Chouchen
Chouchen is a variant of mead originating from Brittany in France. It is made just with honey and water as with traditional mead, but normally buckwheat honey is used to give a bold flavour and deep colour.
Traditionally chouchen was made with cider, making it closer to a cyser, but more recently the process is now started with freshly pressed apple juice.
Chouchen comes with a historic reputation for being a powerful drink that knock you off your feet. Some say this is due to the ancient practice of putting the whole honeycomb into the cider, which would introduce some of the venom from the bee stingers. This is not part of the recipe today, so this remains an ancient legend.
Chouchen is normally enjoyed chilled as an aperitif, but can also be enjoyed warmed up as a Winter drink.
Chouchens found so far: