Name: Simple Mead
Ingredients: 1 part honey; 3 parts water; yeast (optional, for fermentation)

Simple Mead

Ingredients

1 part honey
3 parts water
yeast (optional, for fermentation)

Directions

Make the must

Dissolve honey in water.
Boil the mixture over moderate heat until reduced to two-thirds of the original quantity.
Skim the mixture.

Ferment and draw off

Pour the mixture into a full barrel.
Allow the mixture to sit for three to four days to subside.
Draw off the mead for use.

Use the drained combs

Beat the drained combs in warm water.
Let the liquid subside.
Strain the liquid.

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Honey: Provides the sugar that yeast ferments into alcohol, and the main flavour of the mead.
Water: Dilutes the honey to a workable sugar level and forms the bulk of the drink.
Yeast: Converts the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.

“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.