Chouchen
A Breton mead made with buckwheat honey and apple juice.
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Chouchen (also spelled chouchenn in Breton) is a type of mead from Brittany, made by fermenting honey in water. It typically has an alcohol content of 14% by volume. The traditional recipe uses buckwheat honey, which gives the drink its deep color and strong taste.
To start fermentation in Brittany, freshly pressed apple juice is added. Yeast can also be used, similar to the process for brewing beer. Producing one liter of chouchen requires roughly a third of a liter of honey to reach the desired strength.
Chouchen is served chilled but without ice, usually as an aperitif. It can also be poured over melon, much like port wine, or heated and drunk as a hot beverage in winter. Various regional versions exist in Brittany; some are made with a mix of seawater, fresh water, and honey.
Originally, chouchen was made from cider and honey. Its historic reputation as a powerful intoxicant partly stems from claims that bee venom, accidentally mixed in during production, boosted its effects. Modern chouchen does not include bees or their venom.
A similar drink called chufere is made from honey and cider. It has a lower alcohol content, typically eight to nine percent by volume, and is now less common and less popular than chouchen.
Quick Facts
- Alcohol by volume
- 14%
- Origin
- Brittany
- Type
- Mead
- Key ingredient
- Buckwheat honey
- Honey per litre
- Approximately a third of a litre
- Serving temperature
- Chilled (without ice)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In Brittany, the fermentation process for chouchen is begun by the addition of freshly pressed apple juice. Yeasts can also be used, as in beer-making. To reach the required alcoholic strength, approximately a third of a litre of honey is needed for each litre of chouchen. Originally, chouchen was made of cider and honey.
The historical reputation of chouchen as a powerful intoxicant arises partly from claims that its effects were boosted by the venom of bees that became mixed up in the brew. Bees and their venom are not ingredients of the modern product. There are different kinds of chouchen in Brittany, some of which are prepared with a mixture of seawater as well as fresh water and honey.
Reader's Guide
Chouchen is drunk chilled (though without ice), and generally as an aperitif. It can also be added to melon, in a similar way to port wine, or served as a hot wine in the winter.
The drink's historical reputation as a potent intoxicant stems from folk claims about bee venom, but modern production does not include bees or their venom. A similar but less common drink called chufere is made of honey and cider, typically at a lower strength of eight to nine percent alcohol by volume, and has become less popular than chouchen. Chouchen remains a distinctive traditional beverage of Brittany, notable for its use of buckwheat honey and its characteristic strong colour and flavour.
More in Mead
Elsewhere in Cider and Mead
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Chouchen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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