How to make King Cake Mead скачать в хорошем качестве

How to make King Cake Mead

History of The King Cake Mardi Gras is arguably the biggest, flashiest party in the country. With its grand parades, colorful beads, elaborate masks and booze-filled revelry, you probably think you have a pretty good idea of what Mardi Gras is all about. But there are plenty of things you may not fully understand about this pre-Lenten celebration, including why Mardi Gras float riders have to wear masks. There’s also another sweet tradition you may have heard of: eating king cake—and finding the “baby” inside of it. But what is king cake, and why is it such an integral part of Mardi Gras? Before the festive day arrives, on Feb. 13, here’s everything to know about king cake below. A king cake is a wreath-shaped cake similar to a Danish pastry. It’s traditionally made of brioche, flavored with cinnamon and embellished with a frosted glaze, along with gold, green and purple sugars. Collectively, these shades are the official Mardi Gras colors, and you can’t know what king cake is without knowing their specific meaning. Gold stands for power, green represents faith and purple represents justice, and overall, the cake symbolizes the unity of faiths. It also comes with a tiny plastic baby hidden inside, but we’ll get to that in a moment. In New Orleans, king cake “has even become a flavor,” says Liz Williams, founder of the city’s Southern Food & Beverage Museum. If you’re wondering what king cake tastes like, during Mardi Gras, you can find everything from king cake–flavored coffee to spirits. Bakers may offer a choice of fruit or cream cheese fillings, and they sometimes top their king cakes with Mardi Gras decorations. While king cake traditionally is eaten during Carnival season (from Jan. 6 through Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins), you can probably get your hands on one whenever you get a craving. “There are people who are baking king cakes year-round now,” says Poppy Tooker, host of the NPR-affiliated show and podcast Louisiana Eats! “In particular, in the fall, when the [New Orleans] Saints start playing, we’ll see king cakes in stores decorated in black and gold sugar.” To explain this quirky tradition, let’s start with the king cake’s origins. This dessert is associated with a Catholic celebration called Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, which falls on Jan. 6 every year. It commemorates the story of the three wise men visiting the baby Jesus. This might lead you to believe that the baby is supposed to represent the baby Jesus, but this isn’t necessarily the case—or at least it didn’t start out that way. According to NPR, in the late 19th century, a New Orleans social group called the Twelfth Night Revelers started the custom of hiding a bean inside the cake. Whoever found it in their piece of cake would be crowned the king or queen of the Mardi Gras balls. Later on, the bean was changed to a baby. Donald Entringer Sr., a baker who operated McKenzie’s Pastry Shoppes in Metairie, Louisiana, is credited with starting this tradition in the 1940s. Entringer was asked by a Carnival krewe to produce king cakes containing prizes. Through a friend, he came across tiny plastic babies from a shop and got approval from the health department to add them into his king cakes. Aside from being the belle of the ball, the recipient is also said to receive good fortune after finding this prize. That person is also supposed to host the next king cake party and, of course, take care of the next king cake. While the king cake may seem like an American tradition, its roots can actually be traced back to France, according to Adley Cormier, a historian in Lake Charles, Louisiana. When French settlers came to what is now Louisiana, they brought over their festive traditions, such as Carnival, which became Mardi Gras. “[They] brought those European traditions here and kept them up, although slightly modifying them as they had to deal with what the New World had to offer them, as opposed to what the Old World had in place,” explains Cormier. France still has a king cake of its own, and it looks nothing like Louisiana’s rainbow-colored king cake. Known as a galette des rois, this humble and more subtly decorated puff pastry with an almond cream known as frangipane is also enjoyed by the French around the time of the Epiphany. Like its American counterpart, the galette des rois stores a surprise. It’s referred to as a fève, which translates to bean in French, but the object is usually a trinket or charm. The festivities at this time of year aren’t limited to France and America. Notes: This is a traditional mead! Honey, water, and yeast! You can make a traditional mead using clover or wildflower honey. In secondary add a cinnamon stick and split vanilla bean. Taste as you go to check flavor, be careful with oxygenation. Last, you can add extracts before bottling! Start with 1/4 tsp. additions and add until you achieve your desired flavor. Please be careful not to go overboard. Extracts can be intense! Enjoy!