Finnish mead, or “sima” as it is called locally, is a brew mostly connected with the Finnish Vappu (May Day) celebrations. Here’s my family’s ancient, secret recipe:

Ingredients:

* 8 L water
* 1/2 kg sugar
* 1/2 kg brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon yeast
* 2 lemons

Wash the lemons and peel them lightly. You only want the yellow outer layer for now.

Boil the lemon peels and the sugar in a sufficently large pot. Stir well and let cool.

Peel all the white stuff of the lemons. It gives a bitter taste so you don’t want it.

Add rest of the water and the sliced lemons. Add the yeast to the lukewarm water. Let the mead ferment for 24 hours. Strain the mead into bottles and add one teaspoon of sugar and a couple of raisins to each bottle, store in a cool place (a fridge will do). The mead is ready when the raisins rise to the top, usually after a week.

As an alternative, you could try 1/2kg sugar and one pot of honey (roughly 1/2 g). Try adding some oranges, grapefruit or lime. If you want more alcohol, simply add more sugar and let the mead ferment a bit longer.

The Finnish mead variety has a very low alcohol content, about 1%, so it’s a great drink for the whole family. Enjoy!