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Market Gypsy: Nothing goes with summer the way mead does

At the height of summer, when the sun is high and canola blooms in the field, this particular calendar time was marked in 16th-century England as the time of mead.
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Photo submitted by Grey Owl Meadery More than five seasonal award winning mead flavors brewed in Alder Flats and available throughout Central Alberta and Edmonton.

At the height of summer, when the sun is high and canola blooms in the field, this particular calendar time was marked in 16th-century England as the time of mead.

This ancient drink has been described by scholars who study its history as an “ancient a beverage that the linguistic root for mead, medhu, is the same in all Indo-European languages where it encompasses an entire range of meanings, which include honey, sweet, intoxicating, and drunkenness. For this reason it has been suggested that fermented honey may be the oldest for of alcohol known to man.”

Most people know that beer is an age-old drink brewed from fermented grains, and wine is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting grapes, but few know that mead is often referred to as “nectar of the gods,” made from fermented honey. Mead’s popularity has waxed and waned, but is once again on the rise in North America.

Gathering wild honey was practiced before organized agriculture and seems to be a wonderful indication about how humans and bees have been co-evolving on earth for centuries. Honey is bountiful this time of year and beekeepers offer it at specialty stores and farmer’s markets. With its health-sustaining properties, the result of the much needed little pollinators in our fields, playing a crucial role in our farming system; it is a timeless mythical symbol of hard work, the elixir of life, personal growth, and happiness. It is something to truly celebrate and value.

In Kenya, the uki, a drink make of honey, was highly regulated and was often only drunk in rituals such as weddings and births. Fermented drinks have been a vital part of many ancient cultures and were often only used as a sacrament or for ritual practices. European culture has documents of drinking a form of mead in classical Greek and Roman history. The modern term ‘honeymoon’ may even suggest from an ancient European practice of newlyweds eating nothing but honey for one full lunar cycle after marriage in order to increase their fertility and the possibility of an immediate pregnancy. Those crazy kids. However, I may question if honey is an aphrodisiac.

Mead is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages and can run from sweet to dry, from strong 20 per cent proof to as low as 7 per cent proof. With many of our local craft beer microbreweries blending and artistically adding seasonal flowers or local berries to the beer, the popularity of the origins of mead continues strong.

The more a person dives into the history of mead, the more interesting it is, as are most things. It could be asked if it is both a blessing or as something that can destroy civility. It is both good and bad. But it is to be approached with respect. Some people drink to participate in a social situation. Some sip it each Sunday at church with communion. Some stay far away from it. If it creates chaos in your life, find help.

This full moon is known as the ‘mead moon.’ Perhaps we can take a moment to wonder about the process of mead and the fermentation of alcohol, all of the history in it, all of the bees that continue to diligently work in our complicated world, and in the knowledge that in every culture we share the historical masterpiece of a drink to celebrate each other. This summer, find one of Central Alberta’s local breweries and discover the ancient craft of beer’s precursor, mead.

Sharlyn loves in Red Deer and is a foodie with a gypsy soul. You can find more on social media and the web as Market Gypsy.