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Author Topic: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries  (Read 6294 times)

Offline kramerog

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Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« on: January 14, 2013, 09:30:09 am »
I'm thinking of making a fruit mead with pomegranate seeds as I got a lot of pomegranates from Costco.  I'm thinking of picking the pomegranate seeds and adding pectinase before adding the seeds to the mead in secondary.  How many pomegranates do I need to significantly impact the flavor of 4 gallons of mead? Would I be better off with some kind of concentrate.  I'm also thinking of adding blueberries too.

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2013, 09:52:23 am »
I added pomegranate seeds to a Belgian about a year ago.  I used a package of pomegranate seeds from Costco.  I don't recall the weight, but maybe 8 oz?  Whatever the package size is that they sell.

These went into a 3 or 4 gallon batch and did not have a significant impact on flavor.  They did have an impact, but it was very subtle.  More of an overall "fruitiness" than any real pomegranate flavor.

I think you'll need a lot to get a significant impact.
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Offline erockrph

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2013, 10:57:42 am »
That is going to be a heck of a lot of work. I love eating pomegranate, but the prep is a royal PITA. If I were going that route I'd probably just use some Pom Pomegranate-Blueberry juice as a portion of my dilution water.

I've never used them, but if you're sold on using arils, I'd look at recipes using red currants. Those are probably the closest fruit I can think of in both level of tartness and seed-to-flesh ratio.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2013, 11:07:19 am »
I think it would be an interesting experiment. Dried pomegranite seeds are used as a souring agent in some Indian cooking. I think it's even used as the acidifying agent in making paneer (cheese) sometimes.

So I think the whole kernals/seed things, frozen and thawed and added to secondary would be really interesting. I would think you would want to go with near 1 lb per gallon as you would with any other fruit.

The pom juice would be a good shortcut but I would be interested to know if the hard seed part itself would bring anything to the party. I am thinking of how whole cherries with pits adds another level of complexity to sour cherry beers.
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Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2013, 12:27:09 pm »
Not to be a worry wart, but cherry pits contain cyanide.  Not sure about pomegranate seeds and even if they do I'm still alive so at least in low concentrations no worries.

I don't know if the cyanide would leach out into the alcohol, but it seems a safe bet some amount would.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2013, 12:45:02 pm »
Not to be a worry wart, but cherry pits contain cyanide.  Not sure about pomegranate seeds and even if they do I'm still alive so at least in low concentrations no worries.

I don't know if the cyanide would leach out into the alcohol, but it seems a safe bet some amount would.

This has been covered. and while these things do contain cyanide compounds they are not in a toxic form. Cherry pits have been used as a spice for many centuries as have pomegranite seeds. Not something that one should worry about.
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Offline kramerog

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2013, 12:51:30 pm »
A quick search indicates that pomegranate seeds do not contain cyanide or its precursor and are safe to eat.

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2013, 12:55:31 pm »
Not to be a worry wart, but cherry pits contain cyanide.  Not sure about pomegranate seeds and even if they do I'm still alive so at least in low concentrations no worries.

I don't know if the cyanide would leach out into the alcohol, but it seems a safe bet some amount would.

This has been covered. and while these things do contain cyanide compounds they are not in a toxic form. Cherry pits have been used as a spice for many centuries as have pomegranite seeds. Not something that one should worry about.

Five pounds of cherries contains far more pits than whatever amount you're using of whatever spice you're referring to.  I wouldn't do it.  Feel free to do so, if you are so inclined.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2013, 01:50:07 pm »
Not to be a worry wart, but cherry pits contain cyanide.  Not sure about pomegranate seeds and even if they do I'm still alive so at least in low concentrations no worries.

I don't know if the cyanide would leach out into the alcohol, but it seems a safe bet some amount would.

This has been covered. and while these things do contain cyanide compounds they are not in a toxic form. Cherry pits have been used as a spice for many centuries as have pomegranite seeds. Not something that one should worry about.

Five pounds of cherries contains far more pits than whatever amount you're using of whatever spice you're referring to.  I wouldn't do it.  Feel free to do so, if you are so inclined.

sure way more, the spice is mahleb or makleb or something like that by the way, but the spice is the toasted ground pits and the cherry pits in the beer are hardly consumed at all.

Let's also remember that traditional kriek is made by performing a secondary fermentation a-top HUGE amounts of whole fruit. The beer is left on the fruit for a very long time and nothing of the flesh is left when it's done. I have not seen any studies that quantify how much cyanic compounds are present in a traditional kriek but it would be interesting.

However what it comes down to is that the cyanide compounds found in cherry pits and other stone fruit stones are actually an important nutrient that we could not live well without. This doesn't mean that there is no danger in consuming it, just that in small amounts it is actually beneficial.
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Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2013, 02:02:07 pm »
Well, a little googling and I get an opposing view on the whole issue.

http://www.artofdrink.com/archive/research/cyanide-in-apricot-cherries-pits/

That being said I would argue with his methodogy as he is essentially assuming that you would extract all the amygdalin from the cherry kernals, which seems unlikely if they are whole, and that it would all be converted to free HCN.

But certainly keep it in mind.

anyway, it seems it's moot in this context as we are not talking about cherries but about pomegranites which are free of amygdalin anyway.
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Offline dank41582

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2023, 11:25:53 am »
I'm thinking of making a fruit mead with pomegranate seeds as I got a lot of pomegranates from Costco.  I'm thinking of picking the pomegranate seeds and adding pectinase before adding the seeds to the mead in secondary.  How many pomegranates do I need to significantly impact the flavor of 4 gallons of mead? Would I be better off with some kind of concentrate.  I'm also thinking of adding blueberries too.

@Kramerog How did the pomegranate mead turn out? Also, did you separate the pomegranate flesh from the pits?

I'm a newbie to the wild mead fermentation world. So far my raspberry and blueberry meads have turned out great (the blueberry one especially). I'm thinking about making a pomegranate mead next.

Somebody mumbled to me recently that I should separate the pomegranate pits from the flesh to prevent issues with cyanide. Do I understand correctly that there is no concern in regards to cyanide and fermenting pomegranate with the pits? If not, maybe I won't need to go through the painstaking process of separating the pits from the flesh and just put the whole seeds in the ferment.

Offline kramerog

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Re: Mead with Pomegranate Seeds and possibly blueberries
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2023, 09:29:31 pm »
Dank, I made a dry pomegranate mead and it was terribly tannic. I then back sweetened to make it drinkable, but not something I intend to make again. I probably can track down my notes if you need details.