Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mead I have Known: Golden Delicious

One of my favorite meads to drink is batch 3-004: Golden Delicious. This cyser embodies Autumn for me and is smooth, sweet without being cloying, and oh so tasty with a lovely touch of cinnamon.

In addition, this cyser won silver at the 2010 Cactus Challenge and took less than four months from brew (6.16.07) to bottle (10.6.07)! The only downside to this cyser is that I am almost out and I need to hoard the few remaining bottles in my cellar. Perhaps I need to start a new batch--soon. Here is the recipe; please let me know if you start a batch of your own.

3-004
  • 1 gal clover honey
  • Apple juice to 5 gal
  • 1 lb dark brown sugar
  • 1.12 oz apple pie spice
  • 1 vanilla bean (secondary)
  • 3 tsp yeast nutrient
  • 1 pk K1V-1116
  • OG: 1.138
  • FG: 1.014
  • ABV: 17.1%

Wassail!

-Safari Bob

Monday, November 7, 2011

Tests Show Most Store Honey Is Not Honey

So I am thinking about my next mead and I run across this article: Tests Show Most Store Honey Is Not Honey. I have heard stories about some stores buying counterfeit honey consisting of high fructose corn syrup and food coloring although I have not (to my knowledge) seen this in action. For my flavored meads, I do sometimes buy honey from Wal-Fart because the honey flavor is secondary for my purpose. Still, I do like making a good traditional from time to time and this does concern me. So, I will buy honey from respected online dealers, like eBee Honey or local sources from now on. Here is the story:

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey." The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Is Not Honey

Wassail!

-Safari Bob