Blackberry Melomel (Fruit Mead)

You will need

• Honey1.3 kg
• Blackberries1.0 kg
• Pectic enzymeper dose
• Staggered nutrientas for mead
• Waterto 4.5 L
• Wine/mead yeast1 sachet

Picking it at the right moment

• Blackberry

  Ripe when deep matt black (not shiny), plump, and they come away with only the gentlest tug — a berry that resists is not ready.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Crush the blackberries under cooled boiled water and add pectic enzyme.

2. 2

   Warm (do not boil) the honey into water and combine with the fruit; top to 4.5 L.

3. 3

   The lesson: a melomel is a balance of two things fighting for the front — honey's soft floral sweetness and fruit's acid and colour. Use LESS fruit than you would in a straight fruit wine, so the honey still speaks. Reading about 1.100.

4. 4

   Pitch yeast and give the same STAGGERED nutrient as a plain mead — the honey makes it just as hungry.

5. 5

   Ferment on the fruit three or four days, then strain and finish under airlock.

6. 6

   Rack, clear, and age at least six months. The fruit fades if rushed and blooms if given time.

7. 7

   A wine that teaches how two very different ingredients are balanced by quantity, not by luck.