Mead ( /ˈmiːd/; archaic and dialectal "medd"; from Old English "meodu"), also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained after fermentation. Depending on local traditions and specific recipes, it may be flavored with spices, fruit, or hops (which produce a bitter, beer-like flavor). The alcoholic content of mead may range from about 8% ABV to 18%. It may be still, carbonated or naturally sparkling, and it may be dry, semi-sweet or sweet.
Mead is known from many sources of ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, although archaeological evidence of it is ambiguous. Its origins are lost in prehistory. "It can be regarded as the ancestor of all fermented drinks," Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat has observed, "antedating the cultivation of the soil."
Claude Lévi-Strauss makes a case for the invention of mead as a marker of the passage "from nature to culture." Mead has played an important role in the beliefs and mythology of some peoples. One such example is the Mead of Poetry, a mead of Norse mythology crafted from the blood of the wise being Kvasir which turns the drinker into a poet or scholar.
Read more about Mead: History, Etymology, Distribution, Varieties, Festivals, In Literature
Other articles related to "mead":
... Cato Mead (ca ... Barbara MacLeish, who is researching a book on Mead, he joined the 4th Connecticut Regiment commanded by Col ...
... Mead is a siding along the Algoma Central Railway in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the unincorporated geographic township of Lowther in Cochrane District ... isolated farms, the only other building at Mead is a former forestry company, which is at the southern terminus of Highway 583 ... Mead is counted as part of Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part in Canadian census data ...
... Steven Mead (born 1962, Bournemouth, England) is an English virtuoso euphonium soloist and teacher who has played an important role in achieving worldwide recognition of the instrument ... Mead performs over 75 concerts per year ... Sonata for Euphonium and Ellerby's Euphonium Concerto were all written expressly for Mead ...
... set out on foot for the farm on the way they are joined by Captain Dickie Mead and his signaller, Ames ... With the water tower and its ladder in clear view, Mead decides to wait until just before dawn to climb the tower while it is still dark ... The next day Mead uses the his position to target the artillery onto the German forces, all is going well until the Germans send out a reconnaissance patrol to pin point the observation ...
... humanitarian work and excellence in deed” – September 2001 MEAD Award by Margaret Mead Centennial Committee of the Institute for Intercultural Studies, New York and ... International Award honors that reflect Margaret Mead’s statement “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world” – January 2002 ...
Famous quotes containing the word mead:
“Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, “Go to sleep by yourselves.” And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“People in America, of course, live in all sorts of fashions, because they are foreigners, or unlucky, or depraved, or without ambition; people live like that, but Americans live in white detached houses with green shutters. Rigidly, blindly, the dream takes precedence.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)
“Mead had studied for the ministry, but had lost his faith and took great delight in blasphemy. Capt. Charles H. Frady, pioneer missionary, held a meeting here and brought Mead back into the fold. He then became so devout that, one Sunday, when he happened upon a swimming party, he shot at the people in the river, and threatened to kill anyone he again caught desecrating the Sabbath.”
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)