Mead Mead Mead (, from Old English "medu") is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling; dry, semi-sweet, or sweet. Mead was produced in ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, and has played an important role in the mythology of some peoples. In Norse mythology, for example, the Mead of Poetry was
The Third Ingredient The Third Ingredient "The Third Ingredient" is a short story by O. Henry, notable for its ironic take on the "Stone Soup" theme. The story was originally published in 1908 in "Everybody's Magazine" with illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele. The next year it was included in O. Henry's collection "Options". As reported by O. Henry's good friend and biographer C. Alphonso Smith, "The Third Ingredient" was inspired by a real experience: ... in one of his first months in New York he was living in very humble lodgings and one evening found him without funds. He became so hungry that