The Meady T’ej Episode

This effervescent honey wine can boast flavors from herbal to tart to funky depending on the preferences and process of its many makers. Anney and Lauren dip into the science and history of t’ej.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to favor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm any Reason, I'm Lauren Voge Obama, and today we
have an episode for you about ted Yes, yes, yes,
So it was always drink responsibly with these UM. I
don't think I've ever had tedge. It feels like I
should have, would have, but I don't think I have.

(00:30):
I am nearly positive that I had it. UM the
last time I was in New Orleans and we went
to a really great Ethiopian place there. I think that's
what I was drinking. But gosh, I it was like
two years ago. Who knows. Yeah, it could have been anything.
It could have UM, but I think I had it,

(00:52):
and I think it was delightful. M hmmm. It does
sound really lovely. Uh. And would certainly like to hear
about from listeners about this one. And was there any
particular reason it was on your mind? Uh Nope, nope, nope, nope,
not all right. I think I was. I think I
was looking for an alcohol and I was like, you know,

(01:12):
we haven't done anything from Africa in a while, and
here we are, here we are, and it is a
fun one. Uh. You can see our mead episode for sure. Yeah, yes,
which also has a video component. Oh oh yes, oh
yes it does. Uh Monks. Mead does now have an

(01:33):
outpost over by Manuel's tavern um and like the North
Highlands for anyone who's in Atlantis. So so go go visit,
go visit him over there. Mm hmmm. You can also
see our honey episodes before early episodes, but we did
do to part one in two because honey large topic. Yea,

(01:53):
it is um and then all of our wine episodes
I would say, sure, yeah, yeah, and some of our
beer episodes maybe kind of sort of. You know, well,
I guess this brings us to walk questions. I guess
it does. Tedge what is it? Well, Tedge is a
type of mead wine made from honey in this case

(02:16):
along with some herbal ingredients. It's a beverage that can
really vary from producer to producer. But like high level,
what you're looking at is a sparkling wine that's that's
beautiful golden yellow in color and unfiltered, so it's cloudy
like like semi translucent. It can be varyingly sweet, tart, funky,
herbal floral, but it tends to be more on the

(02:39):
dry side like like puckery versus sweet. Yeah, and so
it's like a dry, flavorful mead. Uh. It's it's like
it's like if a half of ice and tasted like
it looked. Um, it's like that that honey thick kind
of sunlight you get during the golden hours, got caught

(03:00):
in a jar and and and has a flavor. Oh
that sounds so lovely. Yeah uh okay. So one thing
right that sets tedge apart from other meads is that
it's produced with a guest show, which is a shrub
in the Buckthorne family. Um. It's not related to hops,

(03:21):
but it's used in the same way that hops are
used in beers, both as a bitter flavor to to
balance the sugar content and also as a microbial control factor.
Pieces of guest show branch can provide a lighter color
and flavor. If you use the leaves, that's going to
provide like a like a richer color and flavor. Production

(03:43):
methods vary, especially from like household or local producers to
industrial producers. Perhaps obviously, but but technically all you need
to make tedge is honeycomb, water, guest show, and a pot. Traditionally,
this is an open pot style fermentation process. You're you're
letting wild yeasts from the air work their way into

(04:05):
the brew. This also lets other wild microbes, perhaps mostly
lactic acid bacteria, get in there and do some work.
If you've ever had a beard that was made via
open air fermentation, wild fermentation, you know that you can
get some really fun, funky or tart flavors from this process.
You know, yea stand bacteria poop. Uh. More modernly, you

(04:29):
might add prepared yeast. It's not up to me. You
can do what you want. Uh. Again, Traditionally you might
keep the fermentation pot warm with a smoldering guest show
stems and like fragrant olive wood. And I have the
idea that this might add a little bit of smoke
flavor to the final product, but also might help control
the microorganisms that find their way into the brew. Yeah.

(04:51):
And there are generally a couple of stages in the
fermentation process. In phase one, you're because you are using
honey comb that still has the wax, so you're letting
the wax separate out and float to the surface that
you can skim it off. And in stage two, you're
probably adding your guest show um by removing a bit
of the brew, bringing it to a boil with whatever
guest show stuff you're using, and then adding it back in.

