Mead comes in a number of varieties. Although pure fermented honey is the oldest form of alcohol, it was soon combined with other sources of sugar to enhance flavor. In this case, I made a little over a gallon with black cherries and Wildflower honey from Stroope's, in Alvin, TX (a little south of Houston). Since I was only going for a gallon, and since I was mixing flavors, I went for 1 1/2lbs of cherries and 3lbs of honey.I started by tossing the quartered, pitted cherries into the blender to puree. I added this to the mead after it was significantly cooled (about half-way between removing from heat and adding the yeast. This will hopefully preserve the integrity of the cherry taste, as opposed to
After looking at the finished (for today, anyway) product, I was definitely pleased. It is a long way from transparent, but that is only a couple months away.
Just out of curiosity, why did you:
ReplyDeletea.) puree the cherries instead of leaving them quartered, or at least coarsely chopped with something like a food processor, and
b.) the text cuts off in the second paragraph. What were you concerned about in adding the cherries at a different point in the brewing?
A. most possible surface exposure of the cherries for the greatest flavor absorption.
ReplyDeleteB. bad experience in the past, fruit flavor was not as obvious as I had hoped when boiling at the same time. Its kind of like how everything tastes the same in a stew.