Craft Your Own Magical Batch of Plum Mead at Home

The Delightful World of Plum Mead

Mead, the ancient alcoholic drink made from fermented honey, has seen a major revival in recent years. Wine connoisseurs and home brewers alike have fallen in love with this sweet, complex libation that traces its origins back thousands of years. And one particularly delightful variety that is gaining popularity is plum mead, an infusion featuring the bright, fruity essence of ripe plums.

Plums: A Fruit with Rich History and Versatility

Plums have an extensive culinary history, with several varieties like damsons, mirabelles, and greengages used in jams, wines, teas, and baked goods across Europe for centuries. Their sweet-tart flavor profile and glowing fuchsia hue makes them an extremely versatile fruit. The Japanese ume plum has an especially iconic status, used to make the salty-sour umeboshi pickle as well as the liqueur umeshu. With such a pedigree for flavor and variety, it's no wonder plums are now starring in their own distinctive styles of mead.

Crafting Plum Mead - Tips and Techniques

Making mead at home has been greatly simplified thanks to modern homebrewing equipment and ingredient access. And infusing mead with fresh plum juice lets you highlight the fruit's vibrant flavor. Here are some tips for making your own batch of plum mead at home:

• Source ripe, juicy plums at farmers markets or Asian grocery stores. Italian prune plums, damsons, and ume plums all work well.
• Wash, de-stone, and chop plums before mixing into mead. Leaving the skins on adds color and flavor.
• For a 5 gallon batch, aim for around 5-10 lbs of chopped plums added to mead during secondary fermentation.
• Consider adding spices like cinnamon, vanilla, cloves or star anise to complement the plum flavor.
• Ferment for 2-3 months before bottling, tasting regularly post-fermentation to achieve desired sweetness.

Serving Suggestions for Plum Mead

The fruity aroma and ruby hue of plum mead offers plenty of options for creative serving. Consider these ideas:

• Pair plum mead with soft cheeses and fruit preserves for a harvest-inspired cheese board.
• Mix with brandy and serve as a warming winter sangria.
• Float a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass of chilled plum mead for dessert.
• Reduce plum mead into a glaze for chicken or pork dishes.
• Serve alongside rich desserts like cheesecake, bread pudding or chocolate cake.

Plum Mead Variations

The basic mead recipe of honey, water and yeast allows for tons of flavor adaptability. Here are some of the most popular variations of plum melomel, or fruit-infused mead, to try:

Ume Plum Mead

Also called Japanese apricot, the ume plum has an intriguing sour-salty profile that pairs beautifully with mead's sweetness. Add 2-3 lbs of ume plums along with a tablespoon of the pickling brine to a 5 gallon batch.

Plum-Ginger Mead

The warming tingle of ginger is fantastic with lush plum flavor. Add grated fresh ginger during secondary fermentation. Candied ginger can provide sugar and spice as well.

Vanilla Plum Mead

Vanilla accentuates and rounds out ripe plum notes. Split 2-3 vanilla beans lengthwise, scrape out seeds and add both pods and seeds to mead.

Chipotle Plum Mead

For a mead with a kick, chipotles in adobo sauce pair amazingly with plum's tart juice. Add sauce and chopped peppers to taste post-fermentation.

Plum & Blackberry Mead

Mix blackberries with plums for amplified fruit essence and a gorgeous garnet tone. Bonus: blackberry seeds provide natural tannins.

Popular Brands Producing Plum Mead

Mead's comeback within the craft brew scene has seen several larger producers including plum-centric offerings alongside standards like orange blossom and wildflower honey based meads. Check out these brand's takes on plum mead for inspiration if making your own:

Redstone Meadery - Plum Nectar

One of the largest U.S. meaderies, Colorado-based Redstone offers this crimson plum melomel as part of their fruit infusions lineup.

Moonlight Meadery - Red Plum

This New Hampshire meadery utilizes Italian plums and orange blossom honey in their smooth, full-bodied plum metheglin.

White Winter Winery - Damson Plum Mead

Wisconsin winery White Winter highlights the Damson plum, with a mild honey flavor backing up the fruit's tartness.

Mead Made Right - Prune Plum Pyment

Michigan mead crafter Mead Made Right blends honey and juices from prune plums and grapes for a bolder, wine-like hybrid.

With its festive color, adaptable sweet-tart essence and rich history, the plum is truly a magical fruit. Infusing plums' juicy flavors and jewel tones into mead lets you create a beverage that looks and tastes mystical in all the best ways. So bring some magic into your glass by conjuring up a batch of plum mead today!