Top 10 Fruits for Crafting the Perfect Melomel (Fruit Mead)

by Fierce Fruit June 11, 2021

Mead is a natural drink to brew with fruit, and we here at Fierce Fruit are big fans! In fact, these fruit meads have their own name — melomels! Today we’re looking at the best fruits for crafting your own mead, from the classic to the totally new.

Blueberries

Historically, a blueberry honey wine was called “bilbemel.” It’s always been a popular combination because blueberries are easy to grow, earthy, and sweet. That helps them complement mead’s mellow flavor. Blueberries are commonly eaten with cream or honey as a dessert on their own, so it makes sense that they would go so well together when brewed, too.

Blackberries

Blackberries have also historically been brewed with honey wine, although they don’t have their own name. Today, blackberry melomels are still delicious! Our Andean Blackberry puree features an exotic variety of this classic fruit for a sour twist on a timeless beverage. The tart nature of these blackberries is mellowed out by the sweetness of honey, and the thick quality of the honey is brightened up with the potent flavor of the blackberries. They’re an ideal combination for any drinker.

Strawberries

It may not be an ancient brew, but strawberries are famous for how well they combine with any sweetener like chocolate or cream, and honey is no exception. That’s why they’re so delicious in a fruit mead. But, despite their famous flavor, strawberries are still soft, so they don’t overpower what you love about regular honey and mead.

Plum

You get an earthy flavor with plums, but don’t think that melomels brewed with them are going to be mellow. They’re still bright and tart, livening up the grassy and woody taste of the honey itself. The thick sweetness of plum goes hand in hand with the sweetness of the mead’s core ingredient, so together they create a match made in heaven.

Acai

So far, we’ve been looking at fruits that are juicy enough to cut through the hefty quality of honey. Acai lets you make nice, thick melomels with an earthy richness. If you want to lean into a deep and flavorful but mellow drink, this is the fruit for you. It’s still sweet enough to complement the honey part of the mead, too.

Pink Guava

Sweet enough to pair with honey and floral enough to complement and enhance its flavor, pink guava is a tropical fruit that goes perfectly in fruit mead, even if the ancient mead makers had never heard of it. Including notes of strawberry, melon, and pear, it creates an endlessly drinkable brew. This combination is complex but delightful, with new flavors to explore in every sip.

Papaya

With the melt-in-your-mouth, buttery texture of papaya and the sweet viscosity of honey, you can create melomels that are almost dangerously drinkable and smooth. The cantaloupe and mango-like flavor of the fruit combined with the floral taste in honey together creates a drink that has just enough exotic flavor to keep you coming back for more.

Curuba

One of the best ways to consume curuba is in a juice with milk and honey, so it makes sense that the combination would work well when fermented. The earthy and tart curuba is rounded out by the honey wine, making a fruit mead that is full-bodied but distinctly tropical. It’s sweet, but also a little bit sour, creating a complex flavor profile.

Passion Fruit

As tart and tropical as its cousin curuba, but with a much more floral flavor and aroma, passion fruit combines well with the grassy, earthy notes of honey in melomels. This is another fruit that is best eaten with sweeteners, so these components complement each other beautifully. The passion fruit flavor elevates the mead, and the mead rounds out the passion fruit flavor.

Mango

The crisp, bold, luscious flavor of mango makes it a popular choice for just about any beverage. They’re colorful and distinct, but also balanced enough that they can showcase other tasting notes as well, which is why they work so well in melomels. If you want to get someone interested in meads, making one with mango is a great way to start.

Ultimately, the best fruits to go into meads are the ones that you like most. The honey base is adaptable, so there’s room to experiment and try new things. But if you’re looking to brew your first fruit mead, you won’t go wrong with any of these delicious options!

Top 10 Fruits for Crafting the Perfect Melomel (Fruit Mead)

Blueberries

Blackberries

Strawberries

Plum