New Eyes
- Thread starter TheAlchemist
- Start date
-
Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
-
We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.
Shoot, that's an ornamental crabapple variety. The traditionally edible type are generally somewhere between the size of a grape and the size of a lime.
Take a bite of one, see what they're like, you might be able to mix them with some regular apples for colour and bite, if they're anything like the little purple ones I get, they've got a lot of colour but they'll be too tart and tannic to use alone. Stem 'em and crush them, I don't think there are too many bugs crazy enough to get into them but you could inspect 'em carefully and see if your bugs are crazier than ours, pick out anything wiggly, carry on...
I have one good use for them as is though - ornamental crabapple JAO - I smash a handful of them and toss them in with 3.5 lb honey and a teaspoon of bread yeast. They've got a nice amount of tartness and I've had really good reviews the couple of times I've made it that way. ... speaking of which, they're ripe here too...
Take a bite of one, see what they're like, you might be able to mix them with some regular apples for colour and bite, if they're anything like the little purple ones I get, they've got a lot of colour but they'll be too tart and tannic to use alone. Stem 'em and crush them, I don't think there are too many bugs crazy enough to get into them but you could inspect 'em carefully and see if your bugs are crazier than ours, pick out anything wiggly, carry on...
I have one good use for them as is though - ornamental crabapple JAO - I smash a handful of them and toss them in with 3.5 lb honey and a teaspoon of bread yeast. They've got a nice amount of tartness and I've had really good reviews the couple of times I've made it that way. ... speaking of which, they're ripe here too...
No orange, no spices, just the little crabapples, honey, water and yeast. It's really well-balanced, I just finished the last of my first batch of it tonight
We also have funny red turbins for the Sihks!
I don't, but "we" do! Not the same people wearing the furs and clubbing the babies though, the furs people are eating the adults (raw). ;D
A favorite treat:
place one pecan in a teaspoon
fill teaspoon with real maple syrup
eat.
Now if only I can find a way to replicate that with a mead!
place one pecan in a teaspoon
fill teaspoon with real maple syrup
eat.
Now if only I can find a way to replicate that with a mead!
Now that sound delish!
Also sounds like a challenge, anyone up to that? Sounds over my head but love to hear ideas on it!
I picked up 5 little licorice sticks(20gm) (REAL licorice) from Kamala's Own at the RenFaire this summer.
I wondered to myself "What would a honey with licorice sticks steeping in it taste like?"
So I soaked them in camden water, peeled them, split them and am steeping them in about 1# of clover honey.
So far I'm not impressed by the aroma or flavor, but it's only been a week.
I wondered to myself "What would a honey with licorice sticks steeping in it taste like?"
So I soaked them in camden water, peeled them, split them and am steeping them in about 1# of clover honey.
So far I'm not impressed by the aroma or flavor, but it's only been a week.
From my reading, boiling the licorice in some water for ~30 minutes, cooling, and mixing with honey would probably work better. I bet it would make a tasty hydromel...
Just one more thing for the to-do list!
Edit: Re-read your original idea and realized I totally missed it! Haha. Licorice honey sounds tasty, too bad it didn't work too well. Any plans to leave them in for even longer?
I'm thinking I'll just take them out and make tea with them. The licorice did seem to take some of the viscosity out of the honey...strange, like the licorice let down some inner liquids of its own.
Yesterday my brother cooked carrots on the grill...mmm I could brew me up some mead with carrots like that...
Thanks for the reminder, I'd better get my purple carrots into the freezer before they go fuzzy, since they're not top of the to-brew list at the moment...
For a gallon of carrot wine, Terry Garey recommends simmering 5 lb finely sliced carrots 30-45 min until tender, and using the water. Add 10 bruised peppercorns if desired, then strain it all out and use the juice (then the carrots can be eaten separately, although I suppose if you ferment on the carrots you could use it for drunken carrot cake later). 3 lb honey, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, I'd also add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp yeast energizer if you have any. She also suggests using juice and zest of 3 oranges and 2 lemons so you'd need pectic enzyme if you followed that (this is a wine recipe originally, so we want to skip the acidity if making mead), but you could probably skip the pectic if you just used zest.
But using roasted carrots could be a really cool twist on this recipe, get a little of that caramelized bochet thing.
I think when I use my purple carrots in a mead, it'll be with 3 lb honey and I will grate the purple ones and ferment 'em raw (perhaps scalded to set the colour) and maybe I will roast any non-purple ones (I get 2 lb bags of mixed "heirloom" carrots with purple, white, orange, yellow and sometimes pink carrots), and use zest of a couple oranges.
For a gallon of carrot wine, Terry Garey recommends simmering 5 lb finely sliced carrots 30-45 min until tender, and using the water. Add 10 bruised peppercorns if desired, then strain it all out and use the juice (then the carrots can be eaten separately, although I suppose if you ferment on the carrots you could use it for drunken carrot cake later). 3 lb honey, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, I'd also add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp yeast energizer if you have any. She also suggests using juice and zest of 3 oranges and 2 lemons so you'd need pectic enzyme if you followed that (this is a wine recipe originally, so we want to skip the acidity if making mead), but you could probably skip the pectic if you just used zest.
But using roasted carrots could be a really cool twist on this recipe, get a little of that caramelized bochet thing.
I think when I use my purple carrots in a mead, it'll be with 3 lb honey and I will grate the purple ones and ferment 'em raw (perhaps scalded to set the colour) and maybe I will roast any non-purple ones (I get 2 lb bags of mixed "heirloom" carrots with purple, white, orange, yellow and sometimes pink carrots), and use zest of a couple oranges.
Aack!
I'm so transparent!
Won't start getting my CSA carrots for a while, so I have some time to cogitate on my recipe.
I'm now taking a class called
Art For The Soul
Instead of thinking "I could ferment that" about everything I see...
I now think
"I could make art of that"
about all kinds of unexpected found objects.
Art For The Soul
Instead of thinking "I could ferment that" about everything I see...
I now think
"I could make art of that"
about all kinds of unexpected found objects.
