1-28-20 Tonight at 9PM we are tickled to have on the show Laura Angotti, keynote at the 2020 MeadCon, and author of "Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library" and "Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources". She is also the owner of the Mystery of Mead website, where she discusses mead in history.

Laura Angotti has been making mead for over 25 years, focusing on finding, understanding, and re-creating meads from historical recipes. She searches libraries and archives for recipes dated before 1750 CE, and has collected and cataloged over 2500. Laura has made and tasted over 100 of these recipes herself, and discussed and tasted the efforts of many others in specialty historical competitions. To better understand the recipes and their context, her research includes broader topics providing insights into the details of recipes used by mead makers long past. This research feeds her conviction of the interconnectivity of all things. Her goal is helping modern mead makers see and use the extensive experience of historical mead makers ranging across eras and geographies.

'Wellcome Mead' showcases the breadth and complexity of historical mead recipes, and presents 105 recipes and their varients, each with a modern recipe interpretation. All the recipes are drawn from the 17th and early 18th century English household receipt books held by the Wellcome Library in London.

Ingredients, equipment and methods used to produce the original recipes are detailed and discussed. Changes in mead recipes are addressed with reference to varied factors driving those changes. Each of the 100 plus ingredients present in the various plain meads, metheglinis, fruiit meads, spicied meads, herbed meads and braggots is discussed. The modern interpretations are suitable for both those interested in using history as inspiration for more modern efforts and those focused on historical re-creation. The book is intended for those familiar with basic mead making, so even beginners can make meads with this book.

Laura is a ton of fun to talk with, and we're really stoked to talk historical mead with her tonight!

Join us on the live chat and don't be afraid to call in if you want to!



This player will show the most recent show, and when we're live, will play the live feed. If you are calling in, please turn off the player sound, so we don't get feedback.[break] [break]Click here to see a playable list of all our episodes!



If you want to ask your mead making questions, you can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323) or send us a question via email, or via Twitter @GotmeadNow and we'll tackle it online! 9PM EDT/6PM PDT Join us on live chat during the show Bring your questions and your mead, and let's talk mead! You can call us at 803-443-MEAD (6323), or Skype us at meadwench (please friend me first and say you're a listener, I get tons of Skype spam), or tweet to @gotmeadnow.



Coming up:

February 4 - Keith Seitz - National Honey Board
February 18 - Marina Marchese - Honey Sommelier

Show links and notes

Wellcome Library
Auntie Arwen's Spices
Penn Herb Co
San Francisco Herbs
Wellcome Mead: 105 Mead Recipes from the 17th and 18th Century English Receipt Books at the Wellcome Library by Laura Angotti
Cider and Perry in Britain to 1700: A Collection of Material from Primary and Selected Secondary Sources by Laura Angotti
Let There Be Melomels by Rob Ratliff
The Big Book of Mead Recipes by Rob Ratliff

Upcoming Events

February 1 - Chubby Cheeks Meadery, Temecula, CA - Mead Making Workshop
February 7 - Haley's Honey Meadery, Hopewell, VA - Junior Wilson Live
February 7-9 - Earle Estates Meadery, Seneca Lake area, NY - Chocolate and Wine tour
February 9 - Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Middleville, MI - Drink Mead Learn Things - Open Dungeons and Dragons