This ancient and mythological alcoholic drink is obtained from the fermentation, at a controlled temperature, of a mixture of water and honey.
History points to mead as the first fermented alcoholic beverage consumed by humans. In the Cueva de la Araña in Bicorp (Valencia), a 7,000-year-old painting was discovered depicting a human figure collecting honey. Given that honey contains yeasts, it is to be assumed that at some point the rainwater will dilute the honey, facilitating fermentation and, with it, obtaining mead. This drink is already mentioned in verses from the Rig Veda, one of the sacred books of Vedism, dated between 1700 and 1100 BC.
Mead was widely consumed by the Greeks, who called it melikraton. Also for the Romans it was a common drink. It is cited in many stories belonging to Germanic mythology; In Richard Wagner’s popular opera, The Valkyrie (“Die Walküre”), mead is considered a drink reserved for heroes and the chosen. According to Teutonic tradition, mead had to be consumed during a lunar cycle to produce sons. Celts, Normans, Vikings and other peoples consumed it in abundance. They attributed energetic, digestive and relaxing properties to it. Also the Mayans, in America, dissolved honey in water with pieces of tree bark and made it ferment, for consumption at parties.
According to Pliny, the first recipe for the manufacture of mead is due to Aristeo, king of Arcadia.
