Mead , or ferment honey wine , is a delicious ancient fermented drinkable that is light to make ! This elderberry Margaret Mead , made with foraged elderberries , is a wonderful variation of classic mead and perfect for the holidays .
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Simple Mead Making Ebook
Want to learn more about making Margaret Mead ? I have aSimple Mead Making for Beginners eBookjust for you !
It has ingredient and equipment checklists and elaborated book of instructions for brewing and bottling your Margaret Mead , so be sure to check that out if you ’re new to the Margaret Mead fashioning procedure .
Harvesting and Preparing Elderberries for Mead
Several weeks ago I came into the mother lode ofelderberries , and my mind turned to one thing . Mead , of course !
For those of you who do n’t know , mead is type of wine made with beloved or else of sugar . really , when it ’s made with fruit is technically call a melomel , but to keep thing simple I ’m just go to refer to it as mead .
Here ’s how to make elderberry mead , and the first thing you will take for this recipe is European elder , of course !
Foraging for elderberriesis usually fairly loose as they are common throughout the country . you could also trygrowing your own elderberries !
Once you collect a bunch of elderberry clustering , you ’ll need to pick the berries from the stem . This can be a bit tedious , but if you get a few people on the job it survive fairly quickly .
It ’s an of import stair however , because the stem comprise higher level of toxic compounds than the berries . Do n’t concern about the Berry though , as the fermentation process takes guardianship of any toxin that may be present .
crest : elderberries come up off the stem promiscuous if the Chuck Berry clump are freeze first .
( you may or else purchasedried elderberriesfrom Mountain Rose Herbs ) .
Soon you will have a skillful bowlful full of berries . The exact amount really does n’t matter , as that can be varying depending on how many you’re able to find , but several cups is a beneficial place to start .
By the time all was say and done , we ended up with about ten cup of berries , which I wrench into two gallons of mead .
Elderberry Mead Recipe
In my past George Herbert Mead formula , I ’ve ferment in one gallon jugful , but for this one I decided to do an open ferment in a3 gallon crockfor the first stage .
If you do n’t want to do that , you may totally make this inairlocked gal jugs , using the same method acting I used in myHow to Make a Gallon of Meadpost , just use elderberry as the fruit .
Sanitize Everything & Mash the Elderberries
First , make certain that you sanitise the crock and anything else that you will use in the unconscious process . I usually practice a product calledOne Stepas it ’s easy to use and non toxic .
After sanitizing , I put the elderberries into the carbon black and mashed them up a chip with a potato skirt chaser to get the juices flowing .
Make the “Must”
Then I added about a gallon and a one-half of cool , non chlorinated water , along with a cinnamon bark joint and a few whole cloves to the berries in the crock .
Next I poured in about five pounds of sore honey ( here is a good flock on three Lebanese pound ) , which will result in a fairly dry mead for a two gallon heap .
habituate more if you like it sweet . Since the water is coolheaded the dear wo n’t all fade away right off , but that ’s ok .
Pitch the Yeast (if you’re using it)
I went back on forth on this , but in the end I decided to apply a packet ofcuvee yeastfor this Margaret Mead ( you could also usechampagne barm ) .
Since blue elderberry have a nice efflorescence on them and raw beloved zymolysis well on its own , you could probably do this as awild ferment(with no add yeast ) .
I in spades require to examine this as a wild tempestuousness someday , but with all the labor that went into collecting and pick the common elder , along with the cost of the honey , I really wanted to verify this Margaret Mead turned out ok .
Wild yeasts can produce unpredictable results , so I chose to use added yeast for this batch .
Be aware that cuvee yeast produces an passing dry end ware , so if you ’re looking for some sweetness you ’ll either need to supply more honey or practice a sweet-flavored vino yeast .
Sprinkle the yeast on top of elderberry mixture .
You really do n’t require to excite it as the yeast actually like a bit of oxygen from the surface at first , then will eventually sink down .
Cover for the Primary Ferment
Cover the crock with a towel and put in quiet recess of your house . By the next day you should see some burp action .
The bubbles really made the berry start to rise up above the surface of the liquid , so I used a sporting spoonful to conjure up them down about once per Clarence Day .
Soon you could really recount that the liquid had fleece up all elderberry juice and was pop to turn a gorgeous deep violet colour .
Rack the Elderberry Mead into Jugs
After about a hebdomad , when the bubble go to slow down just a bit , but are still going unattackable , you should rack the mead off of the berries intogallon glass jugs with airlocks .
When you utilise a barm packet , that yeast will outcompete any wild yeast that may be around .
Once the yeast starts to slow down , however , wild yeasts can start to take over and you could end up with elderberry acetum on your hands . May not be a bad thing , but that ’s not what we ’re break for here !
So you ’ll want to terminate out the fermentation in ( sanitized ! ) airlocked jugs . Use anauto siphon(the mini one works great ) to transport the liquid state into gal jugs .
Look at how thick , dark purpleness it is !
Due to dehydration , I end up with more or less less than two gallons , which is in reality what I was shoot for for . How I attain this feat I ’ll never know .
Equal out the levels of mead , then add more honey water system to top it off . This will help to reinvigorate the yeast and give them a little more to masticate on .
Then fill the airlocks with a little water to the line , and put them into the jugs .
They should start eruct by again pretty quickly . Let this go for several workweek until all signs of bubbling has stopped .
Bottle and Age the Elderberry Mead
Once the bubbling has completely stopped , you may bottle it using the same method acting I used forbottling gruelling cider , or usewine bottles and a corking prick .
I sample a bit when we were racking it and it was in reality quite nice , more like a juiceless red wine than anything else . It is best to allow it age for at least a few month if not longer , as it will mellow out quite a bit with ageing .
It will make a bully drink for the holidays , that ’s for certain ! mull elderberry Margaret Mead , anyone ?
This is what it ’s all about cat … foraging for your own food , then turning it into wine !
More Mead Recipes
Ready to come out brewing your next raft of mead?Here are15 mead formula for you to tryincluding :
More Elderberry Recipes
Still have more elderberries to use ? render some of these recipes , or see my post on30 + Elderberry Recipes & Remedies for Food & Health .
Elderberry Mead
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition
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