Food Studies Matter, Meaning, Movement Creative Making Mead, Joshua Steckley

CREATIVE MAKING MEAD JOSHUA YOUR KITCHEN IS A LABORATORY is a candidate in the Department of at the University of . His research focuses on the of nature and how capital accumulation both shapes and is shaped by biophysical processes . He is also an avid urban beekeeping in , which explains his fondness for mead . Learning Outcomes After reading and discussing this text , students should be able to 290 MAKING MEAD

Explain how alcoholic drinks were historically a means for consuming calories and nutrients . Name the basic biochemical reactions that occur during fermentation . Ferment honey into mead using simple ingredients and equipment available from their own kitchens . HOW TO TURN HONEY INTO MEAD Your kitchen is a laboratory . It is the setting for daily chemical reactions that we often take for granted . onions , toasted bread , and seared barbecue meat , for example , produce their cacophony of when sugars and proteins are broken down through what is known as the reaction . Frying an egg initiates the process of denaturation , in which heat the eggs intricately folded proteins to produce those deliciously spongy tastes and textures . Kneading bread smashes glutenin and gliadin together to produce gluten , while the baker yeast carbohydrate sugars , expelling carbon dioxide and ing the dough to rise . But today , we are going to use your kitchen laboratory to set of a biochemical relation that will produce a special special that the Norse god Odin claimed it bestowed the gift of knowledge to all those who drank it . We are going to turn honey into mead . Mead is perhaps the oldest alcoholic drink known to humankind , and it was ( and is ) everywhere . Archeologists have found remnants of mead in Northern Chinese pottery dating to in Europe and Egypt , they date mead consumption back to While other fermented drinks like wine , sake , and beer require particular environments to produce the . 2016 , 329 . JOSHUA 291

grapes , rice , or grains , mead can be made wherever honeybees have access to plants , bringing the nectar back to their hive , and regurgitating it back and forth to one another until it is transformed into honey . Mead is nothing else but fermented honey . It is also how we acquired the word honeymoon , since family and friends would make sure the newlywed couple had enough of this honey wine to last a month . And yes , mead contains alcohol . While we might connect mead with drunken medieval feasts , much like a keg of beer at a house party , we often forget that fermented drinks have historically provided all sorts of nutrients and enzymes , as well as packing a hefty caloric Alcoholic beverages were not simply a means to a drunken end , but rather a means of nance . Beer , for example , was considered essential to trial English households and thought to be a caloric necessity for anyone engaged in arduous agricultural In addition to the calories , fermentation also vitamins , which are necessary for human health . When some puritanical colonial forces , for instance , forbade Indigenous populations from ing traditional fermented drinks , they began to suffer nutrient Mead long well as its calories , nutrients , and available to you right now you only need two ple ingredients and some patience . The first thing you will need , is honey . But not just any honey . You need raw or unpasteurized honey . Pasteurization is the process of ing heat to liquids to eliminate potentially harmful . Unlike milk , however , for which pasteurization is meant to destroy potentially harmful pathogens , honey is . Miller 1996 , 514 . Thompson 1963 , 317 . 2013 , 55 . 292 MAKING MEAD

largely a means to keep honey in its liquid form , prevent , and thereby increase shelf life in grocery store aisles . As a side note , crystallized honey has not gone bad it has only changed its form . If you Want it soft and syrupy again , simply heat it up . Raw or unpasteurized honey has many health fits , as it possesses natural and antioxidants that have been shown to reduce stress , treat wounds , and reduce cold For our mead , we want those natural they are the microorganisms that will eat up the honey sugars and ferment our drink . But if honey contains and other bacteria , you might be thinking , doesnt it ever go bad ?

