I got an email from a web visitor (Tony) who managed to get his hands on a 1999 reprint of the White House cookbook for 1887. Looking through it he discovered a recipe for a mead and a recipe for a Metheglin! Wow, nice find here!!! Mead was much more popular a hundred years ago. And it went through a big decline for a long time while grape wine grew.

Grover Cleveland was the president at the time of this cookbook.

But... mead has made a tremendous comeback in the past five years or so. I have posted a picture and the recipes from that Cookbook right here for you to check out.

If you use these recipes you have got to let me know how it goes and be sure to send me pics of the mead!!

Methelin , or Honey Wine

This is a very ancient and popular drink in the north of Europe.

To some new honey, strained, add spring water; put a whole egg into it; boil this liquor till the egg swims above the liquor; strain, pour it in a cask. To every fifteen gallons add two ounces of white Jamaica ginger, bruised, one ounce of cloves and mace, one and a half ounces of cinnamon, all bruised together, and tied up in a muslin bag; accelerate the fermentation with yeast; when worked sufficiently, bung up; in six weeks draw off into bottles.

Another Mead-Boil the combs, from which the honey has been drained, with sufficient water to make a tolerably sweet liquor; ferment this with yeast and proceed as per previous formula.

Sack Mead-is made by adding a handful of hops and sufficient brandy to the comb liquor.

Sassafras Mead

Mix gradually with two quarts of boiling water three pounds and a half of the best brown sugar, a pint and a half of good West India molasses, and a quarter of a pound of tartaric acid. Stir it well, and when cool, strain it into a large jug or pan, then mix in a teaspoonful (not more) of essence of sassafras. Transfer it to cean bottles, (it will fill about half a dozen,) cork it tightly , and keep it in a cool place. It will be fit for use next day. Put into a box or boxes oa quarter of a pound of carbonate of soda, to use with it. To prepare a glass of sassafras mead for drinking, put a large tablespoonful of the mead into a half tumbler full of ice-water, stir into it a half teaspoonful of the soda nd it will immediately foam up to the top.

Sassafras mead will be found a cheap, wholesome, and pleasant beverage for warm weather. The ssence of sassafras, tartaric aced and carbonate of soda, can of course, all be obtained at the druggist's.

Note from Will: Technically I don't really consider the Sassafras Mead an actual mead. There is no honey in it! But, the names of things and what they are does change over time. The Whitehouse cookbook calls it a mead so, maybe a hundred years ago they had different ideas about what a mead was!

Mead Available on Amazon.com

Amazon now has a whole department of wines and meads Right here: Mead Department on Amazon

Do you like making projects and exploring a variety of hobbies?

Sign up for my free newsletter. I give you regular updates on hobbies and projects you can make. it is totally free and I don't share your email with anybody.