- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Soon the honey bees will be buzzing all over them.
And soon will be the third annual "The Feast: A Celebration with Mead and Honey," formerly known as the "Mid-Winter Beekeepers' Feast."
Sponsored by the Honey and Pollination Center of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, "The Feast" will take place Friday night, Friday, Feb. 6 in the Sensory Building of the Robert Mondavi Institute, Old Davis Road, UC Davis campus.
"A Mediterranean-inspired menu is being created by Ann Evans, author of the Davis Farmer's Cookbook, and Kathi Riley, caterer and former chef at Zuni Cafe, San Francisco," said Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center.
The event begins at 6 with mead cocktails, softened by candlelight and music by the UC Davis Jazz Trio. Next a four-course meal, and the night will end with the "after dinner mead flight" led by legendary Darrell Corti.
What's mead? Basically, honey wine, an ancient alcoholic beverage.
"It's a fermented blend of honey, water and often fruits, yeast, or spices," Harris says. It dates back to at least 7000 BCE or Before the Common (Current) Era. Ceramic shards found in Jiahu, Henan Province, China held a mead-like residue, according to Patrick McGovern, leading authority on ancient alcoholic beverages.
Meaderies are rising in popularity. According to the BBC the number of meaderies in the United States within the last 10 years has spiked from 30-40 meaderies to more than 250.
To attend The Feast, the cost is $125 per person or $1250 for an eight-table sponsorship. If you want to learn more about the specific honeys served in the four-course meal, you can sign up for an "early bird"--er, "early bee"--tasting activity. Harris will lead a honey tasting of the menu's varietal honeys. The "Early Bee" activity, limited to 35 sign-ups, is free with dinner purchase.
Bon Appétit! (Or would that be Bee Appétit?)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Like to learn how to make mead? You know, transform honey into honey wine?
The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute and the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology are offering a beginners' introduction to mead making on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13-14 at the Mondavi Institute on Old Davis Road.
"Explore the rich history of this fascinating fermented beverage from its ancient origins to its recent rebirth in America," teases Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center. "Taste and learn styles, ingredient selection and steps to making good mead."
Mead is known as the ancestor of all fermented drinks.
This is a hands-on learning experience. "We have about 35 seats left and we would like to fill every one," Harris said. "So far, folks have enrolled from all over the United States and from Canada and India."
Here's a link to the Honey and Pollination Center's website and registration: http://honey.ucdavis.edu/events/introduction-to-mead-making
Or, if you want to chat with Harris and learn how delicious mead is--it's called "the drink of the gods"--contact her at (530) 754-9301 or email her at aharris@ucdavis.edu.
Honey, will you pour me some mead?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And now you have a chance not only to meet your (mead) maker but learn how to make a small batch of mead.
The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center wants you to know that.
Amina Harris, executive director of the Honey and Pollination Center, has just announced plans for another "Beginner's Introduction to Mead Making," a short course set Nov. 13-14 in the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, UC Davis campus. Registration is now underway for the course, limited to 75.
From the wine came the grape, from the mead came the honey...
Mead is a beverage rich in history. It dates back 8000 years, Harris says. "Brewers and winemakers know that in the world of alcoholic beverages the buzz is all about mead."
In small groups, participants will work in the university's LEED Platinum Winery to make small batches of mead under the supervision of Chik Brenneman, the winemaker for UC Davis; Mike Faul, proprietor of Rabbit's Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale, Calif.; Ken Schramm, author of The Compleat Meadmaker and owner of Schramm's Mead in Ferndale, Mich.; and Michael Fairbrother, Owner of Moonlight Meadery, based in Londonderry, N. Hamp.
Harris says the center has been working with mead makers from across the United States to offer annual courses that cater to both home crafters and commercial enterprises.
“This course--aimed at the beginner who wants to know more--is the first in a series being developed by faculty in the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and the Honey and Pollination Center,” Harris said. "We plan to offer an intermediate level course in spring of 2016, targeted to those who have recently started meaderies and those who have been making mead for several years.” The intermediate course will offer detailed information about fermentation and yeast selection, chemistry, ingredient selection, sensory expectations and working with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
A the Nov. 13-14 short course, a program highlight will be the opportunity for participants "to meet and work with prominent mead makers and teachers in an intimate environment," Harris says. Additionally, attendees are encouraged to bring their home brews to share, taste and evaluate in an informal gathering at a local hotel on Friday evening. “It's a great way to get to know what's out there in the mead world. Two years ago, everyone was trying ‘Ghost Pepper Meads' to see who had the greatest punch.”
The center has been working with individual mead makers, the American Mead Makers Association, the Mazer Cup and GotMead.com for more than two years to meet the needs of both the craft and professional mead makers. To further this effort, the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and the Honey and Pollination Center have submitted a grant to the National Honey Board to investigate paths to a successful mead fermentation.
“With the growing interest in mead today, almost no useable research has been brought forward,” Harris says. “We hope to change that."
Information about registration: http://honey.ucdavis.edu/mead
Fees: $500 through Aug. 31 and $575 thereafter
Want more information about the short course? Contact Amina Harris at aharris@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's the taste of honey AND mead--coupled with a gourmet dinner on the UC Davis campus.
