Showing posts with label drink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drink. Show all posts

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Tasting Mead Is On My Bucket List

Photo: Lifehack
Although I enjoy a glass of red wine with dinner, I don't drink more than a glass or 2 about every 4 - 12 weeks as I'd rather spend my calories eating than drinking. Unfortunately, you can't do both if you hope to maintain a healthy weight after a certain age. That said, I have never tasted mead and would like to!

The following newspaper article is so well written and since I know absolutely nothing about mead other than some vague notion that it was the drink of Vikings and medievals, I'm simply going to directly quote and link the article below ...

According to Rob Adams, a meadmaker interviewed in the Charlotte Observer, mead is " 'an alcoholic beverage made with honey and water, then fermented with yeast. It can range from sweet to dry. It can also be traditional (just honey, water, and yeast), or it can include fruit, vegetables, spices, herbs, or malted grains — like beer.' "

Photo: Lifehack

Continuing with the article: " 'To make mead, you blend honey and water to form a ‘must,’ which is what the watered down honey liquid is called before fermentation,'” according to Adams. He explains that " 'the term must is also used in wine and cider making.'

'Once you have prepared the must, yeast is added to convert the sugar from the honey into alcohol,' Adams went on ... 'Since honey is almost 100 percent sugar, you need to add nutrients during the fermentation so the yeasts are happy and healthy — and so they don’t contribute unwanted flavors.' "

Adams says," 'You can add fruit, spices, etc. at any point during the fermentation, depending on what flavor or aroma you intend to impart.' "

Age is the element that sets mead apart from cider and wine. 

Another meadmaker, Kevin Martin, explains that " 'Mead is likely the very first fermented beverage on earth ... which makes sense ... because honey as a sugar source was available before other processed sugars and sweetening methods.' "

The ingredients in a Basic Mead Recipe are the following:

10 pounds honey
4 gallons water
2 teaspoons yeast energizer
2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
2 packets of lalvin k1-v1116 yeast (wine yeast)

The website Lifehack has 10 Best Mead Recipes which look amazing!🍹 

So after reading my blog today, maybe I won't have to drink alone. Wouldn't you, too, like to have a refreshing glass of mead? Skàl! Have you ever tasted it? 


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Monday, January 30, 2017

Soothing Chamomile

Photo: Bigstockphoto.com
Since I wrote about the benefits of peppermint last week, I will now feature chamomile (a/k/a camomile), another tea in my mother's arsenal of heath remedies. Not only was I given a cup to cure the flu, Mom sometimes used a chamomile tea wash to soothe skin conditions like a winter's rash.

Chamomile is an aromatic European herb of the daisy family. The white and yellow daisy-like flowers are dried and often infused into a tea. Two types of chamomile are used to promote health: German chamomile (Matricaria retutica) and Roman (or English) chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile). German chamomile is the more popular and studied of the two.

Chamomile tea is used to calm maladies, such as an upset stomach, hay fever, migraines, inflammation, menstrual cramps, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, muscle spasms and insomnia.
Medical studies suggest, chamomile boosts immunities. It has properties to ward off colds, as well as, breast and thyroid cancers. Rubbed topically on minor scrapes and burns seems to speed up healing. 

Chamomile is also added to skin serum and moisturizers. Reportedly, its anti-inflammatory properties slow down the aging process and brightens the skin.

Like essential oils, the chamomile flower has antioxides and anti-fungal properties. As an essential oil, chamomile can be diluted with water to kill germs on household surfaces.

Chamomile has a subtle pleasent scent and a mild, slightly sweet taste when brewed as a tea. Worth its space in the pantry!