SC - Metheglin

[Wes Will]

Greetings!  Just catching up on the digests from the past couple of days.....

>>From: aldyth at juno.com (Deborah J Hammons)
Subject: Re: SC -Chamomile Mead

This past weekend at an archery event, the Archer General of the Outlands
and I were lamenting the state of our health, and musing what would be a
period remedy. Chamomile mead was mentioned. Probably a better question
for the brewers list, but did anyone make mead out of Chamomile?  Is is
possible to make mead out of chamomile?

Aldyth
Aldyth at juno.com<<

"Mead with herbs or spices" is properly kown as Metheglin.  "Mead with
fruit juices" is known as Melomel.  So much for pedanticism in terminology.
 :-)

Metheglin using Chamomile is quite possible, though I cannot think of a
period receipt using that particular herb, off the top of my head.  In any
case, If you look in Digby's, you will find many recipes for Metheglin,
such as "To Make a Tun of Metheglin", and various "White Metheglin"
recipes.  If you follow the procedures there (adding in such modernities as
strict hygiene, though Sir D. does insist that the helpers have clean hands
and nails), you will produce a very fine Metheglin, light and flavourful.
Substituting chamomile leaves for some of the other herbs in the Digby
receipt would be at most "one weirdness" (to lapse into "herald-speak" for
a moment) from the period source.  (OK, so Sir Kenelme Digby is just
post-period, I know.  But he's close!  And he's readily available, some of
it is even on the web.)  I might just try a batch, after the honey flow has
gotten a good start and the price of the sticky stuff is down a bit again.
It's time I did some metheglin or melomel again.  The cinnamon metheglin is
running a tad low finally.  (That's the one that went sparkle-sparkle on
me, unexpected-like - delicious stuff, just lightly carbonated in the
bottle, and getting better every year so far!)  (The strawberry melomel,
though, was a letdown.  Too much tannin got into it from the berry seeds, I
think.  It is getting better, slowly.  It's drinkable now, whereas last
year it was just short of awful.)

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