In Praise of Fermentation

[DanS]

Elok: Interesting. Interesting that spruce sap was used in one recipe.

[Dinner]

I don't think we have a recipe for anything known as "hedgerow mead." Our booze is about as simple as it gets--one part honey to four parts water, I think. We discovered by accident that grated lemon peel will somehow clarify the beverage without noticeably altering the flavor. It bonds with the crud in the beverage and sinks to the bottom of the container, so you have double the sediment but a more attractive yellow beverage. Maybe it'll work for your stuff too. Anyway, good luck with your burdock-hunt, Oerdin!

No luck finding burdock today though one store, Mitsuwa Market Place (a Japanese supermarket chain which has a store in the city), said they could special order Burdock for me. They said there was a minimum order (which was much to large for my purposes) and their price was so high per pound that there is no way I will be ordering it from them. The state department of forestry says burdock is an invasive species which grows wild here so there is some hope I could go into the back woods and find some on my own though I'd probably misidentify it and end up poisoning myself with the wrong plant. I'm sure some posters here would be very happy.

There are still a few large Vietnamese super markets I can check and there are several smaller markets so maybe I'll still get lucky and find some at a reasonable price. Failing that I will check farmer's markets or a place called Chino Farms which is a local specialty farm known for growing highly exotic produce. Chino farms is kind of famous in the high end restaurant business here in America with crazy numbers of top rated restaurants in the country bragging on their menu that their produce comes from Chino Farms even restaurants in NYC, Chicago, DC, and LA. Personally, I'd rather support local farmers in those cities rather then fly produce out from a fancy farm in California but I guess the owners of Chino Farms are doing great.

[Elok]

Is this technically moonshine?

No. Moonshine is hard liquor--mead is maybe 10% alcohol--and nobody's talking about selling it. Oerdin, my wife says burdock grows everywhere and has few poisonous look-alikes. But if you don't trust yourself with that, she says your best bet is to find "a good botanical guy."

[GePap]

Home distillation is highly regulated in the United States, so before deciding to make Whiskey, you better check, other wise the ATF might have an excuse to damage your door.

[DaShi]

Also, using lab equipment from work to distill alcohol is apparently grounds for dismissal. Who knew?