On Fri, 28 Dec 2001, Lee Gollihugh wrote:

>>Dan McFeeley asked: ... antioxidant actions, ... Has this been written up
>>in the literature?  Thanks in advance!
>
>Try the National Honey Board's web site.  Put in nhb - and push enter.
>Its there some where.  Good luck on your research.  Please share it with
>those of us on this site, please?

Thanks for the pointer -- I took a look and found a press release at the
site.  My interest on this subject is related to mead and meadmaking so
it may be a little off topic for this group.  Briefly, phenolics are an
important factor in winemaking, and it's possible that identifying phenolics
found in honey could also indicate oenological properties relevant to
meadmaking.

I've got other stuff in the works on topics on mead, at least one article
ready to publish and others still in process.  Once I get some of this out
there, I can keep folks on the list posted.

With at least 30 plus meaderies open since about 1989 and more coming
(there have always been small farm wineries that sell mead, but these
are facilities dedicated to mead alone), mead will become a stronger market
niche for beekeepers in the future.  As it is, not enough home meadmakers
are aware that the best meads are made with raw, unfiltered, unblended
honeys direct from a beekeeper.  You get better character and complexity
in a well made mead using these honeys.  One way of reaching homebrewers
and home meadmakers might be contacting local homebrew or winemaking
supply shops and letting them know what honeys you have available.

Something interesting I've noticed in the literature on meadmaking is a
parallel of sorts with winemaking.  It's been noted that much of the
method and technique in U.S. winemaking during the 1970's was strongly
influenced by a pervasive image of the grape as a deficit of sorts,
something delicate that had to be "rescued" by technology.  It was an
overcontrol and the wines had a characteristic flavor as a result,
generally one dimensional with little subtleness to them.  That image
of the grape began to change when varietal grapes and viticulture
gained more importance, and the wines changed also.  Now, the grape
is recognized as a unique biological product in itself, with maybe
some of the Old World approach taking a stronger role.  Here, the
idea is that a great wine "makes itself," and many times the best
thing the winemaker can do is simply stand aside.  It's an image of
the grape as a positive, not something weak and deficient, needing
the aid and assistance of the winemaker.

A very similar thing is going on in meadmaking, however, meadmaking
has not kept pace with the changes in winemaking.  Honey is dominanted
by a similar deficit image from the 1960's and 1970's, something needing
the strong control of technology by the meadmaker in order to produce
good meads.  Many meadmakers as a result boil the honey must, use way
too much sulfites and additives, all in an effort to "rescue" the
fermentation.  A positive image of honey, recognizing how unique it
is, widely variable in composition and flavor character, is still
lacking overall in meadmaking.


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Dan McFeeley
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