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Mead Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...
( , literally "drinkable
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
") is an
alcoholic beverage Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...
within Polish culinary tradition made by
alcoholic fermentation Ethanol fermentation, also called alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process which converts sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose into cellular energy, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide as by-products. Because yeasts perform this ...
of a mixture of honey and water. It has a characteristic honey aroma and a flavour that may be enriched by the addition of fruit juices, herbs or spices. The colour ranges from golden to dark amber, depending on the type of honey used for production. In 2008, four traditional Polish mead grades, which indicate the proportion of honey and water used in production, were registered by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
as a
traditional speciality guaranteed A traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG; : traditional specialities guaranteed) is a traditional food product protected under European Union and/or United Kingdom law. This label differs from the geographical indications protected designation of ...
. Production of mead in Poland almost doubled within the next four years, making Poland the world's largest producer of mead made according to traditional methods.


Grades and varieties

Polish meads are traditionally and legally classified into four grades () depending on the ratio of honey and water used in production and the resulting sweetness and alcohol content. Their names come from the total number of parts by volume of honey and water, with one part being honey; for example, ''czwórniak'' is made from one part honey and three parts water, giving a total of four parts. The lower the total number of parts, the stronger, sweeter and more expensive the mead. Informal honey-to-water proportions, such as (1:1.5) or (1:5), may be used in home production, but are not commercially available due to legal restrictions. Mead may be flavoured with fruit juices, producing fruit mead (), or with herbs and spices, giving herbal mead () or spiced mead (). Traditional varieties, distinguished according to the raw materials and natural additives used or to the method of ageing, include: * , flavoured with
gooseberry Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes Ribes, currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance, and also several unrela ...
juice; * , flavoured with
lingonberry ''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family, Ericaceae. It is known colloquially as the lingonberry, partridgeberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry, or cowberry. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra through ...
juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...
; * , flavoured with
sweet cherry ''Prunus avium'', commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry or gean is a species of cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized elsewhere. It is an ancestor of '' P. cerasus'' (sour cherry). ...
juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...
; * , flavoured with
bilberry Bilberries () are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries. The species most often referre ...
juice; * , matured in
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
barrels; * , flavoured with Cornelian cherry juice; * , flavoured with
pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...
juice; * , flavoured with
apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
juice; * , flavoured with rowanberry juice; * , flavoured with
blackberry BlackBerry is a discontinued brand of handheld devices and related mobile services, originally developed and maintained by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM, later known as BlackBerry Limited) until 2016. The first BlackBerry device ...
juice; * , flavoured with guelder rose juice; * , made from linden honey;" Miód" in * , flavoured with
raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...
juice; * , flavoured with
hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...
; * , flavoured with
grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...
juice; * , flavoured with
mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...
juice; * , flavoured with currant juice; * , flavoured with
woodland strawberry ''Fragaria vesca'', commonly called the wild strawberry, woodland strawberry, Alpine strawberry, Carpathian strawberry or European strawberry, is a Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plant in the Rosaceae, rose family that grows naturally thro ...
juice; * , flavoured with
plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...
juice; * , flavoured with
sour cherry ''Prunus cerasus'' (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is an Old World species of ''Prunus'' in the subgenus ''Prunus subg. Cerasus, Cerasus'' (cherries). It has two main groups of cultivars: the dark-red Morello cherry and the lighter- ...
juice. Other popular flavouring ingredients include
celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...
leaves,
cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...
,
clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...
s,
elderberries ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are most ...
,
ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...
,
juniper berries A juniper berry is the female seed cone produced by the various species of junipers. It is not a true berry but a cone with unusually fleshy and merged scales called a galbulus, which gives it a berry-like appearance. The cones from a handful of ...
,
rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of roses, or rose essence) is an essential oil that is extracted from the petals of various types of rose. ''Rose ottos'' are extracted through steam distillation, while ''rose absolutes'' are obtained t ...
and
vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...
.


