Spiced pumpkin. Very tasty, like pumpkin pie. Note from Diane Dunn - one should not leave spices in, as they can turn bitter. Next time use whole spices in a muslin bag and remove them. This mead should age for a VERY long time. Note from Rebecca - We tried a bottle October 28, 1998. It still tasted very young, with some spice flavor, but very little pumpkin flavor. This one did take a while to age, but by 2001 the pumpkin flavor did come out and this mead became very tasty. It continues to improve with age.
Ingredients:
October 30, 1996 - Pumpkin preparation: A 12 lb. Rouge pumpkin was grown from seeds that came from one of last year's pumpkins bought at the Farmer's Market. This pumpkin was grown in Marcia's garden. It was cooked whole (with holes poked for escaping steam) for 1.5 hours at 325 F. Oven was turned off, and it was left to sit in the oven overnight. Then the pumpkin was cut up, peeled, de-seeded, and puree'd to make 5.5 lbs. of mush.
October 31, 1996 - Honey mixed with Eldorado Springs H2O was heated to 195 F. We were racking Patched Mead and forgot to keep an eye on it. Started stirring vigorously and lowered heat, and finally added some pumpkin mush and spices to cool it down. Brought the temp back up to 170 F and kept it there for 15 minutes with the must chiller in the kettle. Acid blend was added to the cooled must.
Started rehydrating yeast as soon as the container was sanitized. The yeast starter and yeast nutrient were stirred into the rehydrating yeast. Must was chilled to 85 F and poured into plastic fermenter. Yeast was pitched. More Eldorado Springs H2O added to make about 5 gallons and then it was stored with a bubble lock.
November 7, 1996 - Racked
January 16, 1997 - Racked, SG 1.000
May 3, 1997 - Racked into a bucket first and then bottled still.
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