(05:14):
You might add other plant based flavorings to taste. I've
read about ginger and maybe coffee. Um, but like, do
not ask, the recipes are guarded secrets. Yeah, it's one
of those things. Um And then yeah, you go on
and let it ferment for weeks two months, depending on

(05:34):
what you're going for. The longer you let it ferment,
the higher the alcohol content will be. Often this will
cut the sweetness to you filter out the flavoring bits
the guest show and whatever, but but leave in the yeast,
so the final product will be cloudy from the yeast
and that bright golden yellow sparkling with bubbles, with a
sweet tart, bright herbal flavors, and uh usually pretty dry

(05:57):
on the tongue. It can range from smooth to two
funky and and of course, like honey being a natural product,
it can have all sorts of other flavors in there
from whatever flowers the bees made their honey from. Um
Ted isn't usually very strong like five to alcohol bi volume,
but it certainly can range above or below that. It

(06:20):
is traditionally served chilled by itself in this type of
drinking flask that sort of looks like a like a
beaker like, it's got a relatively thin neck and then
a rounded bulb at the bottom. Um sometimes a flare
at the lip. Uh it's called umbrella. Uh, this this flask.
But yeah, when when served with meals, being sweet and
tangy can help cut the heat of spicy dishes. But modernly,

(06:43):
um European style wineglasses might be used for serving um
and perhaps perhaps more outside of areas where it's traditional,
it might be mixed into cocktails and you know, done
with whatever. However you use a booze mm hmm. I
did see a lot about the serving of it. Uh.
People have kind of specific traditions and rituals around that,

(07:05):
so that's interesting. UM listeners has always let us know,
what about the nutrition drink responsibly? Yes, yes, we do
have some numbers for you. A couple, A couple, yeah,
not too many. According to one source I found, Ethiopia
is Africa's largest producer of honey. Yeah, like some fifty

(07:28):
tons a year, and that honey goes to making that's
again I found that one place. So that's a that
that's similar to numbers that I saw in other places
as well. So yeah, a lot, it seems ye yeah,
yeah yeah. And we do have a lot ish of
history for you. We do, we do, and we are

(07:51):
going to get into that as soon as we get
back from a quick break for a word from our sponsors,
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So
I found this quote we wanted to include at the top.
This one is pretty quote heavy to be honest, um,

(08:13):
but from a nine article from the Proceedings of the
Nutrition Society quote fermented honey drinks that may have been
the earliest alcoholic beverages known to man. Yeah. Um, they
are quite old. People and what is now Ethiopia have
been drinking tedge for as far back as two to

(08:35):
three thousand years, and tedge and honey wise in general
are believed to be some of the world's oldest alcohols. Uh.
The exact details of when the people's of what is
now modern day Ethiopias started fermenting water and honey alongside
a local species of buckthorn are tough to pin down.

(08:55):
Archaeological evidence from Aksum, one of the first known civil
zations of Ethiopia, which rose to prominence in the first
century CE and fell and nine reveals that they were
drinking to at the time and perhaps used it in rituals.
One source claimed that something that is probably tedge is
mentioned in the Bible. Yeah, it pops up in some

(09:17):
tellings of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to
King Solomon as one of the gifts that she brought,
but not all of them. So there you go, there
you go. Writings from the reigning at King during the
fourth century CE indicate that honeywines like tedge were widespread
and loved at the time. Um. They were also served
in animal horns that were carved into cups. That's something

(09:37):
I saw in a lot of places. A nine two
book written by Dutch scholar A. J. Drews, I hope
that's close, suggested that one of the earliest instances of
tedg cropped up on a stone describing the food supplied
by the royal court, including honeywy at axms peak. So
that was probably the thing that people were talking about,

(09:59):
but it was on this stone stone. Uh. And some
articles I read suggest that servants of rich folks would
be forced to try tedg confirmed if it wasn't poisoned
m M. And some of the most wealthy in Ethiopia
had a specific tedg butler in charge of the drink.
It was also used medicinally and as an for d

(10:21):
yes um. One source from ancent Greece from the first
century se Ish indicates that people in Ethiopia were drinking
a honey wine at the time. European descriptions of honey
wine from Ethiopia and that kind of surrounding areas significantly
increased during the fifteen hundreds, with stories of special honey

(10:42):
wine consumed by the rich and royalty of Ethiopia. Yeah,
because at some point during the history here there is
a shift from ted being a drink that everybody drank
to it being specifically something for like royalty. Um. Archaeological
research has shown that tedge became a really important part

(11:03):
of social rank and politics, dating from at least the
mid twelve hundreds or so, because within the Ethiopian Empire
that took control around that time, emperors had a monopoly
on tedge production and tedg consumption and would like collect
honey to make it as a tax, and those distinctive

(11:24):
drinking bottles the Brella seemed to have been a way
of like broadcasting without saying a word, that you were
important enough to be drinking tedg I see yeah, mm hmmm.
One of the first accounts of Ethiopia out of Western
culture was pinned in the fifteen thirties by Portuguese priest,
and it came with this quote, the wine of honey