The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center is sponsoring the Mid-Winter Beekeepers Feast: A Taste of Mead and Honey on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the foyer of the Sensory Building, Robert Mondavi Institute of Food and Science, 392 Old Davis Road.
It's like "Bee My Valentine."
"The air will be redolent with the sweet smells of roasting lamb and flavored honey," said executive director Amina Harris.
It's billed as a Valentine's Day event and a celebratory meal benefitting the Honey and Pollination Center.
The main course features roasted lamb shank with rosemary infused sage honey, polenta squares with mushroom ragout, oven-roasted brussel sprouts with thyme butter, and Musqee de Provence with walnuts and a lavender honey glaze
The guests will start with these appetizers: Cracked Dungeness crab on Belgian endive and shitake mushroom soup shots. And the drinks, of course, will feature mead from Heidrun Meadery, along with sparkling water and a wine selected for each course. Salad is next: navel and blood oranges over winter greens with a tupelo honey vinaigrette.
Following the main course, a cheese course with honey comb will be served. For dessert: Häagen-Dazs Honey vanilla ice cream with old-fashioned butter cookies.
And then, a mead flight with three meads.
Harris says the printed menu will be something folks will want to take home. Vicki Wojcik, a member of the Honey and Pollination Center Advisory Committee and the research director at Pollinator Partnership, will add pollinator notes to the printed menu--indicating which foods are pollinated by bees.
The dinner, designed by Ann Evans and Mani Niall, will be catered by the Buckhorn, Winters. Evans is the founder of the Yolo County Slow Food, the Davis Farmers' Market and the Davis Farm-to-School Program. Niall is the author of numerous cookbooks including "Covered in Honey" and "Sweet." He describes himself as the "chief cupcake froster" at his newly opened Sweet Bar Bakery in Oakland.
Darrell Corti, an international wind judge, will lead the mead flight tasting.
Also planned: music and a silent auction. "Prizes are still coming in," said Harris, who can be reached at aharris@ucdavis.edu. Tickets for the one-of-a-kind event are $125 per person, or a table for eight for a $1250 sponsorship.
It sounds like a bee-utiful evening, made possible by the bees!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There also could be a "u" in mead, as in "you."
There's definitely a honey bee, as without the bee and the honey, there's no mead.
The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, headed by executive director Amina Harris and headquartered at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, is planning a mead-making short course, billed as "the first of its kind in the country."
The event, "Mead-Making Short Course: From Honey to the Shelf," will take place Feb. 6-8, 2014 at RMI.
What is mead, you ask?
It's the world's oldest alcoholic beverage. "It's a fermented blend of pure honey and water," Harris says. Sometimes mead makers also add fruits and spices to produce a dry, semi-sweet, sweet or even a sparkling mead.
Mead, says Harris, is "the golden libation of the Norse gods, a staple throughout the Middle Ages." It's now making a comeback in the United States. More than 150 meaderies belong to the American Mead Makers' Association, according to president Chris Webber.
The UC Davis short course has engaged the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology and some of the country’s leading mead makers and experts.
“I met, Frank Golbeck, a fledgling mead maker, at a conference this past spring," Harris recalled. Golbeck asked if she could "put together a seminar of some sort could be put together for mead makers like him." Harris began pursuing the possibilities as soon as she returned to campus.
Since then, Harris has worked with Professor Dave Block, chair of the Viticulture and Enology Department, to create a program that will take participants from tasting and buying honey, right through the process including fermentation and filtration." Specialists will present the sensory aspects of mead: smells and taste, defects and texture. Also planned is a tour of the world’s first LEED Platinum winery at RMI.
“Once we had the program fleshed out, I began to contact the movers and shakers in the mead industry," Harris related. "With their help, we tweaked the initial plan and added some special tastings, educational panels and information about the current state of the honey bee and beekeeping.” International wine expert and local personality Darrell Corti will help lead a mead tasting to teach what to look for in a finished product.
As of mid-October, 20 persons have registered. They span the United States: Alaska, New Hampshire, Florida, California, Michigan, Missouri, Washington, and Colorado.
The Honey and Pollination Center's mission is to showcase the importance of honey and pollination through education and research. The Center works with the agricultural, beekeeping and food service industries. The stakeholders include growers, grocers, chefs and students.
Meanwhile, the year-old Center continues to be quite active. On behalf of the Center, the UC Davis Bookstore is selling Northern California wildflower honey and pollinator note cards.
Another project is to develop a Honey Tasting and Aroma Wheel. “As more and more people become interested in artisanal and varietal honeys, it is believed the Center could help them understand the depth and flavors of honey," Harris said. "The wheel will be a terrific education opportunity."
Additionally, the Center plans to develop a Master Beekeeping course offered through UC Davis.
Meanwhile, if you want to learn how to make mead, you can register for the short course for $425 before Dec. 1, 2013 and $500 afterwards. The program includes classes, tours and most meals. To enroll, access rmi.ucdavis.edu/events or email Harris at aharris@ucdavis.edu for more information.
Want to friend the Center on Facebook? Go to https://www.facebook.com/UcDavisHoneyAndPollinationCenter.