MEAD, AN ANCIENT LEGACY
The fermentation of honey in water generates mead, which can still receive a variety of flavors with the addition of fruits or spices.
Considered one of the oldest drinks in the world, mead has a record of consumption dating from 10,000 years ago, when the man was still nomad and when collecting honey, ended up mixing it with the water it carried. Gradually, the drink began to ferment with wild yeast, turning sugar into alcohol. It was the most common choice of ancient peoples, creating a true cult of drinking, from ancient Greece and Rome, to Chinese and Vikings, to whom the mead is most closely linked. But when wine and beer became popular, there was a decline in their consumption, one of the main reasons was the high price of honey.
Mead has a manufacturing process similar to wine, and is sometimes incorrectly called “honey wine,” because wine is made from grapes (vines) and mead is made from honey, that is, a fermented honey. Its alcohol content usually ranges from 6% to 16% vol. and in gastronomy it combines with poultry, fish, spicy foods and red or exotic meat such as wild boar.
Besides the traditional mead, there are different variations of the drink, containing a huge variety of flavors coming from the addition of fruits and / or spices. There are at least 10 classifications, ranging from melomel, which takes fruit addition, to capisumel, produced with pepper infusion. It can be sweet or dry, carbonated or not and still undergo a clarification process, where the drink acquires the clear aspect.
In the last decade, its popularity has been growing around the world. And the development of this market is already visible in both Europe and the United States. There are several mentions of mead in literary works and pop culture films such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game Of Thrones, as well as games such as RPG series The Elder Scrolls, contributing to the spread of the drink. Another curious fact is the expression attributed to the newlyweds, "honeymoon", which emerged in Ireland, where tradition said that the couple should drink this drink during the first lunar cycle (or month) after marriage.