(11:45):
is much the best of all, and that it quote
walked about with great fury, the mistress of the house
concealed behind a curtain, taking her own share. Uh yeah.
A German scholar wrote in the six d their drinking
somewhat more dainty, and is the glory and consummation of
their feast. For so far they still retain the custom
of many of the ancients. But as soon as the

(12:07):
table is cleared, they fall to drinking, having always this
proverb in their mouths. But it's useful way to plant
first and then to water. They drink themselves up to marry,
pitch till their tongues run before their wits, and never
give off till the drink be all out. They make
excellent hydromel by reason of their plenty of honey, which
inebriates like wine. They call it, said ted Um, they

(12:31):
make it smaller for their families, mixing six parts of
wine with one of water. Yeah, hydromel being I think
French term for meat. Yeah. Mm hmmm uh. I did
find this account. According to one thing I read, a
love of tedge led to the downfall of at least
one emperor in the eighteen hundreds. Um. And this is

(12:53):
when a lot of stories about touch did start to
show up in the written English language, including one from
an English fellow who wrote, this honey line is the
obstacle here to progress of Christianity. Total abstinent on the
part of the missionary and people is indispensable m. M
okay um. In English traveler Edward Glaton Gleckin wrote about Tedgant,

(13:17):
specifically the fact that it was expensive and largely relegated
to those who could afford it. He called it decidedly
intoxicating um and other works from the time to describe
it being used diplomatically. But I did run into that
a lot too, Like the I couldn't quite pin down
when it became oh, this is more expensive thing for royalty.

(13:38):
But I did find a lot of accounts about it
in that way. Mm hmmm. Um. After visiting Ethiopian nineteen
o five, a doctor wrote of treating headaches that were
related to dead and went on to say that women
drink tedge on par with men, and that was something
he hadn't seen. Yeah, an Englishman wrote after visiting Ethiopian
nineteen o six about ted the national drink made of honey,

(14:02):
nasty and strong. Way, I know, I feel like my
personal self would be very happy to be called nasty
and strong, but I can't project that on this. Yeah. No,
actually that would. I would be quite pleased if some
shows that turn of phrase for me. I'd be like,

(14:22):
thank you, thanks, appreciate like t know. During the twentieth century,
tedg did grow more and more accessible and available, not
only in Ethiopia but around the world. Yeah. I couldn't
track down again exactly when this happened, but there was
a lot of political upheaval, including the fall of the

(14:45):
empire in nineteen four but right at some point tedg
production expanded again to be made not just for nobility
in military but also in many households and buy small
local producers, especially for special occasions, addings, holidays, stuff like that.
Um Traditionally, the collection of honey is considered a dude job,

(15:07):
and the making of TEDG is considered a lady job.
As other homebrewings as well. Commercially produced tedge appeared in
the nineteen forties through the nineteen sixties, and uh tedge
houses or tedge bet started to crop up. And then
there was a little bit of a of a dark
ages for tedg. Where As it became cheaper and certainly

(15:32):
was cheaper and stronger than commercial beers and also much
less expensive than the newly fashionable imported spirits, tedge became
considered sort of old fashioned and more associated with lower
economic status. And meanwhile producers started to cut the honey
with processed sugar to save money. It was sort of

(15:53):
like a downward spiral of all of these factors. But
from what I understand, there's been a bit of renaissance
and commercial producers and fans are really trying to bring
it back to its like former glory and celebrity status.
M h. Ever, in the America's ex pats began producing
tedg as early as the nineteen eighties, and yeah, like

(16:14):
like dog fish Head made a Tedge in two thousand nine.
I don't know, so it's it's it's out there. I
can't I can't say I've ever looked for it, but
I can't say I've ever seen it so like like
in a shop. But I don't know. Um, But but
now I really want to really want to look for some.
I always want to go to Atlanta's fabulous Ethiopian restaurants

(16:35):
and see see if I can find some. Yeah, Ethiopian
food is like one of my biggest cravings. It's pretty consistent. Yeah,
and I feel like it's one of those things where
it's so important to be there in person, with the
sharing and all of the jail and yeah, oh no,

(16:56):
the craving sight. Sorry, you will you will get through it.
You will get through it. Thank you, Thank you well. Listeners.
As always, if you have any experience thoughts, where can
we get some good touch, we would love to hear

(17:16):
from you absolutely, as always yes, But in the meantime,
we do have some listener mail for you, and we
will get into that as soon as we get back
from one more quick break for a word from our sponsors,
and we're back. Thank you, son serious, yes, thank you,

