There is something special about a red dessert. It is beautiful, eye-catching and almost blooming in it´s color, it is as if each red pastry wants to proclaim its presence and attract you with its seductive color.
There are few things as delicious as a strawberry mead, red in color and sweet in taste. It is made with three kinds of honey and one of the dearest of all berries. The strawberry! All over the world, there are few fruits as loved as the strawberry. It is associated with summer, with everyday luxury, childish joy and also eroticism. The strawberry can be used to make jam, juice, dessert, and of course various alcoholic beverages.
The modern strawberry is actually a former and more cultivated wild strawberry, the modern large strawberries were bred in Bretagne, France around the 1740s. It was done by crossing the North American scarlet wild strawberry, for the taste, with the Chilean giant wild strawberry, for the size. There is much more to share about the strawberry. But this is a mead column so I will leave the history of the strawberry at that, but I hope it is enough to entice the curious to do further research on their own.
Godegubben is made with three types of honey - Linden, Colza and Alder Buckthorn. The first two, linden & colza, are described in more detail in previous chronicles, so I want to focus more on the third variety, alder buckthorn-honey.
Alder Buckthorn is a plant that is spread throughout Eurasia, it is a large shrub, and sometimes even a small tree. The bark is used for plant dyeing and the charred wood can be used for black powder. Pure honey from a hive near brackish wood has a warm yellow color, with a pure and mild taste.
Godgubben is a mead that guards its secrets. It changes in taste all the time depending on the temperature and what you choose to combine the mead with. Its color is a lovely light red and its fragrance subtle with light tones of honey and berries.
The first surprise comes when Godegubben is drunk at room temperature, it is almost a glorified cordial with alcohol. The taste is mild and almost a little bubbly, and very enjoyable. It goes well with the any garden party, in or on desserts or in cocktails. When you instead drink it chilled, the fruit flavor becomes much more prominent. The mead gets an enhanced sweetness, and a freshness appears that becomes a refreshing aperitif.
Godegubben goes particularly well with various desserts, both sweet and savory. Some delighful examples are:
Dark chocolate, at least 70%, brings out a deeper sweetness and a dominant taste of fruit and a fresh acidity in the aftertaste of Godegubben.
With vanilla ice cream, the acidity of the mead appears more prominent and it acquires a freshness that can easily competes with the best of rosé wines.
Brie cheese is great to pair with this mead, which now shows a character like a strawberry jam, laced with champagne. The depth is fantastic and the aftertaste is long. Godegubben can advantageously replace jam on most of the delicious cheese-platters.
Gruyère cheese contributes with a well-aged nutty flavor that brings out an almost thick sweetness from the mead, that just takes the edge off the otherwise almost overpowering taste of Gruyère.
Chaumes cheese, goes wonderfully together with the Godgubben. Ones again the mead shows off its strawberry flavor, but this time with a slightly bittersweet and eatrhy aftertaste of herbs - which is absolutely fantastic. Its bouquet becomes wider than anything else, easily a competitor for the strongest of red wines.
Puff pastrys makes the mead show a combination of both acid and sweetnes, and brings back sweet memories of childhood strawberry jam and strawberry juice. It is unadulterated in sweetness, a pure fruity taste, without a hint off white sugar.
Tosca, is by nature already very sweet and brings out the fruit acid in the mead, which easily breaks the sweetness of the cake and together reaches a perfect balance. It is tempting to pair the mead with all the pastries that belong on compotes at afternoon tea and see what can happen, maybe that could be an amusing project in the future.
It's clear as day that Godegubben has an unparalleled depth and an amazing breadth of flavors to offer. This combined with desserts, cheese trays or even coffee and tea are endless. Since I have already mentioned that strawberries are well suited to cocktails, I will also share with you a mead-based recepie. A version of one of the most famous and appreciated beverages in the world. Strawberry Daiquiri!
Take out your mixer
Pour in equal parts frozen strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
Concentrated Elderberry-cordial
Lemonjuice
Fresh peppermint
Fill up the pitcher with Godegubben and Branden på Orten.
Mix and pour into a glass, preferably garnished with fresh mint.
The lovley thing about this recepie is that I only give you the ingredients and leave the proportions to your own imagination and taste. After all, mead is a craft and the same goes for all drinks and cocktails.
-So take out you mixer, and experement untill you find your favorite combination!
Now you have read about the decadence in red, and I truly hope that you dare to go on your own adventurous journey with mead in hand (cup, glass or horn) and discover your own decadence.
Here I leave you with a song to remember,
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