Need info on ancient mead techniques

[Indianahanna]

I know there were no citrus trees in Greenland during the timeline of the first meads. I also know their were lots of herbs , and oak trees which contain tannic acid in the acorns that were boiled and the water was used to preserve their hides. So I do know they were pretty knowledgeable of their surroundings, but have yet to find a substitute for citric acid from oranges or lemons. Does anyone know the answer to this riddle of the past.

 

[TimT]

Perhaps something like a cider (has malic acid)? It may have acted both as acid balance and a yeast starter.

When they made mead in Greenland they wouldn't have been thinking in terms of acid balance though. I'm sure they would have tried to mix and match different flavours - a lot of the drinks seem to be mixtures of fruit and herbs and honey.

 

[TimT]

I didn't read it here originally, but this story has details about an ancient Scandinavian fruit/mead/beer/wine recreated by Dogfish Head breweries:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/01/the-archaeology-of-beer/355732/

 

[Mardoo]

Why is the citric acid important? What role does it play chemically in the fermentation? I think these are the questions that will lead you towards (not necessarily to) your answer. I myself don't know but that's where I'd start.

 

[barls]

Ask the question over here
Got mead.com

 

[TimT]

What role does citrus play? Bit vague on this myself, it's a wine concept, but.... acid balance - yeast likes pH to be in a certain range. May help to round out the flavour too. (I'll have to refer to my mead book again.)

Short answer, I think other fruit wines would have been used to provide acid balance and round the flavour out. Long answer, I don't know, ,I'm not an ancient Greenlandian! Love to hear/see some of your results here when you get to that point, Indianahannah!

 

[Indianahanna]

Thanks for the feed back everybody. This is my first time making meed and I just want to keep it real, so I might taste the drink of my Scandinavian ancestors. Then I can add to it. Most of the mead recipes I found seemed to call for oranges or some form of acidity. If I know acid is not needed then I will just us herbs native to Scandinavia like in the drink they recreated in the article posted by Tim T.