Hello, mead lovers! Haaaave you met Viking Alchemist Meadery?
Headquartered in Metro Atlanta’s Smyrna, Viking Alchemist brews and serves that ancient, honey-based drink once thought bestowed by the gods. Their name is two-fold, the Alchemist part coming in through their modern improvements on the age-old recipe of honey, yeast, and water. Over the five years of growth and improvement, this meadery continues to impress me.
So you can imagine how honored I was when they asked to sponsor one of my streams! With that, I invited Ben, a rep from Viking Alchemist, to join me on my show and whip up a recipe for mead-poached apples inspired by the Norse goddess Idunn.
Click here to skip to the recipe for Idunn’s Apples, or scroll on to learn more and get a promo code for 15% off purchase on Viking Alchemist’s website!
The Viking Alchemist
You can find Viking Alchemist mead in wine and liquor stores throughout the Southeast US, but you can also order it online through Vinoshipper (enter the promo code GG15 for 15% off your purchase). Often found in the dessert wine section, this meadery makes blends just as suitable for the rest of your meal.
Their prime mead is Solifaction, a dry mead similar in mouthfeel to Rieslings and other German white wines — perfect for pairing with pork, fish, mushrooms, and rice-based dishes. Those wanting a little more fruit with dinner, though, can try their cranberry and cherry Antinomy blend — which is fantastic with poultry, beef, and heavier dishes.
Viking Alchemist’s sweeter selections host some of my favorites, though. There’s Skol, bursting with rich, dark cherries that can be the star of your barbecue or charcuterie board. Blueberry-tasting Mangata is excellent with pancakes or served chilled as a nightcap. Ethereal‘s peaches and honey complexion is always welcome with dishes sweet and savory. And Bliss, the main ingredient in today’s recipe, blends pear, apricot, and almond for a fruity, amaretto-like finish.
Of course, what I especially love about Viking Alchemist is their team’s creativity. To truly experience this, visit one of their two taprooms where taps flow with meads made with coffee, maple syrup, mint, and pretty much any flavor combination that inspires them.
They also understand that drinking like a viking, calls for also feeling like a viking. That’s why their mead-hall in Smyrna hosts live music and D&D games — and their Marietta taproom shares space with Ironmonger Brewery (a popular ax-throwing spot). They also have a horn club for regulars who want to imbibe the way Odin intended it and an Alchemist club for those who want all the newest releases sent to their doorstep.
Not local and want to try these Valhalla-inspired crafts? Viking Alchemist ships through Vinoshipper wherever it is legal to. Make sure to use the promo code GG15 for 15% off on your purchase!
Speaking of Valhalla-inspired crafts, let’s get to today’s recipe, Idunn’s Apples.
World-Tree Wonders
When Viking Alchemist asked me to create a recipe, I really wanted to make one showcasing their mead’s distinct flavors while paying homage to their inspiration. Idunn, the Norse goddess of youth and fertility, is also the keeper of the apples of immortality. Being the wife of poetry god, Bragi, born from Odin’s imbibing of the Mead of Poetry, mead-poached apples seemed fitting.
So with that, I poached apples in Viking Alchemist’s Bliss with juniper berries, cardamom, and caraway seeds. These are all spices used in Scandanavian cuisine, but they also are mythologically associated with love and fertility. I then baked them in puff pastry and filled them with reduced poaching liquid. You will have more syrup than apples, but that’s ok. The leftover syrup makes a fantastic marinade for chicken and pork chops.
So buy a bottle (or two) of Bliss from Viking Alchemist (with promo code GG15 for 15% off), and let’s get cooking!
Keep scrolling for the recipe. However I do have the printable PDF recipe card available as a bonus to my Patreon subscribers and for a $2 donation (this week only) on my Ko-Fi page.
Idunn's Apples
Equipment: Stovetop, large saucepan, tongs, baking sheet, parchment paper, oven, teaspoon or melon baller, vegetable peeler, pizza cutter, large tea steeper, and pastry brush.
Ingredients:
- 4 medium golden delicious, fuji, or gala apples
- 1 and 1/2 cup mead (Viking Alchemist’s Bliss)
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp cardamom pods
- 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
- 1/3 cup apple juice
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 tsp juniper berries or dried rosemary
- 1 and 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
Instructions:
- Add the cardamom pods, juniper berries, and caraway seeds to the tea strainer and close. Peel the apples and set them aside.
- Combine the mead, apple juice, water, and 3/4 cup of sugar in the saucepan. Add the tea ball and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Carefully lower the apples into the poaching liquid with tongs and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes, then transfer to a plate. Remove the tea ball and discard the spices.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Unfold the puff pastry and cut it into 9 equal strips using the pizza cutter. Next, cut 8 leaves from one of the strips.
- Once cool enough, scoop the core and stem out of the apples using a melon baller or metal teaspoon and discard. Coat the apples in sugar.
- Start wrapping one of the apples from the bottom up with a strip of pastry, overlapping as you go. Repeat with a second strip and seal at the top, leaving the cavity open. Next, add two pastry leaves and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining apples.
- Brush the apples with beaten egg and bake for 25 minutes. In the meantime, bring the poaching liquid to a simmer over medium heat until reduced to 3/4 cup (15-20 minutes). Turn off the heat and stir in 2 Tb butter. Cover with a lid to keep warm.
- Pour sauce into the baked apples before serving.