(17:38):
and we're back with listeners. Some shine in a glass.
Yeah yeah, um, Barbie wrote, I just listened to your
lettuce episode where you mentioned someone's attempt to connect iceberg
lettuce to Father's Day, and I was reminded of one

(17:59):
of my favorite stories about my father. He was a
man of simple taste and food, and my mother loved
to cook using exotic and creative foods. The first year
I was away from home on Father's Day, each of
them wrote me a letter to tell me how the
day had been celebrated. My mother said it was nothing
special and she fixed up dumb, ordinary meal for my dad.
My father wrote that it was fabulous day where he

(18:22):
worked in the yard during the day and then mommy
fixed him a great meal of a hamburger, patty, ganned
green beans, and a wedge of iceberg lettuce with mayn is,
followed by a chocolate chip cookie and coffee for dessert.
For me, iceberg lettuce has always made me think of
my father. He could have been the face of iceberg
lettuce and Father's Day. Oh it is it is this.

(18:51):
I feel like this reminds me of my dad too,
because like I've said, and there's no shame in and
like like in quote simple um, but he always like
would go for the I would just like grits with
butter and salt and pepper and like a nice salty
hym and that's his favorite thing. And for me as
a kid, I'd be like, we could do so much more. Yeah,

(19:14):
that's what you like? Yeah, get it right and be
overjoyed by it, by your wedge of iceberg with mayo. Yes,
it's your day after right, Yeah, I love it. This
reminds me of my dad too, to be honest, and
like the yeah, had something Hamburger, chocolate chip cookie like

(19:40):
a very yeah. Yeah, I'm all for it. All of
those things are delicious. I cannot argue with literally, well
maybe the mayo on the iceberg, but I bet the
other other than literally the thing that you were writing
it about everything else though, But even that, I'm sure
it's delicious. I'm sure it's nice and tangy and light

(20:03):
and lovely, like what you like. Get it, uh. Francis wrote,
I'm super behind on my podcast listening, but as soon
as I saw Mofongo in my feed, I knew I
had to listen to the episode immediately. I'm Puerto Rican
and grew up on Mofongo. My mom used to make
a little fungo balls as a side dish. When I
was young, I refused to make my fongo at home

(20:25):
because it's so much work. Plantains are such a pain
to prep and they will stain everything, so my fongo
is one of those foods that I only get at restaurants.
I moved back to Puerto Rico in July, so now
I can find it and my favorite variant, trifongo, just
about everywhere. I love the stuffed variety for a full meal,
and after listening, I have to go out and order
some soon. If y'all ever travel again, definitely come to

(20:48):
Puerto Rico. We've got so much delicious food, in part
because of the convergence of cultures in the Caribbean. Our
Christmas pestelis are a fusion of West African Taino and
Spanish cuisine and are another delightful use of plantains. Since
Hurricane Fiona, we've had a shortage of both local bananas
and plantains. They had to import a lot from other

(21:09):
places in Latin America. I've been buying frozen toes and
moduros and saw that the company that makes these also
sells frozen ma fungo, so I guess there's been some
advancements in that area since the eighties. I don't have
a mafungo recipe to share, but I do want to
recommend um pastelan, which is a layered maduros um seasoned

(21:29):
ground beef and cheese bound together with a beaten egg
and baked Oh my gosh. Okay, the savory meat with
the sweet plantains are chef's kiss. I also wanted to
add that mafungo is also popular in the Dominican Republic.
There's a lot of overlap in our foods, though we
frequently have different names for the same thing. Oh my gosh,

(21:50):
that sounds so amazing if I I feel like I
might have mentioned it in the fungo episode. But maduros
are like my very favorite thing. Um, just like fried
sweet plantains, so so good. Um, and that sounds amazing. Yes,
oh my gosh. Oh like a like a savory bread

(22:13):
pudding based on sweet plantains. Like, okay, all right, I
need to I have some I have some cooking to do, clearly, well,
report back about that. Yeah, yeah, um, and right, I
don't think that we mentioned the Dominican Republic in that episode,
but um, because I kind of wanted to, like I

(22:36):
read a lot of very strong opinions about their version
being completely separate and you shouldn't even compare them, and
how dare you think about the two in the same sentence?
And I was like, I'm not going to go there,
but um, but those might have been like extra spicy takes,
so I don't I don't know, but but yes, absolutely, Um,
that's oh but that's wonderful. Thank you so much. Yes, yes, es, Yes,

(22:58):
and hopefully you've got some good phone go after you
sent this in. And yes, if we ever visit Puerto Rico,
it's gonna be a great time, a great food time. Yes, yes,
m hm. Well, thank you to both of those listeners
for writing in. If a you would like to write
to us, that you can our emails Hello at savor
pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can

(23:20):
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