HERB - FW: Ancient Celtic Metheglin Recipe posted on MLD

Christine A Seelye-King mermayde at juno.com
Fri May 1 09:57:08 PDT 1998


A lady in my household forwarded this to me, and I thought I would pass
it along to the Herb List.  What think you all?
	
Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, Meridies


I have a question for your herbal expertise (or your reference library). 
 An excavation of the Hochdorf tomb found a bronze 125-gallon cauldron
that had held mead.  (see below for details, including website with more
info). 
 Analysis of the mead sediment found honey along with "local plants such
as thyme, mountain jasmine, plantain, knapweed, and meadowsweet."    Can
you tell me about these plants?  Do they have other names?  What are
their flavors?  Are they safe?  Do they have any medicinal effects?  If
we were to try to recreate this mead, where might we find them?


---Brian Songy <bxs3829 at usl.edu> wrote:
> Good Lady Tara,
>
> The following has been floating around on the Mead Lover's Digest,
SCA Distilling and Historic Brewing lists.  I thought I would forward it 
too you, just in case you missed it.
>
> Concerning our planned mead, what do you think a metheglin made of
thyme, mountain jasmine, plantain, knapweed and meadowsweet?  As for me,
I 
have no conception of the flavors of many of these herbs (all but thyme).
>
> In case your interested, more info about the grave site can be found
at http://www.bawue.de/~wmwerner/hochdorf/h_siedl.html  The mead residue 
was found in the "Cauldron with Lions";  There's several gorgeous items 
among the grave goods..
>
> I have more to send, but duty requires that I dispatch this quick
missive, and save the bulk for another time.
>
>
>
> Posted by "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>

> There is no way I know of to definitively determine which pollens
were in the honey, which pollens represent herbal additives, and which 
pollens are artifacts from the water or the air.
> The actual analysis should give the concentrations plus the opinion
of the paleobotanist as to how the pollen came to be in the sample.  This

would include an analysis of the pollens in the soil around the pot to
help 
rule out artifacts.
> As a guess, the highest pollen concentrations will be from the
honey, as the bees will be most directly in contact with the stamens of
the 
plants.  The next highest concentrations will be from plants added to
mix. 
 The lowest concentrations should be from the air and water.
> Bear
>
> Originally Posted on the SCA-Distilling List:
>
>
>
> > Does anyone know if > > the pollen found in such a sample truly 
represents herbs added, or was > > it just pollen the bees left in the 
honey? Short of plant material left > > in the sample, is there anyway to

tell the difference between pollens > > added intentionally and pollens 
left behind by bees?
> >
> > Crystal A. Isaac
>
>
* Originally posted on the Mead Lover's Digest:

> I ran across this note on the excavation of the Hochdorf tomb, a
Celtic site just a few miles from Stuttgart Germany, dated approx. 540 - 
520 BC. Along with the artifacts that were recovered, there was a bronze 
125 gallon cauldron that had held mead, according to the analysis of the 
brownish sediment at the bottom.  The source was _The Celts: Conquerors
of 
Ancient Europe_, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1993, p. 38.
> Pollen analysis showed that honey had been used along with "local
plants such as thyme, mountain jasmine, plantain, knapweed, and 
meadowsweet."
> A complete site report might give the complete listing of spices for
this metheglin, but of course the exact amounts are unknown.
> Anyone want to try and recreate this Celtic version of metheglin
>
>


--------- End forwarded message ----------

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