Prickly pear mead recipe - secret delight revealed

Monuments to mead are known to exist in our nation's
capital city.  Photo Charlie Papazian

Prickly Pear Mead is the most seductively delicious mead I have ever had – ever.  Its color can be as dramatic as a sunset.  The fluorescent crimson of ripe prickly pear fruit, the titillating soft character of light mesquite honey, a floral bouquet of the Sonoran desert freshly washed by rain and finally the sweet delicate currant-raisin-like nature of the world's finest sherry all combine to stun your senses in appreciation of one of the greatest gifts to this world.

This recipe was inspired by Dave Spaulding's (Tucson, Arizona) award-winning 1986 mead.  Since 1987 I have not let a year go by without brewing at least 5 gallons.  At 14 1/2 percent alcohol, Prickly Pear mead ages exceptionally well. 

Prickly pear cacti grow in drier areas from Canada to the Equator.  In North America each fall the plant produces dozens of fruits that ripen to a crimson red.  The fruits are covered with fuzzy thorns and should be picked with tongs.  They can be frozen until used.   Their size varies from about 2 to 6 inches (5 - 15 cm).  The red color is sometimes difficult to maintain through the finish of the fermentation.  Don't worry if your mead turns from red to deep gold.  This mead will still take on all the character of the finest sweet mead you've ever made.

Photos above left and below: From flower to fruit the prickly pear ripens on cactus. Photos by Charlie Papazian

Recipe for Prickly Pear Mead

Ingredients for 5 gallons (19 l)

• 20    lbs. (9.1 kg)     light honey (mesquite is preferred, but clover, alfalfa or other light honeys will produce superb results)
• 5-6    lbs. (2.3-2.7 kg)    red, ripe prickly pear cactus fruit
• 1/4    tsp (0.6 gm)     powdered yeast extract (nutrient)
• 1     T (8.1 gm)    pectin enzyme (optional)
• 1    oz. (28.4 gm)    dried and rehydrated wine or Champagne yeast. Sherry yeast can also be used as an addition. Champagne yeast works very well in combination with sherry yeast.

Target Original Gravity (Original Plato/Balling):  1.130-1.150 (30-35 degrees Plato)

Final Gravity (Plato/Balling).:  1.025-1.050 (6-12.5 degrees Plato

Procedure

Slice the fruit or chop in a food processor and boil with 2 1/2 gallons (9.5 l) of water for 2 hours.  Be very, very careful:  Take care not to scorch the fruit and seeds that settle to the bottom.  Meanwhile combine the honey with 1 gallon (3.8 l) of water and boil for 15 minutes.  Skim off the coagulated white albumin protein as it forms on the surface of the boil.  Turn the heat off. 

Strain the boiled juice of the fruit into the honey brewpot.   Then add this concentrated honey "wort" to a sanitized fermenter and cold water to make 5 gallons (19 l).  Aerate this unfermented “brew.”  Aeration at this and only this stage is essential for healthy fermentation.  Add yeast and yeast nutrient when cooled below 76 degrees F (24.4 C).  Ferment at temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees F ((21 and 24 C). 

Fermentation may last anywhere from 3 months to 1 year.  Bottle when fermentation is complete and mead is clear.  Fermentation may stop months before the mead clears.  Rack (transfer by siphon) the mead from a primary fermenter to a secondary fermenter when fermentation appears almost finished.  Avoid splashing and aeration of mead during all transfers. 

The type and batch of honey, the character of the fruit and the strain of yeast are but a few of several factors that affect the behavior and duration of fermentation.  One batch of Prickly Pear Mead may take less than 6 months to finish and clarify, while another batch may take 2 years!  Nevertheless this mead always does clear and always is spectacular. 

Note that there is good reason to boil the fruit, even though it sets the pectin in it and causes haze to form in the mead.  Prickly pear fruit juice is very mucilaginous and even more so if the juice is not boiled.  The haze eventually settles out.  You may pectin enzyme to the fermenter to aid in clarification as directed by the package. 

When the mead is clear and fermentation has stopped it is ready to drink and bottle.  Wine bottles and corking is the best way to preserve and enhance continued aging in the bottle.  Take care not to splash and cause aeration during transfers while bottling.  If you find that a batch of Prickly Pear Mead is too sweet for your taste, endeavor to make another batch of dry mead, using only 12 to 15 pounds (5.5 to 6.8 kg) of honey for 5 gallons (19 l).  When the drier mead has completed fermentation, blend with the prickly pear mead for 10 gallons of your preferred blend.  Wait 3 months and observe to make sure fermentation does not restart.

The preceding recipe was excerpted from The Homebrewers Companion.

Also see:

Maine Mead Works

Tasting 60 year old mead 

The Mead House of Gulval. Cornwall 1949