Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and spice Mead recipe

[Prairie Wine]

Hmmm.... Maybe I should have tried that. Ms. Spain also said she's concerned about the fruit being in that long. All I know is that it's a beautiful thing this morning. Even the cats are admiring it!

[lockwood1956]

Whenever I come across raisins or sultanas in a recipe I always mince them Is this the same for this recipe ?

Hmmmm

really not sure

i just threw them in

[Prairie Wine]

We just followed the recipe! There will be no mocking of us!

[ms.spain]

I'm sure your batch will turn out great! I just took out the oranges, after three weeks, because they looked quite nasty.I then racked, and added 1 tsp. of bentonite-it is clearing nicely!!
I know it wasn't "per recipe", but I wanted this mead ready to share with family and friends by Thanksgiving.The next 1 gallon batch I make, I won't rush the process, and I will decide which way is better.

[Prairie Wine]

I topped up with some water last night and this morning the air lock was full! One of the cats was staring at it to let us know that something wasn't right. He's my hero!

[Prairie Wine]

Check the photo line for pictures!

[ms.spain]

Well, I cracked open my Ancient Orange over the holiday weekend.Love it!I had put 2 cloves in this gallon. The taste of the clove really came through.

I gave my Mother a bottle to take home, and made sure I put a bottle back to age awhile.(When I say bottle, I mean into 1 liter plastic bottles-cuz I know this one won't stay in the bottle long. )

[jcnoren]

3 1/2lbs of honey === ?? cups

Any kind of orange...mandarin?

JC

[Prairie Wine]

Honey is about 12 pounds to the US gallon.

Are you thinking Mandarin oranges in a can? I don't think I'd use those. I just went to the grocery and bought nice looking oranges from the produce area. I made sure the outsides didn't have any blemishes since I was going to put the whole thing in. I also scrubbed them well with a vgetable wash and rinsed, rinsed, and then rinsed again. I rinsed in both warm and cold water, back and forth to be sure I got everything off of them.

[jcnoren]

Was thinking to use fresh mandarins are now that they are available, Since you use orange skin and all, might mandarins have too thin of a skin? OR since it is thin skinned there is not as much of the bitter white ...errr fleshy portion.

JC

[lockwood1956]

3 1/2lbs of honey === ?? cups

Any kind of orange...mandarin?

JC

12oz/cup = .75lbs/cup

need 3.5lbs

3.5 / .75 = 4.666667 cups (approx)

and im pretty sure it will work with most citrus fruits

[lockwood1956]

More useful conversion Info here

http://home.sunlitsurf.com/%7Emshapiro/convert.html

[Prairie Wine]

Caution!

Caution! Do not cofuse volume measure with weight! 2 Cups may be 16 ounces in volume, but it could be completely different in weight.

[jcnoren]

[QUOTE=lockwood1956]Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and Spice Mead[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]

Balance water to one gallon

Process:

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy

???Imperial Gallon or US gallon???? I assumed Imperial......Figured better ask.''

JC

[Prairie Wine]

I'm in the US and use the US gallon. It all gets so confusing!