• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

feverfew?

Barrel Char Wood Products

goose_entity

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 10, 2006
21
1
0
Does anyone have a recipe or suggestion for a potent feverfew metheglyn? (By potent I mean having a lot of feverfew, so that a shot glass will be enough!)


Thanks :icon_thumleft:
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Hmm, the only time I've ever heard of feverfew was when I was working at J&J and they were trying to figure out how to add it to lotions without turning them brown. (which they apparently have succeeded in doing. Aveeno has some products out now.) Can you eat feverfew? Why would you want to?

My suggestion would be to brew a tea as strong as you want it and add honey & yeast. Probably a strong honey like a dark wildflower, unless you really like the taste of feverfew (I've no idea what it tastes like). If it tastes nasty you'll probably want to wind up with a sweet mead; try D-47 or 71B yeasts and overload them with honey (16-17% potential alcohol should end up pretty sweet with these yeasts).

Good luck, and don't overdose on that feverfew. ;)

Edit: Ok, I found a feverfew tea suggestion.
To make feverfew tea, place one teaspoon of the dried leaves in 5 to 8 ounces of water. Boil for 5 to 10 minutes. Strain the leaves from the tea. Drink as much tea as preferred. The tea can also be applied to the skin to work as an insect repellent.
from here: http://www.naturalherbsguide.com/feverfew.html. So, for a gallon of feverfew tea you'd need about 16-20 teaspoons of dried leaves.
 

goose_entity

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 10, 2006
21
1
0
feverfew tastes unspeakably foul - no, it really *is* that awful :sad1:

It's good for reducing migraines, which is why I want to make some with an intense amount of feverfew - hopefully it will help sort out the migraines my wife suffers from :-\
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Yeah the stuff I've read in the last few minutes says you have to drink it for 4-6 weeks before it really starts to be effective. Sounds yummy.

So I'd go with the ridiculously sweet option, and maybe double your feverfew amount to make a super potent tea. So that's 40 tsp of leaves per gallon. Steep for the recommended 5-10 minutes, strain and add honey to a SG of at least 1.130. Pitch a yeast that kicks out at ~14% alcohol (like D-47 or 71B) and it should be sweet enough to stomach. If not, just add more honey. You can also add other flavors to cover up the taste, like a favorite fruit (a melometh!) or other spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, whatever).

Or you could just add a lot of honey to the tea and not ferment it. Does it benefit from being alcoholic?
 

goose_entity

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 10, 2006
21
1
0
Neither benefits nor suffers from the alcohol, but hey - if you've got to have something nasty, you may as well get some fun out of it. And if I didn't ask about making it a metheglyn I would be off-topic, wouldn't I ;D
 

Leonora

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 16, 2006
324
0
0
Loveland, CO
www.ildanachstudios.com
The whole medicine value of herbs in mead is something I am poised to get to work on. In my other life, I am an herbalist with a sucessful herbal bath and body care business (www.foxryde.com) so thinking about this really is fun for me.

The whole reason I got started making mead was the herbal/medicine connection. I have gotten sidetracked into the yummy fruit meads, but, hey, fruit has healing properties as well.

So, different componants are soluable in water and alcohol and some are soluable in both.

I would look carefully at published literature on "tinctures" as these are herbs that are extracted into alcohol. Christopher Hobbs had published a couple of books with tincture info, I don't have titles at hand. The general directions to making a tincture is to soak an equal volume of dried or fresh herbs in vodka for several weeks in a cool dark place, then strain and use (you can do this mutiple herbal additions many times to really supercharge your tincture). I suppose you could do this as well and add it to your mead in the secondary. You'd bump up the alcohol and might knock out your yeast. *shrug* Just an idea.

My guess is that if you put the herb in at the beginning of the process, you will get some more of the water extracted compounds. Then add it to the final bulk to get more of the alcohol extracted compounds. Or you could make a tea and add it at any time but this will not allow for the alcohol soluable compounds to be extracted. I have added teas at all three stages and found that the herb flavors are less affected (changed) by the fermentation than fruit flavors are.

Tinctures are considered to be powerful. You can pack a lot of herbs into a very small amount of liquid. The alcohol gets the herbal compounds into the blood very quickly as the alcohol passes through mucus membranes easily and carrys the soluable compounds with it. It also hits the liver so I almost always throw in a liver healing herb (like milk thistle) into any tincture I make.

The wild card in all this is what does the fermentation process take from the various medicinal compounds? It is a good question.

So my plan for the medicinal mead I am planning now is to add whole herbs and a strong tea in the primary and then whole herbs and a strong tea in the final bulk.

Feverfew is a bitter herb. I think it will respond very well to being made a mead. The body craves bitter when it is ill, I think.

Leonora (who is ill and is craving bitter!)
 

yabodie

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 17, 2006
367
1
0
52
Sorry to rain on a parade, but please be cautious that some herbs interact negatively with over the counter and prescription drugs that people might be taking. Please review the medical literature regarding your herb of choice and possible drug interactions. Some of them have pretty severe effects to the point of nullifying the prescription drugs effect. Granted the studies are limited to the population under investigation and the herb and drug doses, but still worth the read.

Please do your homework on the herb and be aware of who might be consuming your mead made with the herb in question.

Disclaimer: In no way is this meant to be medical advise…

:cheers:
 

goose_entity

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 10, 2006
21
1
0
Your caution is understandable, but Mrs used feverfew when we were still in the UK and found it a good complement to the meds she was on to control the migraines.

But thanks for your words of wisdom :laughing7:
 

Leonora

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 16, 2006
324
0
0
Loveland, CO
www.ildanachstudios.com
yabodie said:
Sorry to rain on a parade, but please be cautious that some herbs interact negatively with over the counter and prescription drugs that people might be taking. Please review the medical literature regarding your herb of choice and possible drug interactions. Some of them have pretty severe effects to the point of nullifying the prescription drugs effect. Granted the studies are limited to the population under investigation and the herb and drug doses, but still worth the read.

Please do your homework on the herb and be aware of who might be consuming your mead made with the herb in question.

Disclaimer: In no way is this meant to be medical advise…

:cheers:

Yanc!

You big parade rainer!!! :tongue3:

hee hee!

Leonora
 

yabodie

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Mar 17, 2006
367
1
0
52
Well the place I work at is very interested in how herbal supplements interact with modern medicines and we have seen some interactions, so I felt it appropriate to post a caution.

Rain rain go away...

Now onto my Catnip, Lemon Balm, Heather and Lavender meth... Ahhh the wonders of sedative properties to be comfortably numb..
 

Johnnybladers

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 13, 2006
301
0
0
48
I was sorta interested in that whole comfortably numb thing...... figured I'd keep an eye open for the recipe to pop up somewhere here in GMland.
Jon
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns