Benefits of Drinking Mead

Surprising Benefits of Consuming Mead

Mead is the oldest art of fermentation. The three basic ingredients of mead include honey and water which are fermented to create mead. It is commonly referred to many as honey wine and it was the first alcoholic drink to be brewed. The ancient Greeks considered mead to be a drink gods sent from heaven to earth. The main ingredient of mead being honey, it is believed to possess a variety of benefits as it comprises of more than 180 substances which include minerals, enzymes, vitamins, antitoxic, and sugars. It also contains pollen which contains more proteins essential for good health than beef. This makes mead not only an ancient sweet drink but also it associates the drink with good health. Mead can take about three years to be full maturity. Fruits and herbs can also be included in the brewing process to produce various flavors. Mead comes with different types of variations which include melomel, metheglin, and oxymel among other flavors.

What is Mead?

Before delving into the benefits, let’s talk about what kind of drink is mead and what is the drink mead made from. While you read a quick summary of it above, fermented honey and water, there is much more to what mead can be. In Ethiopia, for example, there is a mead made from pulp and the rind of a lemon called Tej. It can also be brewed based on the season like mulled mead is a popular Christmas drink. Which can tie into is mead drink cold or warm, well it depends on the mead.  As noted earlier, the range of ingredients makes talking about what is mead drink a fascinating topic. Each culture has its own variation and history to the honey wine, which also means each kind of mead can have its own health benefits. What they all have in common is the base of fermented honey and water. Though, there are wineries and distilleries creating faux meads that is essentially wine with honey thrown in. While the faux-mead and real mead can taste similar, if the honey isn’t the base nor fermented, it cannot be, by definition, mead. The drink of the gods is somewhere between beer and wine when it comes to classification. The way mead is made can be likened to beer in that you can play with a lot of components. So, if you know enough about what herbs, spices, fruits, and flowers help with one aspect of your health or another, you can make mead specifically for particular benefits. That is partially where many ancient myths surrounding mead come from, they noticed benefits to drinking it. When asking “what is mead drink?”, you could almost answer a magic potion. Old civilizations around the world would agree with you.   Asking “what is the drink mead made from” or “what is mead drink?”, you can get dozens of answers depending on where you’re asking. Just remember, it is always fermented honey and water. No matter what else is thrown into the brew to make it one way or another, it is always honey-wine at its core. Now that you know what all mead drink is, we can get into how the different kinds of mead can benefit your overall wellness.

Types of Mead

Mead is made with different ingredients, most commonly by fermentation of honey mixed with water; other ingredients include fruits, species, grains, hops, etc. Therefore, there are many different types of mead depending on the ingredients and the making process. 

Show Mead

Show mead is simple; it is made using just honey, water, and yeast. It is the simplest and purest form of mead. The process of fermentation is straightforward. It is a basic mead variety that does not have any add-ons. Also, it is the oldest form of mead and known as the traditional mead. It can be further classified into three Short, Medium, and Sack meads. Short mead has less honey, less yeast, and less alcohol. Therefore the fermentation process is quicker. Medium meads use more honey and, therefore, more alcohol. The sack is much sweeter as it uses more honey than short and medium.

Melomel Mead

In addition to honey, water, and yeast, melomel mead has fruits like raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries. It can be sparkling mead or not, also hydromel lower or a sack. It can only be a true melomel when only fruit and honey are used. Melomel mead has a multitude of variations, Bilbemel, Morat, Perry, Pyment, and Black mead. Bilemel mead is made with blueberries, Morat is made with mulberries, Perry is made with pears, black mead uses blackcurrants, and payment mead is made with grapes. It can be made with a variety of fruits and spices for different flavors. 

Payment Mead

As we said, payment mead is a sub-type of melomel mead made with either grapes or grape juice. It is only made with fruit, specifically grapes, in addition to honey and water. It is also known as grape mead. Pyment mead has variations depending on the type of grapes and honey used. 

Cyser Mead

It is a type of mead made with apple or apple juice. Although it is different from apple cider, it is a blend of both mead and apple cider. While apple cider uses sugar, mead uses honey. It has floral hints of honey but does not have the sweetness of it all with the flavor of an apple. The variations depend on the type of honey and apples used. One variation contains light honey for a more delicate taste, while others use fresh fruit, herbs, and spices for a diverse range of flavors. 

Sparkling Mead

Sparkling is a carbonated mead made by bottle conditioning at the last stage of the brewing process. It is made in the normal way and then goes through primary and secondary stages of fermentation. Although, you do need to pay attention to selecting mead for the correct process of fermentation. It is a lot similar to making sparkling wine or carbonating a beer, as some types lend themselves well to being carbonated and may not.

What are some benefits of drinking mead?

Drinking Mead Can Help Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogens

A study about bees and honey was conducted in 2014 by some scientists; Alejandra Vasquez and Tobias Olofsson. The research claimed that honey combines with the lactic acid bacteria found in the stomach of bees to produce hundreds of anti-bacterial substances which is said to have killed off all the human pathogens that were tested against it. The scientists also claim that the antibacterial substance successfully treated wounds in horses which had been previously resistant to any treatment.

Mead Can Help Fight and Treat Diseases

Mead in ancient times was considered a powerful and effective medicine and was associated with strength, health and long life. It is full of infection-fighting bacteria’s which possess special weapons that target, fights, and eliminates deadly pathogens. The bacteria are also capable of eliminating notorious drug-resistant infections. They have been able to heal wounds and other infections from horses and humans at large. Honey helps in the treatment of chronic diseases like diabetes by perfecting several metabolic malfunctions observed in these diseases. It also helps in reducing stress and hyperglycemia and promotes good digestion. Mead, as a result, is great for overall health. Romans associated mead with longer life and they believed it possessed unique healing properties.

Mead is Safe to Drink

Mead is made by fermenting honey. There are many benefits of using honey for our health. Unlike other types of wine produced today, mead has honey and water as the main ingredients. The honey contains both the yeast and sugars needed for fermentation in other types of wine. This makes mead safe as it doesn’t require the addition of white sugar and yeast for fermentation which may reduce the overall benefits of the drink. For example, white sugars trigger the insulin response more than honey which can result in health problems. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and if produced in large amounts they can be harmful. Water is also an important element for our bodies.

Mead is Versatile

Another fascinating aspect of mead like a beverage, it is remarkably versatile.it is traditionally flavored with a wide variety of herbs, spices, flavors, and other different types of beneficial substances. For example, melomel contains fruit juices for example raspberries and blackberries which contain nutritious components significant to the body. It contains an alcoholic content as high as 20% and as low as 3%-4%. Mead is currently on the rise throughout the world than other beverages. It is also believed to be a drink of loyalty as it was a choice beverage drink to kings and great leaders like King Solomon and Queen Elizabeth among others. Mead can be drunk as soon as two weeks after fermentation begins or it can ferment for years mostly up to 3 years. Mead can be served at cellar temperature at dinner, after dinner, during ballgames, picnics, or any other time depending on how it has been processed. It is very sweet and delicious. Mead is traditionally and currently the most healthy, safe and delicious beverage in the world. There are a variety of companies that process and sell these products both online and locally all over the world. Mead can be drunk for leisure and medicinal values as well.