Production technology and quality characteristics of mead and fruit-honey wines : A review

Mead is perhaps the oldest fermented drink in the world, yet it is difficult to find it commercially. A brief review of the history of mead, its value as a health tonic and technology of mead production has been given in the present paper. Fermentation of honey can be used to produce different varieties of mead, sherry, sparkling wine and fruit-honey wines and it may have different flavours depending upon floral source of honey, additives and type of yeast used in the fermentation. Honey which is the raw material to produce mead shows lot of variations in colour and composition which are likely to affect the end product (mead) produced. Composition of honey from different floral sources has also been described. One of the unique characters of honey is that it contains many minor constituents which are responsible for antioxidant activity of mead. Information on physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation of mead and honey wines prepared by using fruit juices has also been summarised.