Honey moisture content is typically around 17 . At this low level , the lie dormant , unable to eat all the sugars that envelop them its as if you were surrounded by chocolate cakes after you ve just come back from a long probably rather have a glass of water before you cut yourself a slice . The bees , however , need this low water content to preserve their honey stores . Inside the hive , they will actually use their wings to fan the honey , evaporating the ture to just the right amount , at which point they will seal the honey with wax capping , and keep it stored as food throughout the long , winter . We humans have figured out bees can produce more honey than they need for the winter , and thus essentially steal their excess throughout the summer and fall . Once in human hands , we slice off the wax caps , spin out the honey , filter it , and bottle it . Thats the unpasteurized honey We want . So , how are We going to set off this biochemical reaction ?

water . Boost the moisture content above 17 , and the yeast will start to feast on the sugars around it . There is no measurement of water to add , but I ve found a ratio of four . et al . 2006 , 218 . JOSHUA 293 parts water to one part honey makes delicious mead . Find a nice jar that will hold the quantity of mead you are making . I am not a proponent of bottled water , but you may want some for this experiment . Municipal tap water will have traces of rine in it , which may prevent the fermentation process . Also , we will the plastic bottles later when we bottle the mead . Stir the water and honey together until well mixed . Take a coffee filter ( or some kind of cloth ) and an elastic band and cover up the jar . This will protect our concoction from the curious fruit that will be attracted to the fermenting scent . Whats going on in our bottle ?

Very soon , the yeast will start to devour the sugar . And we all know that whatever goes in , must come out . Fortunately for us , yeast excrete alcohol and carbon dioxide . You may be thinking , wait , does that mean when we use yeast in a bread dough , were making carbon dioxide and alcohol ?

Yes ! The same carbon dioxide that makes your drink fizz is the same carbon dioxide that makes your bread rise . And that musty smell of your rising bread ?

Thats the alcohol . you bake bread , you also orate the alcohol . Our mead is not going to have a high alcohol content , only one or two percent . We are making what is called a green mead or a short This means we won have to wait months or years , but can enjoy it after ten to fourteen days . Honey contains two types of simple sugars glucose and fructose . Once the water is added , the yeast will spend the next few days or so eating up the glucose which is evidenced by the carbon dioxide bubbles you see drifting to the top . If you want to boost the alcohol content you will have to wait for the yeast to consume the fructose , but it will only do slowly under anaerobic conditions . This requires some more equipment like and air locks . But the point 294 MAKING MEAD

of this video is not to teach you how to increase alcohol content ! You can do that research on your own . After a few days you should see some bubbles rising to the top and may notice a fermented scent . If you don see any bubbles or smell any smells , give the mead a good stir . Stir the mead every day or two and listen for the beautiful fizzing chorus of yeast excrement . Don hesitate to take a sip to see how the are changing . After ten to fourteen days , depending on the temperature and your own personal taste , your mead is ready to drink . If the mead tastes like you basically mixed honey and water together , thing probably prevented the fermentation . If by chance it tastes vinegary , it means the alcoholic fermentation has transformed into acetic fermentation where other bacteria and oxygen are now turning your alcohol into vinegar . Either way , you will have to start again . If , however it has a deep , rich , slightly tangy , taste , then you re ready for the next step bottling . Grab those empty plastic water bottles and , using a funnel , pour the mead into the bottles , leaving about an inch of air space at the top . Ever so slightly , squeeze the bottle and fasten the lid tightly . Leave the bottles on the counter for another two or three days and let the yeast continue to produce carbon dioxide . Your will and become firm . You can use glass swing top bottles to bottle your mead , but the increasing carbon ide will pressurize the glass bottle , and if not careful , it will explode . Stick to plastic bottles for now . After a few days , place the plastic bottles in the fridge . The mentation will slow considerably , and you can enjoy the mead at your leisure . Or , if you are impatient , you can skip bottling all together . Pour the mead from the jar into a bunch of glasses for your closest family and friends and relish in the knowledge that JOSHUA 295

you are imbibing a drink of the gods , thousands of years old , and it all came from your kitchen . Cheers . Watch the video a One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text . You can View them online here ?

References , and Miller , 1996 . Honey revisited a reappraisal of honey in British journal 75 ( 2006 . Raw Millefiori honey is packed full of antioxidants . Food Chemistry 97 ( Stephen . 1998 . Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers The Secrets Fermentation . Boulder , CO Siris Books . Thompson , 1963 . The Making of the English Working Class . New York Pantheon Books . 2013 . Nutritionally significant indigenous foods involving an alcoholic In , ed . Food Beverages in Nutrition . 296 MAKING MEAD

, 2016 . Mead The Oldest Alcoholic In and ( Traditional Foods . Integrating Food Science and Engineering Knowledge Into the Food Chain , vol 10 . Boston , MA Springer . JOSHUA 297