I was speaking to someone who worked in the Food Science Dept of our town’s university. Since wine-making is now a big deal in OR they have a few faculty who are ‘experts’. One commented that the honey needs to be pasteurized to eliminate bacteria. I suppose that’s the professional outlook, but wondered how necessary. One of these days I’ll get around to trying a mead. In the meantime, we’ve still got pears & white grapes in the freezer waiting to start. I’ve been so depressed by the election results I haven’t felt much like doing anything. Except maybe crying into an earlier vintage... ;-)
I did not have raw honey so used pasteurized. I have a feeling it would not make much of a difference with honey. I used one pound (gallon) of honey to four gallons of spring water and a few pounds of fresh frozen Cranberries (crushed and blenderized).