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Mead mulled with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and the like is a wintertime classic. Another fun option is mead slushies poured over fresh fallen snow.

Fresh fruit juice and/or unsweetened club soda may be mixed with mead for mead spritzers or mead coolers.

Mead makes a wonderful addition to fruit sauces for cooking, and can be very flavorful to deglaze with when sauteing savory ingredients as well.

Mead braised beef has a wonderful flavor; we do ours on a wood stove. Replace some or all of your braising water or stock with Tulip Poplar or West Virginia Wildflower mead, or for a different effect use Black Cherry Red.

The Black Cherry Red also works tastily in a peanut chicken. Saute finely chopped onion and chicken in butter until chicken is done. This is a great way to use up leftovers from a roast chicken, and if the chicken is precooked this step doesn't take long.

Add a finely chopped pepper or two if you want, and whole peanuts if you have some. Add salt, garlic, pepper, savory, thyme, rosemary, red pepper seeds, soy sauce, and cumin to taste. Stir in sour cream, a little cream, crunchy unsweetened peanut butter, and about 1/2 a cup of Black Cherry Red. After stirring together for some time, taste and adjust flavor to suit. Great over egg noodles or rice!

Enjoy!