Ingredients: 1 pound Spanish Sarsaparilla; 4 gallons water (plus additional to make 2 gallons); 16 pounds sugar; 10 ounces tartaric acid; ½ cup water (for serving); ½ teaspoon baking soda

Sarsaparilla Mead

Ingredients

1 pound Spanish Sarsaparilla
4 gallons water (plus additional to make 2 gallons)
16 pounds sugar
10 ounces tartaric acid
½ cup water (for serving)
½ teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Make the mead

Boil the Spanish sarsaparilla in 4 gallons of water for 5 hours.
Add enough water to reduce the total to 2 gallons.
Stir in 16 pounds of sugar and 10 ounces of tartaric acid.

Serve

To serve, mix ½ cup of the mead with water and add ½ teaspoon of baking soda.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sugar: Provides sweetness and the fermentable base that the mead's alcohol comes from.
Tartaric acid: Adds acidity, giving the drink a tart, sharp balance against the sweetness.
Baking soda: Neutralises acid when added at serving, softening the tartness of the drink.
Spanish sarsaparilla: Supplies the root flavour that gives the drink its characteristic taste.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.