Beverage
Mead
Mead is honey fermented with water and yeast into a wine-strength drink. Traditional mead is only those three things; fruit makes a melomel, spices a metheglin, and a dry ferment can drink closer to a floral white than to dessert wine. The honey should still be recognisable—orange blossom, buckwheat, and wildflower do not make the same glass. Strength and residual sugar vary more than most people expect; a well-made dry mead is not cloying. Drink it as you would a wine of the same sweetness. In the kitchen it reduces fast and the honey intensifies, so a dry bottle is safer in a pan sauce than a sack mead. It is fermented honey, not a honey substitute and not a flavoured cider. Keep opened bottles cold; oxidation turns the perfume stale.
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Breeds & varieties
A sample of named types with their own origin and culinary profiles.
Characteristics
Preparations
Provenance
Sources
Traits
Nutrition and pairings
Nutrition
Typical values per 100 g edible portion. Nutrient names open the reference page.
Nutrition Facts
Per 100 g edible portion
Amount per 100 g
- Total Fat 0.1 g
- Saturated Fat 0 g
- Trans Fat 0 g
- Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Sodium 5.31 mg
- Salt 0.01 g
- Total Carbohydrate 8.76 g
- Dietary Fibre 0 g
- Total Sugars 8.19 g
- Complex / starch 0 g
- Protein 0.54 g
- Water 93.8 g
- Energy 38.5 kcal
- Water 93.8 g
- Carbohydrates 8.76 g
- Sugars 8.19 g
- Monosaccharides 5.74 g
- Disaccharides 2.46 g
- Protein 0.54 g
- Fat 0.1 g
- Vitamins 25.5 mg
- Vitamin A 20 µg
- Vitamin B1 — Thiamine 0.02 mg
- Vitamin B2 — Riboflavin 0.05 mg
- Vitamin B3 — Niacin 0.51 mg
- Vitamin B6 0.02 mg
- Vitamin B7 — Biotin 0.5 µg
- Vitamin B9 — Folate 2 µg
- Vitamin C 2 mg
- Vitamin E 0.05 mg
- Vitamin K 0.2 µg
- Minerals 306 mg
- Major Minerals 299 mg
- Trace Minerals 6.6 mg
- Salt 0.01 g
- Sodium Chloride 0.01 g
- Alcohol 12 g
- Ethanol 12 g
Vitamins
vitamin-c: 2 · vitamin-a: 20 · vitamin-b1-thiamine: 0.02 · vitamin-b2-riboflavin: 0.05 · vitamin-b3-niacin: 0.51 · vitamin-b5-pantothenic-acid: 0.1 · vitamin-b6: 0.02 · vitamin-b7-biotin: 0.5 · vitamin-b9-folate: 2 · vitamin-e: 0.05 · vitamin-k: 0.2 ·
Minerals
Sodium: 5.31 · Potassium: 237 · Calcium: 57 · Iron: 1.2 · Zinc: 0.4 · Iodine: 5 ·
Beverage bases range from near-water teas to sugar-dense cordials; alcohol adds energy when present.
History
Beekeeping cultures fermented honey into mead across Europe, Africa, and Asia long before grape wine reached every table.
Medieval European courts prized mead and spiced metheglin as feast drinks.
Polish and Baltic honey wines (miód pitny) kept a strong regional mead tradition.
Craft meaderies revived traditional, dry, and fruit-led honey wines worldwide.