Processing Honeycomb

To minimize cost, we relied on commercial honey for our mead. However, the Vikings likely would have produced their must (what we have been referring to as the honey-water mixture to keep it simple) straight from honeycomb. The honeycomb we used was purchased from a local weekend market, as it was produced locally and therefore quite fresh. As detailed on Your Shout, Mate (2012), must would have been made using the following steps which we have copied straight from the blog:

1. Start with 40kg of good full, dripping, honey comb
2. Wrap in muslin cloth and set aside to drain for 12-24 hr
3. Transfer the raw honey into a jar and set aside
4. Crush the honey comb in the cloth and squeeze well, place a heavy stone on top to press the cloth
5. In a wooden, soapstone or clay pot, heat an equal amount of fresh spring water, by weight/volume as compared with the squeezed honeycomb and cloth (approx. 5L of water,) to the temperature of a hot drink, by placing fire heated hot rocks into the water to heat the water above the wax melting point (60-65 deg. C)
6. Remove the rock(s) and suspend the cloth with squeezed honeycomb into the water. Wrap the stone or clay pot to keep warm
7. Remove the muslin cloth and spent honeycomb from the must and squeeze dry, set aside to cool then strain through cloth and straw/juniper branches to remove the hard wax

 As we did not have many of this traditional materials, we altered these instructions slightly:

1. Purchase a small piece of honeycomb.
2. Wrap the honeycomb in cheesecloth and drain for 12 hours (not entirely necessary, as the packaged honeycomb already has time to drain).
3. Remove the raw honey that has drained out.
4. Using a can wrapped in plastic wrap, crush the honeycomb.
5. Heat spring water (approximately the same weight as the honeycomb) in a pot on the stove until it is hot to the touch, but not burning.
6. Transfer in the honeycomb and cheesecloth, cover with a lid, and keep on minimum heat for 20 minutes.
7. Remove the cheesecloth and honeycomb. 
8. Allow the must to cool and then strain through a  folded piece of cheesecloth to rid the mixture of any remaining wax.  

 Overview of Ingredients, Materials, and Steps:

Cheesecloth and the packaged honeycomb (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.5").

The honeycomb had been sitting for a few weeks, so it was mostly drained already.

We wrapped the honeycomb in cheesecloth and allowed it to sit for approximately 12 hours.

This is some of the honey that drained out already. Note the pieces of wax and other particles present, unlike the pasteurized honey.

The instructions called for a "heavy stone," but we used a can of soup instead. This was somewhat unnecessary, as the pressure we placed on it did most of the work. 

We thought the honeycomb had drained quite a bit already, but after crushing it a lot more raw honey emerged!

We used a donated digital postal scale to measure
the weight of our honeycomb and water, both of
which were 213 g.

We brought the water to a hot temperature, placed the honeycomb and cheesecloth inside, and allowed to sit covered on minimum heat for 20 minutes.

Note how dark the mixture is after 20 minutes, much unlike the must from pasteurized honey.

After allowing the must to cool, we strained it through the cheesecloth to remove any remaining wax.

The end result had way more flavour than the pasteurized honey must. Approximately 426 g of must...far from the 40 kg required.