361
Article 361 (43 more) in rec.food.historic:
From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu

Subject: Re: Mead recipes?
Message-ID: <1992Aug24.163235.6219@iscsvax.uni.edu>
Date: 24 Aug 92 16:32:35 -0500
References: <BtEqIA.JBE@acsu.buffalo.edu> <1992Aug24.131425.18541@progress.com>
Organization: University of Northern Iowa
Lines: 33

schuldy@progress.COM (Mark Schuldenfrei) writes:
> but not modern ingredients nor techniques.  Since mead is nothing but
> honey and water, and was usually aged in oak barrels, here is a cobbled
                                           ^^^^^
> together recipe that will work reasonably well.
> 
> approx 3 pounds of honey (aka 1 quart) (from Digby)
> 1 gallon of water
> 1 Tablespoon of Oak Bark (my idea of how to fake oak aging.)
>   (My local health food store sells it in bulk, as White Oak Bark.)

Note from a stray botanist:  There are 3 major groups of oaks in the
world: white oaks, with rounded leaf lobes, red oaks with bristles
at the tips of the leaf lobes, and live oaks, with unlobed leaves.
--MORE--(53%)
Because white oaks have specific structures called "tyloses" that block
the pores of the wood, white oaks are used for cooperage (barrels) and
for shipbuilding.  Red oaks and live oaks make leaky barrels (or
leaky ships.) ;-)

Red oaks tend to be more tanniferous than white oaks, and bark tends to
be more tanniferous than wood.  So using an white oak barrel should 
result in less "oakiness" than steeping a similar surface area of
red oak wood in the wine or mead.  Tannins are also pretty astringent--
they're the major pucker factor in plain ol' tea.  My limited experience
with tea made from live oak acorns would lead me to believe that the
tannins in live oaks are high enough to *really* make your teeth squeak.

All this said, I have to admit that my knowledge of alcoholic beverages
is pretty theoretical... still, it seems to me that mead with red oak
bark would be more astringent than a barrel-aged mead.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI
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