Hey Guys and Gals! Prickly pear gives this mead a bright magenta color and a melon-like flavor. Makes one gallon.
Ingredients
3 pounds honey
2 pounds prickly pear fruit
1 gallon water
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1 packet wine yeast (Lalvin 71B works well)
Directions
1. Handle the fruit with tongs or thick gloves. Burn or scrub off the fine spines, peel, and chop the flesh.
2. Simmer the chopped fruit in a quart of the water for 15 minutes, mash, and strain out the seeds and pulp. Keep the juice.
3. Stir the honey into the warm juice until dissolved. Pour into your sanitized primary with the pectic enzyme and top up to one gallon with cool water.
4. Stir the yeast into half a cup of warm water and let it stand 15 minutes until bubbling. Once the must is below 80F, add the yeast and nutrient. Fit an airlock.
5. After 6 to 7 days, when the frothing has slowed, rack to a secondary carboy.
6. Ferment 1 to 2 months or more, until clear. Bottle with a siphon and age at least 3 months. Keep the bottles out of the light to hold the color.