Why it works: Honey and hops work together. They rank in the top 41% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Mead
Ingredients
Directions
Boil
Combine 1 gallon of water and 4 pounds of honey in a pot.
Boil for 45 minutes, skimming off any foam.
Add ½ ounce of hops and boil for an additional 30 minutes.
Cool and cask
Let the mixture cool overnight.
Transfer to a cask and seal it.
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.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Honey + hopstop 41% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1 recipe
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Honey
- Supplies the sugars that give the mead its sweetness and alcohol-forming fuel.
- Hops
- Adds bitterness and aroma that balance the honey's sweetness.
The step that matters
Skimming the foam during the first boil. Foam carries impurities and proteins from the honey and water. Removing it early keeps the liquid clearer and reduces off-flavours in the finished drink.
“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.
More mead recipes
You might also like
Vegetable Soup350 recipes
Raspberry Vinegar214 recipes
Brown Coffee with Egg175 recipes
Blackberry Cordial129 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.