Production

Mead Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...
is made by
fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...
of
must Must is freshly crushed Juice, fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must ...
, which is a mixture of honey and water, the proportion of which depends on the required grade. In the cases of and , the sugar concentration would be too high for the
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...
to work in the fermentation process, so the must is prepared with one part honey to two parts water; the rest of the honey is added in the final stage of fermentation or during aging. For fruit meads, at least 30 percent of the water is replaced with
fruit juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such ...
; herbs or spices may be added as well. In commercial production, the must is usually boiled at a temperature of 95–105 °C, giving what is known in Polish as (saturated mead). The required extract is obtained in a kettle fitted with a steam jacket. This method of brewing prevents
caramelization Caramelization (or caramelisation) is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting butter-like flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: (C24H36O18), (C36H50O25), and ...
of the sugars. (unsaturated mead) is also made, especially in home production, wherein the must is made by mixing honey with room temperature or warm water, without boiling, allowing to retain more of the honey aroma. In order to guarantee the microbiological safety of the boiled must, it is cooled on the same day to 20–22 °C, the optimum temperature for yeast to propagate. A yeast solution is then added to the must in a fermentation tank in a process known as "pitching". Violent fermentation takes 6–10 days. Keeping the temperature at a maximum level of 28 °C ensures that the fermentation process runs properly. This is followed by still fermentation, which takes 3–6 weeks. At this stage, it is possible to add the remaining quantity of honey to achieve the proportion required for or . After obtaining an alcohol content of at least 12 percent by volume, the mead undergoes
racking Racking, often referred to as Soutirage or Soutirage traditionnel (meaning racking in French), also filtering or fining, is the process of moving wine or beer from one container to another using gravity rather than a pump, which can be disrupti ...
prior to aging. Leaving the pitched must on the lees beyond the still fermentation period would adversely affect the mead's
organoleptic Organoleptic properties are the aspects of food, water or other substances as apprehended via the senses—including taste, sight, smell, and touch. In traditional U.S. Department of Agriculture meat and poultry inspections, inspectors p ...
properties because of yeast autolysis.
Aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...
(maturing) and siphoning (
decantation Decantation is a process for the separation of mixtures of miscible, immiscible liquids or of a liquid and a solid mixture such as a Suspension (chemistry), suspension. The layer closer to the top of the container—the less density, dense of th ...
) is repeated as necessary to prevent unwanted processes from taking place in the lees. During aging, it is possible to carry out
pasteurization In food processing, pasteurization (American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), also pasteurisation) is a process of food preservation in which packaged foods (e.g., milk and fruit juices) are treated wi ...
and
filtration Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filte ...
. This stage is essential for ensuring that the product has the right organoleptic properties. The flavor of the final product may be adjusted by adding honey to sweeten the mead, addition of herbs and spices or
ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
of agricultural origin. Bottling takes place at a temperature of 18–25 °C. Traditional carboys, ceramic bottles or oak barrels are typically used.


Serving

In Poland, mead is most commonly served at
room temperature Room temperature, colloquially, denotes the range of air temperatures most people find comfortable indoors while dressed in typical clothing. Comfortable temperatures can be extended beyond this range depending on humidity, air circulation, and ...
in a glass or a stoneware cup. Depending on the weather, it may be also drunk chilled to about 12°C or warm. On a hot day, chilled mead may be served with
mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
or a
lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
slice. In winter some Poles enjoy mulled mead, which may be additionally flavoured with cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger,
black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...
or a slice of
orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...
.


