Maple Praline Mead Face/Off - "Natural" vs "Unnatural"

[@pancakerizer]

I prefer doing it the natural way, not because I necessarily think its going to become a better end product, but it's just more interesting to me. And it's more fun to give someone a bottle and tell them about the process and being able to say "I made this" without any caveats

[@ManMadeMead]

I totally agree!

[@spikelove9533]

I've been waiting for this one it looks super yummy. Thanks for sharing it with us. My experience with nuts IMO I've found if I buy them raw chop and toast them I get a much better flavor from them. Pecans definitely add a certian mouth feel more than any other nut that I've used. Walnuts has it as well but it's not nearly as pronounced as pecans. It also takes a very long time months to impart a nut flavor threw infusion IMO. Another way to achieve a good pecan or any nut flavor is infuse it in 190 a 4 oz mason jar for several months then uesing a open double boiler method evaporate a about half of the alcohol away you will be left with a concentrate that only needs a few drops to flavor something.

[@johnburke8337]

To get a nutty note, I've heard you can use mahlepi, sometimes called mahlab. It's essentially a cherry pit of sorts, but it's ground up for breads and other dessert items in Greek cuisine. You'll probably get something more like almonds than pecans. I've been debating using them with other spices to make a tsoureki inspired mead

[@ManMadeMead]

That's super interesting! I'll have to remember that!

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

European (Belgian) mazer/baker here: I guess from country to country (or continent to continent?) the definition of praline varies. I was always taught that ‘praline’ refers to chopped either walnuts or hazelnuts that are roughly chopped, toasted and then mixed into caramel. This is then chopped again to enable the baker/chocolatier to sprinkle these chopped bits of praline over something or to mix them through something. Following that logic, I think extracting the flavour of the (chopped) nuts through boiling, then cooling the resulting liquid through refrigeration to remove the fat and subsequently dissolving some caramel into that liquid should approach the flavour I know as ‘praline’: toasted nuts with caramel.

[@jordanrohan4799]

Long time fallowed been making mead for about a year now trying to develop a mead atm for the market in Ireland using a lot of your videos to help me get a better understanding

[@ManMadeMead]

I'm super happy to help! Thanks for watching!

[@dilldigger4797]

A few videos ago you mentioned using lychee. I've been using funkin pro lychee puree with great success and with some yuzu. Leaves a very juicy mouth feel even dry. Worth a shot to try.

[@andrewquiles5945]

I'm gonna have to give this a try lychee is by far my favorite flavor since I was a kid

[@dilldigger4797]

@@andrewquiles5945 funkin pro lychee puree on Amazon. I just made a passion fruit cider with there stuff too. Saving up to do a 5 g batch of lychee next.

[@michaelparham1328]

So I had half a jug of crystallized honey. I knew this wasn't a big deal, I just needed to warm it up, and it would be fine. But I foolishly just added a cup or 2 of really hot water to the jug. So now I'm worried I compromised the stability of the honey. I also didn't get all the chunks melted, but I'll worry about that once I've solved this problem. Is there a reliable test to know if I've spoiled my honey?

[@Regaleus]

my family literally said to make one of these meads just last week! it may be my next 1 gallon batch. Might wanna add Brown Sugar of somekind bc thats all the cookie is made of

[@ManMadeMead]

Ooh, brown sugar would have been great!

[@rickybell6356]

Hello mister mead man , can I reuse glass gin bottles and the original cork stopper and wax seal it ????? Or do I need to use a new cork , I've never done this but I am going too. The sad thing is that I can't buy any mead in this country to taste it before I make it lol I have nothing to gauge from or a control drink to try and replicate , thank you for a previous answer :)

[@ManMadeMead]

You can definitely re use gin bottles! You just want to make sure it seals well - so get a good cork or something that will fully close the bottle!

[@stevenphillips1702]

How much of the Amoretti did you add in that 1 gallon carboy?

[@ManMadeMead]

I only needed a few ounces (If you make this - I would add it to taste.)

[@juliaharbeck774]

But do you like it, would you make it again?

[@ManMadeMead]

I would make it again!

[@gusecheverri7439]

you probably boiled the flavor out of the pecans. Try boiling them then take the water and put in the fridge and wait for the oils to congeal at the top, then scoop that out and throw the rest of the water into the must.

[@ManMadeMead]

You're right!

[@juliaharbeck774]

Is there anyway to add a bacon note to this?

[@ManMadeMead]

I'm sure you can find a bacon extract of some sort!

[@darthlando77]

try chopping the pecans up maybe you will get more of the flavor out of them

[@Ibcrewgirls]

Bro, I'm begging you. Tell me how to make this with bog standard bread yeast. (me in Saudi 😭)

[@ManMadeMead]

I would say just substitute our your bread yeast for wine yeast and give it a shot!

[@1014p]

Why say praline for the one clearly using maple and pecans? According to description of praline it is a process of boiling nuts with sugar then ground up. Sounds like you left them whole. I had to look it up because never heard of pecan also being called praline. Now I know, figured it was some kind of nut. So really only the amaretti is the maple praline and the non powder mead would be a maple pecan mead/acerglyn. Acerglyn loosely as its not 50/50 honey and maple syrup in this batch. Considering praline is a cook process for nuts and then ground, increasing surface area. Its perfectly clear why 1 had subtle if any pecan notes at all while 2 hit the mark. We need to be careful on naming conventions. They will mislead people and confuse actual terms or processes.

[@ManMadeMead]

Very true! I think breaking them down would have helped!

[@Vykk_Draygo]

A praline is a caramel candy with nuts in it, most usually whole pecans, since it's a Southern US candy. Typically it is a brown sugar caramel, but any sugar should work. A maple praline would, in the south, be understood to mean a maple pecan candy. There is nothing wrong with his usage of the terms.

[@1014p]

@@Vykk_Draygo pra·line noun a smooth, sweet substance made by boiling nuts in sugar and grinding the mixture, used especially as a filling for chocolates. So yes I suppose from your perspective thats how you know it. As far as full term its a processing method with nuts to make basically a filling or in the flavoring he uses, a powder. The definition noted is what it shows up as, essentially a processing method.

[@Vykk_Draygo]

​@@1014p It's also a candy in the Southern US. This is how English works, multiple meanings for one word. As I said, nothing wrong with his usage. Definition of praline : a confection of nuts and sugar: such as a: almonds cooked in boiling sugar until brown and crisp b: a patty of creamy brown sugar and pecan meats

[@1014p]

@@Vykk_Draygo It is the greatest fault of English. Something a conscious effort from all people is needed to keep it stream lined.