Gold (honey), Frankincense & Myrrh. Ever attempted it?

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gfullam

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I have an idea for a Christmas mead, but can't find any existing resources on it.

I want to make a 1 gallon metheglin/melomel (methomel?) using frankincense and myrrh. This is my first mead attempt, but I am extremely adventurous.

Has anyone ever tried this? Which form of these ingredients would you recommend: resin (tears), resin powder, tincture, or essential oil?

In what amounts for a 1 gallon batch?
At what stage should I add them? During boil? In primary or secondary?

Other ingredients I have lined up:
1lb Organic rainforest honey
1lb Buckwheat honey
1lb Orange blossom honey
8 oz. Oragnic dried figs
White Labs WLP720 Sweet Mead Wine Yeast

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
If you try it remember they are a resin and mostly considered incense. Apparently only pure and clean pieces should be ingested, if at all. I wouldn't waste honey by putting incense in it but that's just me.
-cheers
 
Evidently they both are edible, especially Myrrh. Frankinscense in order to be edible needs to be in the purest form. I guess you can them both in ayervedic medicine shops...and maybe even larger indian markets.

I saw something about cooking with them around the holidays or it might have been a special on Marco Pierre White or Heston Blumenthal creating a holiday meal. Come to think of it, it might have been Heston.

In March 2009 Blumenthal began a short series of 45 minute programmes, called Heston's Feasts, showing Victorian, Medieval, Tudor, Christmas (including dormouse and venison) and Roman themed dinner banquets with various celebrities as guests.
Click to expand...

I think myrrh turned out to be too bitter to use.
 
Now I found it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...k-Christmas-dinner-Heston-Blumenthal-way.html

I think that since myrrh was so bitter, instead of using it as an ingredient he went with having spoons whittled out of the wood.

We travelled to Oman to the place that we believe the Three Wise Men purchased their Frankincense. At the time of Christ, Frankincense was more expensive than Gold and the desert in Oman was the heart of the world Frankincense trade. Frankincense is a tree sap, so Heston was able to travel to the Frankincense trees and harvest some Frankincense for himself. Frankincense is widely used as an incense and also in food as it is very fragrant, however whilst Myrrh is also a tree sap and is also used as an incense, it is not quite so pleasant. Myrrh is the Arabic word for 'bitter' because it is just that - incredibly bitter. Heston wanted to incorporate it into the meal somehow, however due to its unpleasant taste he had to think of a way he could use it without affecting the taste of his dish. The idea of this course is that the guests would be given a stock cube covered in gold leaf (much like a gold bar), and over this they would pour the Frankincense tea. But they would need something to stir the tea with…so why not make whittled spoons using branches from a Myrrh tree. We brought back some Myrrh from Oman and gave them to you to make our 6 whittled spoons with.
Click to expand...

http://www.thebirdwhittler.com/Heston-Blumenthals-Myrrh-spoons-project.html

Google video has the episode.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3946041067151475342
 
I guess I would make a mead with edible gold (like they use in goldschlager) made with Frankincense, and served in cups made of myrrh wood. Or maybe you could use it like oak cubes and add some for a week or so.
 
He goes through a lot to distill a frnkinsence hydrosol.



And here's the myrrh. He even tried a myrrh/honey mixture.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Revvy, Thanks for the links. I watched the episode and it was highly educational and inspirational.

I think what I'll do is create a Frankincense tea (though not with the scientific eloquence of Heston) and a Myrrh tea.

I'll just have to be extremely careful with the Myrrh and use very little. He did say that it had an anise flavor to it, which could work well. I am a little worried by his observation that it also tasted like rubber.

Even if I add just one drop to the whole gallon, I want to be able to tell people that it contains myrrh. Unfortunately, I can't afford to carve Myrrh cups!

The edible gold leaf is a great idea, but too extravagant for my first attempt and I am already pushing my luck using expensive honey and herbs for what could be a failure. If it turns out well, I'll make another batch for next Christmas using edible gold leaf as well.

Thanks for the tips!
 
I have purchased ionized Gold which is suitable for what you're doing in addition to raw Frankincense and Myrrh resins. these actually need to be mulled down so to speak sias not to taste undesirable when combined into beer. That requires burning the resins. My best advice is to choose some good grains when making your beer.
 
I have a bad habit of doing this. Has it been long enough for an update?

I actually just had a random thought about trying this out. A google search actually brought me to this thread. Kind of curious to see how its progressing.
 
Not sure about myrrh but I am pretty sure frankincense is antimicrobial. Might kill all your yeast.

Yep... myrrh too. "So strong are the antimicrobial effects..." From TLC

another edit. Its possible they increase each others antimicrobial effects in a synergistic fashion when combined. PubMed

Another edit... I just realized this post is from 2011. I need to lay off the bottle tonight apparently...
 
You could always make a traditional and steep the frankincense & myrrh in secondary. Just like oaking with the myrrh for a week and steep some frankincense in a nylon bag for a couple weeks. I don't think it will taste good but would be a nice idea.
 
So i know this is an old thread, but I am very curious to know how it turned out? I love frankincense and would be interested to learn about how it may be included into homebrew
 

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