Methiglum Drink

tdstepen

Corporal
Joined
Nov 16, 2015
Location
Texas
Methiglum was a drink mentioned in the memories of Frank Monroe Hudson 1852-1945 who lived in Limestone County,Alabama. Frank Monroe Hudson married my Mary Sue Stephenson in Limestone County,Alabama in 1881. He told his memories to his daughter Stella. I got a copy from Stella Hudson's daughter or granddaughter Ida Viola Hudson Gunn years ago.
The real name of the drink is Metheglin.
Here is a recipe I found on line:
http://www.honey-health.com/mead-drink-made-from-fermenting-honey/
Simple mead is a combination of unfermented honey and water. The recipe consists of boiling about three parts water, to one part of honey; the honey may be increased according to ones taste for sweetness. water is to be boiled slow,until one third has evaporated, then the remainder is poured into a container until full. The honey is added. In three or four days it will be ready to drink.
This is what Frank Monroe Hudson wrote about it:
Methiglum-This is a very intoxicating drink something like Persimmon beer. I believe it is much like English mead etc, as I found Methiglum mentioned in Samuel Pepy's Diary. To make it take a comb honey,place in vessel and cover with water. Let ferment until ceased to work. DON'T TRY THIS!: Frank Monroe Hudson wrote that you can add black locust pods. I read that black locust pods are POISONOUS to humans.
Frank wrote that Old man Kennemer used to tell of being invited to a megthiglum drinking one night. The methiglum was in a tub under the bed and the hounds had gotten into it and were tight.
I had to look up who Samuel Pepy was. His comment on the drink is here as well as how to add spices to Metheglin.
http://www.winning-homebrew.com/metheglins.html
Samuel Pepy's Diary can also be found on line. Just think of it, Frank reading of all things,Samuel Pepy's Diary in Limestone County,Alabama in the 1800's!
 
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That is interesting.i had a modern version of mead before up in Williamsburg way back when.Samuel Pepy's diary I remember from high school back in 62 or 63, haven't heard of it since.
 
I used to design labels for a Missouri winery. The owner once told me about mead, "honey wine", etc. His thought was that honeymoons were historically celebrated around the length of time it took for a batch of honey wine to go sour and be undrinkable.

That might be true. Or not. Maybe the couple just needed to go back to work for their employers. There is always more than one reasonable way to interpret darn near anything!
 
Back in my SCA days, "Why don't you come back to my tent and sample my metheglin" was such a common pickup line that it had become a joke. Metheglin is fairly quick to manufacture and safe if you know what you're doing - there are sites devoted to it.

In my opinion, it's sort of nasty tasting.

Re: locust pods. This is a complicated subject as some are poisonous and some are not. Presumably the ones he used were not.
 
I don't know that much about the black locust, but I found this video interesting about the black locust pods. The man in the video claimed Abe Lincoln, the rail splitter, split many a black locust tree. He claimed that if you got the seeds when they were young that one could boil the toxins out of the seeds. He also claimed that chewing,not swallowing, the bark was good for a tooth ache. The tree has medicinal purposes also. Thanks for replying
 
Kentucky coffeetree is in the same family as the black locust, with similar seed pods. Michael Dirr in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants says of the seed pods that they're poisonous to man and the seed and fruit contain the alkaloid cytisine. He goes on to say, "I mention this because in my youth I ate the sweetish gummy substance that lined the inside of the pod. Maybe that's what is wrong with me today."
 
Kentucky coffeetree is in the same family as the black locust, with similar seed pods. Michael Dirr in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants says of the seed pods that they're poisonous to man and the seed and fruit contain the alkaloid cytisine. He goes on to say, "I mention this because in my youth I ate the sweetish gummy substance that lined the inside of the pod. Maybe that's what is wrong with me today."
rosefiend,
Thanks for responding. I will stay away from the Kentucky coffeetree.
 
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