Editing Mead (section)

==History==
Mead was possibly discovered among the first humans in Africa 20,000–40,000 years ago <ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Mead |url=https://www.liquidalchemybeverages.com/copy-of-the-history-2 |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=lqdlchm |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Discovering the Marvelous World of Mead {{!}} The Bull and Bee: Meadery & Tasting Room {{!}} Albany NY |url=https://thebullandbee.com/discovering-the-marvelous-world-of-mead/ |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=thebullandbee.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 May 2024 |title=Origins of Mead: History Deep Dive |url=https://www.batchmead.com/blogs/batch/history-deep-dive-possible-origins-of-mead |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Batch Mead |language=en}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=January 2025}} prior to the advent of both [[History of agriculture|agriculture]] and [[pottery|ceramic pottery]] in the [[Neolithic]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mead {{!}} Definition, Production, & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/mead |access-date=19 November 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> due to the prevalence of [[Fermentation in food processing#History and prehistory|naturally occurring fermentation]] and the distribution of [[eusocial]] honey-producing insects worldwide;<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Crane |first1=Eva |date=January 1991 |title=Honey from honeybees and other insects |journal=Ethology Ecology & Evolution |volume=3 |issue=sup1 |pages=100–105 |doi=10.1080/03949370.1991.10721919|bibcode=1991EtEcE...3S.100C }}</ref> as a result, it is hard to pinpoint the exact historical origin of mead given the possibility of [[multiple discovery]] or potential knowledge transfer between early humans prior to recorded history.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lukas |first1=Kathryn |title=The Farmhouse Culture Guide To Fermenting |last2=Peterson |first2=Shane |date=2018 |publisher=10 Speed Press, Crown Publishing Group, Random House |isbn=978-0-399-58265-3 |page=13 |chapter=Chapter 1: The Fermentation Story}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Snir |first1=Ainit |date=2015 |title=The Origin of Cultivation and Proto-Weeds, Long before Neolithic Farming |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=10 |issue=7 |pages=e0131422 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1031422S |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0131422 |pmc=4511808 |pmid=26200895 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ceramic history |url=https://depts.washington.edu/matseed/mse_resources/Webpage/Ceramics/ceramichistory.htm |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref> With the eventual rise of ceramic pottery and increasing use of [[fermentation in food processing]] to preserve surplus agricultural crops,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lukas |first1=Kathryn |title=The Farmhouse Culture Guide To Fermenting |last2=Peterson |first2=Shane |date=2018 |publisher=10 Speed Press, Crown Publishing Group, Random House |isbn=978-0-399-58265-3 |page=14 |chapter=Chapter 1: The Fermentation Story}}</ref> evidence of mead begins to show up in the archaeological record more clearly, with pottery vessels from [[northern China]] dating from at least 7000 BCE discovered containing chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, rice, and organic compounds associated with fermentation.<ref name="sps">{{Cite book |last1=Odinsson |first1=Eoghan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3sCCLcsJFkC&q=archaeological+evidence+mead+bc&pg=PA159 |title=Northern Lore: A Field Guide to the Northern Mind-Body-Spirit | pages = 159–160 |date=2010 |publisher=Eoghan Odinsson |isbn=978-1-4528-5143-3}}{{self-published source|date=May 2023}}</ref><ref name="McGovern">{{Cite web |title=Prehistoric China - The Wonders That Were Jiahu The World's Earliest Fermented Beverage. Professor Patrick McGovern the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=247 |access-date=18 May 2017 |archive-date=23 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123202735/https://www.penn.museum/sites/biomoleculararchaeology/?page_id=247 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="fermentedbeverages">{{Cite journal |last1=McGovern |first1=P. E. |last2=Zhang |first2=J |last3=Tang |first3=J |last4=Zhang |first4=Z |last5=Hall |first5=G. R. |last6=Moreau |first6=R. A. |last7=Nuñez |first7=A |last8=Butrym |first8=E. D. |last9=Richards |first9=M. P. |last10=Wang |first10=C.-s. |last11=Cheng |first11=G. |last12=Zhao |first12=Z. |last13=Wang |first13=C. |display-authors=8 |date=6 December 2004 |title=Fermented beverages of pre-and proto-historic China |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=101 |issue=51 |pages=17593–8 |bibcode=2004PNAS..10117593M |doi=10.1073/pnas.0407921102 |pmc=539767 |pmid=15590771 |doi-access=free}}</ref> 

