Tuesday, March 30, 2010

C6H12O6 -->2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2

The Almighty Fermentation Equation. So critcal in so many ways.  I’m going to start off talking about some of the various fermented beverages that have been made throughout history with an emphasis on mead. Most everyone is familiar with beer and its primary ingredients which are water, malt, yeast, and hops. However, mead is a beverage with an even older lineage and is one of the finest beverages known to man. In its simplest form, mead is a blend of honey and water that is fermented through the addition of yeast. There is no definitive list of "approved" types of mead.  These are some of the more common varieties along with a few other beverages and terms for future clarification.

ABV ~ Alcohol by Volume. A measurement of the percentage of alcohol in a beverage expressed as a percentage of the total volume. Proof on the other hand is the ABV doubled.

Applejack ~ An alcoholic beverage made by either freeze distilling Cider or by evaporative distillation methods. Calvados is one of the more recognized offerings of this apple brandy.

Braggot ~ This is a mead that is brewed with honey and malt and may have hops added to it. This makes it something of a cross between a beer and a wine. It will generally have a higher alcohol content than your typical beer. Natural carbonation can be a problem depending on the yeast being used.

Cider ~ Not the cider you buy at the farmstand or pick up at your local market. Only in the U.S. do we use the term Cider to refer to unfermented apple juice. To rest of the civilized world this means a fermented beverage made from apples. It is usually carbonated and rarely exceeds 9% ABV.

Cyser ~ In its simplest form this is apple or pear juice that has been fortified with honey and fermented. However, Cyser lends itself to much experimentation with the addition of herbs, spices, and other fruits. Alcohol content can be as high as 24% ABV.

F.G. ~ Final Gravity. The final reading of a solution, taken with a hydrometer. See O.G. below.

Hydromel ~ Translated from the Greek this means water-honey. Typically this refers to a low alcohol or a very light mead.

Hydrometer ~ This is a device that looks like a thermometer but instead measures how much sugar is suspended in a solution when it is floated in it. Pure water has a specific gravity of 1.000 at 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Adding honey (sugar) to the solution makes the specific gravity (density) rise which causes the hydrometer to rise and the scale to be read at a different location. See O.G. below for more.

Hippocras ~ A Pyment to which spices have been added.

Melomel ~ A mead made from honey and the addition of any fruit or fruit juice. Certain melomels have their own name depending on the fruit that is used.

Metheglin ~ This is a mead that has been fermented with herbs or spices. The name comes from the Welsh and roughly translates as “Healing Liquor” (No argument here). Some of the more common metheglins are made with cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger.

Morat ~ A melomel that is made from mulberries.

Must ~ This is what mead is called before it becomes mead. It is the honey-infused liquid that the yeast will feed on to produce alcohol.

O.G. ~ Original gravity, also known as S.G. or Starting gravity. This is a measurement of the amount of sugar that is suspended in a solution. It is determined using a hydrometer before yeast is added. Another reading is taken after fermentation has stopped. The F.G. is subtracted from the O.G. and multiplied by 1.333 and then 100 to arrive at ABV.
The formula is: ((OG-FG) x 1.33) x 100. Very simple actually. If I have an OG of 1.130 and a FG of 1.000 then it is: ((1.130-1.000) x 1.333) x 100 = 17.329 % ABV. See hydrometer above.

Pyment ~ A mead that is made with red or white grapes.

Rhodomel ~ Rose hips or rose petals are fermented with honey and water to give rise to this ancient drink of Rome.

Sack mead ~ A fairly strong and sweet mead.

That's it for today. I’ll be posting more regarding mead, including pictures concerning its making and consumption. Skål!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Cena exquisito at El Camino, Brunswick Maine:

This was a weekend for dining out with great friends and family.

On Friday night we took Morgan, our youngest son with us to El Camino’s. We can never say enough about the service, the food and the wonderful drinks from this Nouveau Mexican Oasis in Maine. We had three of the specials available that night, but I would say Rick had the award winner. The Lamb special was to die for, not to say the two other dishes were not exceptional but the flavors within this dish were exquisite. Great to see tamales on the menu.  Eloise and the staff out did themselves.


On Saturday we had our friend and jeweler, Meghan Donahue http://www.meghandonahue.com/ and her beau come and stay with us for the night. After their adventures of trying to fly kites up on Gryffon Ridge sans wind, (this was one of maybe 3 days when the wind doesn’t blow up here) and some restrained (only 2 bottles) sampling of Blueberry and Black Chai Mead, we headed to Rockland for dinner at Suzuki’s http://www.suzukisushi.com/.

We had the most wonderful night; Matt our server took extraordinary care of all of us as soon as we sat in our seats. I don’t know if there are words to describe the wonderful dinner we were treated to. This was the first time our guests had been to Suzuki’s. They had heard us speaking about the freshness of the seafood as well as the excedllent and knowledgeable service and this visit was no different. We never placed an order, Matt just asked them if there was anything that they did not like and he and Suzuki took the meal from there. The freshest seafood available from Maine with much of it coming right out of Penobscot Bay.  Last week for Uni (Sea Urchin) which is a wonderful creamy taste of the sea.  Everything was outstanding and we were able to try something new. It was our first time for Tile Fish, what a wonderful delicate tasting fish. So several bottles of Sake later and the freshest sushi in Mid Coast Maine, and we headed back to the Ridge for the evening.


Well, on Saturday we sold out of the 3 lbs of Duqqa we prepared for this past weeks market, so I guess I am not the only one who found it addicting. To date this has been the best new release we have done, thanks everyone. We will have more this coming Saturday for everyone that missed out.  This next week we will not be releasing a new blend but we will have a couple of new herbs and spices for your enjoyment.
For your health: Did you know that Basil can be made into a paste and rubbed on bee stings to prevent swelling and pain?

Friday, March 19, 2010

And so it begins...

What is a blog, what to write on a bog and what do the folks on our blog want to know about? These questions have been spinning through our heads since the date we made the decision to start the blog several months ago. As you can see it has taken us a while to get moving on this.

Welcome to the Gryffon Ridge Blog. We hope to entertain you and speak upon all the great ideas and not so great ideas we come up with for our various endeavours. Also, we might cover a few other items that happen up at Gryffon Ridge. We started our company over a year ago.  Boy were we naive. We sit back and laugh from time to time at what we wanted the business to do and how we were going to do it. Well, we have come a long way from a small coffee grinder and it is thanks to all of you for your wonderful support and coming back to see us every week at the markets.

So what is happening these days?  We are learning to tweet or is it twitter? Rick has started up the Twitter site and we are slowly learning about twittering and re-tweeting. I am in hopes of having the Facebook page up this next weeks. So here we go. We will be connected beyond our beliefs. Now all we need to do is get the ecommerce going so you can order on line.

What is cooking this week? We worked on the Duqqa Blend this week, oh it is addicting. Nothing like some Zue’s bread, great Lakonia’s Olive Oil and Duqqa. I had to walk out of the kitchen so I stopped eating it.

Last night was one of our favorites for supper, Spicy Coconut Shrimp made with Crazy Cats Creole. Yummy. Tonight we are going to go do our contribution towards supporting our local business and have dinner at El Camino’s in Brunswick. If you have not been there you’re missing some of the best food around. Paul, Daphne and Eloise will be sure to treat you to a wonderful meal and the drinks are great. Not to mention that they are firm supporter of the local movement and do all they can to help support our local farms.

We will try to get more on the blog (including pictures) as the weeks roll on and we hope you enjoy reading about all our ups and downs of living on Gryffon Ridge.

Have a good weekend folks.

Christine