History

Mead production and consumption in Poland is a tradition that stretches back for centuries. In the Middle Ages, Poland was covered with primeval forests, which the 12th-century chronicler
Gallus Anonymus ''Gallus Anonymus'', also known by his Polonized variant ''Gall '', is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author of (Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), composed in Latin between 1112 and 1118. ''Gallus'' is generally regarded as the ...
described as "flowing with honey". This abundance of honey and a climate ill-suited for grape growing meant that mead was long more popular than wine. In 996, the
Sephardi Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
traveller
Ibrahim ibn Yaqub Ibrahim ibn Yaqub ( ''Ibrâhîm ibn Ya'qûb al-Ṭarṭûshi'' or ''al-Ṭurṭûshî''; , ''Avraham ben Yaʿakov''; 961–62) was a 10th-century Hispano-Arabic, Sephardi Jewish traveler, probably a merchant, who may have also engaged in diploma ...
wrote that "besides food, meat and land for ploughing, the country of
Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...
abounds in mead, which is what the Slavic wines and intoxicating drinks are called". In the 15th century, the Venetian diplomat
Ambrogio Contarini Ambrogio Contarini (1429–1499) was a Venetian nobleman, merchant and diplomat known for an account of his travel to Iran, where he met Giosafat Barbaro.Bertotti, Filippo (1992), "Contarini, Ambrogio", in: ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', Vol. VI, F ...
observed that "having no wine, he Polesmake a certain drink out of honey, which intoxicates people much more than wine." The 16th-century Polish poet praised the "nutritious and healthy" mead of
Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...
(then part of Poland, now in western Ukraine) as a "nectar" worthy of
Olympian gods upright=1.8, Fragment of a relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and s ...
, as opposed to wine. Notwithstanding the popular notion that mead used to be the everyday drink in Poland, it has always been a luxury good, reserved for special occasions, such as weddings, and available only to the affluent, while
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
was the daily thirst quencher of the common people. Mead was valuable enough to be deemed a suitable gift for monasteries and dignitaries. The oldest known recipe for mead was recorded in 1567 by the Swedish chronicler
Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (born Olof Månsson; October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic clergyman. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his Swedish birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in Octo ...
, who obtained it from a native of the Polish city of . According to it, ten pounds of honey were to be boiled with forty pounds of water, flavoured with hops and fermented with beer
yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...
or bread starter. As well as with hops, 17th-century Polish mead was flavoured with
fennel Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...
, pepper, cloves, cinnamon,
anise Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, ...
,
poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the poppy plant (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...
s or
parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...
. Source materials describing Polish culinary traditions of the 17th and 18th centuries contain not only general mentions of mead, but also references to different types of it. The terms and date back to this period. Mead was produced and served in meaderies, known in Polish as , which were marked with a red cross above the door to distinguish them from beerhouses, marked with a straw wisp, and from wineshops, marked with a wreath. Around the 17th century mead started to lose popularity to wine imported from the south, especially from Hungary, and domestically produced
vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...
. In the 19th century it came to be associated with the bygone times of pre- partition Poland, as evidenced by its mentions in the Polish national epic poem by , in the poems of and in the Trilogy of historical novels by .


Market

In 2008, the four legally recognized grades were registered by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
as a
traditional speciality guaranteed A traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG; : traditional specialities guaranteed) is a traditional food product protected under European Union and/or United Kingdom law. This label differs from the geographical indications protected designation of ...
under the names and (where means "traditional Old Polish"). Within the next four years the production of mead in Poland almost doubled from 760,000 litres in 2008 to 1.4 million litres in 2013, when Poland became the world's largest producer of mead made with traditional methods. Despite a long-standing tradition of mead consumption, the beverage is a niche product in Poland. In 2013, about 600,000
litre The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A ...
s of mead were sold in Poland, compared with 142.5 million litres of wine sold during the same period. Mead amounted to 0.5 percent of total alcohol consumption in Poland in 2013. Only nine percent of adult Poles polled that year declared that they had drunk mead at least once in the last three months; 27 percent said they had enjoyed mead in the last 12 months. Those who drank mead, did so mostly at family or social gatherings. A majority of those who did not, said there had been no occasion for it. Polish mead producers expect little growth of domestic demand, which stood at 8 percent per year in 2013, and focus instead on exports, as demand for Polish mead is growing on external markets at a rate of 15–20 percent per year. Mead produced in Poland is exported to Western Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Mexico and the United States.


See also

* Beer in Poland *
Polish wine Polish wine () viticulture and origins have a history dating back to the nation's founding in the tenth century under the History of Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piast dynasty. Like other Old World wine, old world wine producers, many tradit ...


Notes


References


Sources

This article incorporates some text from the Publication pursuant to Article 26(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs as regards a name of traditional speciality guaranteed as published by
EUR-Lex EUR-Lex is the official online database of European Union law and other public documents of the European Union (EU), published in 24 official Languages of the European Union, languages of the EU. The Official Journal of the European Union, Offici ...
. According to the website'
copyright notice
"except where otherwise stated, reuse of the EUR-Lex data for commercial or non-commercial purposes is authorised provided the source is acknowledged ('©
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/, 1998–2016'). The reuse policy of the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
is implemented by th
Commission Decision of 12 December 2011
"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{Honey-based alcoholic drinks Mead Polish alcoholic drinks Polish products with protected designation of origin