The earliest surviving written record of mead is possibly the [[soma (drink)|soma]] mentioned in the hymns of the ''[[Rigveda]]'',<ref name="Rigveda">{{Cite book
| title= [[Rigveda]]
| chapter-url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv05043.htm
| chapter= Book 5 v. 43:3–4}}<br />{{cite book
| title= [[Rigveda]]
| chapter-url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv08005.htm 
| chapter=Book 8 v. 5:6
}}</ref> one of the sacred books of the [[historical Vedic religion]] and (later) [[Hinduism]] dated around 1700–1100 BCE. The Rigveda predates the [[Proto-Indo-Iranian|Indo-Iranian]] separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE, so this mention may originate from the [[Western Steppe]] or [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Kublickas |first=Rimantas |title=Midus: A Traditional Lithuanian Mead |date=2016 |work=Traditional Foods: General and Consumer Aspects |pages=339–343 |editor-last=Kristbergsson |editor-first=Kristberg |series=Integrating Food Science and Engineering Knowledge Into the Food Chain |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4899-7648-2_27 |isbn=978-1-4899-7648-2 |editor2-last=Oliveira |editor2-first=Jorge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Indo-European languages, Indo-European studies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_dum_021344 |access-date=3 July 2023 |website=Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online|doi=10.1163/2352-0272_emho_dum_021344 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pratt |first=J. B. |date=July 1935 |title=''Insights into Modern Hinduism''. Hervey de Witt Griswold''Ādarsha Sādhu: An Ideal Monk''. A. J. Sunavala |journal=The Journal of Religion |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=358 |doi=10.1086/481664 |issn=0022-4189}}</ref> The [[Abri (tribe)|Abri]], a northern [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] subgroup of the [[Taulantii]], were known to the ancient Greek writers for their technique of preparing mead from [[honey]].{{sfn|Wilkes|1996|p=98}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Joan P. |title=Food in the ancient world |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-08314-2 |location=Westport, Conn. |oclc=65429735}}</ref> During the [[Golden Age]] of [[ancient Greece]], mead was said to be the preferred drink.<ref name="Kerenyi">{{Cite book |last1=Kerenyi |first1=Karl |url=https://archive.org/details/dionysos00karl/page/35 |title=Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life |publisher=[[Princeton University]] Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-691-09863-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dionysos00karl/page/35 35]}}</ref> [[Aristotle]] (384–322 BCE) discussed mead made in [[Illiria]] in his ''[[Meteorologica]]'' and elsewhere, while [[Pliny the Elder]] (23–79 CE) called mead ''militites'' in his ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'' and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead.<ref name="Pliny">{{Cite book |author=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History XIV |pages=XII:85 etc. |author-link=Pliny the Elder |no-pp=true}}</ref> The Hispanic-Roman naturalist [[Columella]] gave a recipe for mead in ''De re rustica'', about 60 CE.

{{blockquote|Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a [[sextarius]]<ref>about half a liter</ref> of this water with a [Roman] [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|pound]]<ref>about 1/3 kg</ref> of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine [[Ancient Roman units of measurement|ounces]]<ref>about ¼ kilograms</ref> of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water.<ref>Columella, 60 AD ''De re rustica''</ref>}}

Ancient Greek writer [[Pytheas]] described a grain and honey drink similar to mead that he encountered while travelling in [[Thule]].<ref>Clements, J. (2013). A Brief History of the Vikings. United Kingdom: Little, Brown Book Group.</ref> According to [[James Henry Ramsay]] this was an earlier version of Welsh ''metheglin''.<ref>Ramsay, J. H. (1898). The Foundations of England: B.C. 55-A.D. 1066. United Kingdom: S. Sonnenschein & Company, Limited.</ref> When 12-year-old Prince [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] visited Wales in 1642 Welsh metheglin was served at the feast as a symbol of Welsh presence in the emerging British identity in the years between the [[Union of the Crowns]] in 1603 and the creation of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] in 1707.<ref>Cull, M. R. (2014). Shakespeare's Princes of Wales: English Identity and the Welsh Connection. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>British Consciousness and Identity: The Making of Britain, 1533-1707. (2003). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.</ref>

[[File:Beowulf - meodu scencu.jpg|thumb|A mention of "meodu scencu" (mead-cup) in ''[[Beowulf]]'']]
There is a poem attributed to the Welsh [[bard]] [[Taliesin]], who lived around 550 CE, called the ''{{lang|cy|Kanu y med}}'' or "Song of Mead" (Cân y medd).<ref name="Book of Taliesin">''[[Llyfr Taliesin]]'' XIX</ref> The legendary drinking, feasting, and boasting of warriors in the [[mead hall]] is echoed in the mead hall [[Din Eidyn]] (modern-day [[Edinburgh]]) as depicted in the poem ''[[Y Gododdin]]'', attributed to the poet Aneirin who would have been a contemporary of Taliesin. In the Old English epic poem ''[[Beowulf]]'', the Danish warriors drank mead. In both Insular Celtic and Germanic poetry, mead was the primary drink associated with [[hero]]es and deities, see for example the [[Mead of poetry]].

Mead ([[Old Irish]] ''mid'') was a popular drink in medieval [[Ireland]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 January 2016 |title=Looking into the long history of mead |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/property/homeandoutdoors/arid-20377522.html |access-date=8 August 2020 |website=Irish Examiner}}</ref> Beekeeping was brought around the 5th century, traditionally attributed to [[Modomnoc]], and mead came with it. A banquet hall on the [[Hill of Tara]] was known as ''Tech Mid Chuarda'' ("house of the circling of mead"). Mead was often infused with [[hazelnut]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slainte! The Celtic Wassail – The Histories and Folklore of Mead and Honey in Celtic Lands |url=https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/Slainte-The-Celtic-Wassail-the-histories-and-folklore-of-mead-and-honey-in-Celtic-lands |website=Owlcation|date=20 January 2024 }}</ref> Many other legends of saints mention mead, as does that of the [[Children of Lir]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Foley |first1=Ray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-7oCgAAQBAJ&q=mead+ireland&pg=PT33 |title=The Best Irish Drinks: The Essential Collection of Cocktail Recipes and Toasts from the Emerald Isle |date=1 January 2006 |publisher=Sourcebooks, Inc. |isbn=978-1-4022-5014-9 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Later, mead was increasingly displaced by other alcoholic beverages for which the fermentable sugars required were less expensive and more readily available, which combined with taxation and regulations governing the ingredients of alcoholic beverages led to commercial mead becoming a relatively obscure beverage until recently.<ref name="Buhner">{{Cite book |last1=Buhner |first1=Stephen Harrod |title=Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation |publisher=Siris Books |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-937381-66-3}}</ref> Some [[monasteries]] kept up the traditions of mead-making as a by-product of [[beekeeping]], especially in areas where [[grape]]s could not be grown.