[Sca-cooks] non-grape period wines

[Lisa]

My husband is a vintner/brewer and he makes numerous flavors of honey wine.
I believe the term normally used is Melomel.  One of the sources he uses for
ideas and documentation is A Sip Through Time.  I could be remembering
wrong, but I believe I remember seeing several honey wines with flavors
other than grape.

Elizabeta


-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-bounces+ladyemp=sbcglobal.net at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+ladyemp=sbcglobal.net at lists.ansteorra.org] On
Behalf Of otsisto
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 1:41 AM
To: Cooks within the SCA
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] non-grape period wines

Have you considered mead recipes in the wine category for non grape wines?
It is referred to as honey wine.
Also, it is to my understanding that honey was not that easily accessible in
some areas. I had read somewhere when looking into a possible Polish persona
that most households made their mead from wild honey and therefore was only
served at special occasions.

-----Original Message-----
Adamantius replied to me with:

On Oct 14, 2009, at 7:11 PM, Mark S. Harris wrote:
<<< While I have a few non-grape wine recipes, it appears that most
period wines, as today?, were made from grapes. Although some, like
pears and apples, get their own name. We tend to say apple cider or
perry, not apple wine or pear wine.  I do have recipes for dandelion
wine and a few other non-grape wines. Does anyone know of other
references to or recipes for non-grape wine? >>>

< I expect there are some, but one thing you may find is that not all fruits
are satisfactorily (you just know this word will end up in the monthly
statistics post, right?) fermentable without added sugar.
Unless, of course, one is speaking of fully ripe quinces. >

Okay, but even if you still had to add sugar (or honey) to a fruit
juice to get it to ferment, wouldn't it still be considered a "wine"?
I think it would be interesting to know what other fruits were
fermented into beverages in period. Perhaps for some you wouldn't need
to add sugar, sweet cherries, but for other similar fruits, sour
cherries, you would have to add sugar or honey.

< And, since sugar becomes more accessible, less expensive and less
likely to be viewed as a pharmaceutical (monthly stats again!) the
later in period we get, this is perhaps a reason to see more of this
type of thing in later and post-period sources. >








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