This is a simple and easy Finnish recipe to make fermented, refreshing lemonade. It is made from lemons, sugar, and yeast.
Mead is traditionally made in Finland on the first of May, this is the Finnish labor day called Vappu. This fermented lemon soda takes 3 days to be ready. This low-alcohol drink can be enjoyed as a refreshment for summer days or at parties.
What does Sima taste like?
A sweet refreshing drink with slight fizziness. Sima is flavored with lemon and you can taste the lemon quite strongly since it has peels and juice. The yeast gives a slight yeasty flavor but overall it is a fresh drink. You should not drink the sediment in the bottom of the bottle since it tastes yeasty. If brown sugar or honey is used, they give their own tones to the drink.
Ingredients
- Boiled water
- Lemons
- Sugar. White or brown sugar can be used. Brown sugar gives a brownish color and a more "caramel" taste.
- Fresh yeast
- Raisins
Other ingredients you can add and flavor your mead.
There are several other flavorings you can use in your mead. One popular drink is rhubarb mead.
- Berries. You can add raspberries or strawberries for a berry flavor.
- Fruits. Instead of lemon, you can try out grapefruit. Added orange gives a more sweet flavor.
- Herbs. Mint or lemon balm are good herbs to add to your mead.
- Flowers. Dandelions are traditional Finnish flowers to add to your mead. Use only the yellow parts of the flower, other parts are bitter.
- Vanilla bean.
- Cinnamon stick.
How to use honey instead of sugar
If you want to use honey instead of sugar, you need to have 400 grams for 8,5 pints of water. This is about 1 and ¼ cups of honey.
Instructions
- Peel the lemons, slice them and press the juice. Add the lemon juice and peels to a small pot.
- Add in also the sugar and 3 cups of water.
- Bring to boil, so the sugar melts.
- To a big pot or bucket, add the rest of the water and the sugar-lemon water from the small kettle.
- When the water in the bucket feels lukewarm, you can add a small piece of yeast. Cover the bucket with cloth or paper, and let rest overnight. If you use instant yeast, add it at 42 C or 108 F so it wakes up.
- The next day pour your mead into glass bottles and use a sieve to strain out the lemon peels. Add 3-5 raisins to each bottle and transfer them to the fridge.
- When the raisins rise to the surface, your mead is ready. This takes 2-3 days.
History of Sima
This Finnish lemonade, Sima, mead, is actually a drink developed by the Vikings. Then it was made with honey and believed to give magical powers to the one who drank it.
Sima in history had a larger alcohol content, it was even more popular than beer in the middle ages in Finland.
In the 1700s, it became more of a summer drink. The ingredients were expensive since it had lemons, and became more of a drink for wealthy people. In the 1800s, sugar became more popular in this drink.
Alcoholic beverages were banned in Finland from 1919-to 1932. This is when Sima became more popular to make since it was not classified as an alcoholic drink and people were encouraged to drink Sima instead of champagne.
Here you can see a Mead bottle we decorated for a wedding anniversary party. This was made with brown sugar. Bottles were reused.
Other Finnish dinks recipes
Often asked questions
Alcohol content can rise up to 0,2-0,8 per mille.
Yes, use 1 teaspoon for 4 liters, 8,5 pints. Add the dried yeast in 42-degree water for it t activate.
If served on labor day Finns serve this drink with donuts and tippaleipä, deep-fried funnel cakes.
When you add a few raisins in your bottle and they float up to the surface you know your drink is ready. This means the drink has fermented and developed Co2 and you have a nice fizz.
Finnish Mead-Sima
Equipment
- Big pot or bucket
- 1 smaller pan
- Glass bottles with airtight cap.
Ingredients
- 1 gallon water ( 4 litres)
- 2 lemons
- 1,5 cups sugar or brown sugar
- 1 pea size piece of fresh yeast
- 1 tablespoon raisins. 3-5 pcs in every bottle.
Instructions
- Peel the lemons, slice them and press the juice. Add the lemon juice and peels to a small pot.
- Add in also the sugar and 3 cups of water.
- Bring to boil, so the sugar melts.
- To a big pot or bucket, add the rest of the water and the sugar-lemon water from the small kettle.
- When the water in the bucket feels lukewarm, you can add a small piece of yeast. Cover the bucket with cloth or paper, and let rest overnight.
- The next day pour your mead into glass bottles, use a sieve to strain out the lemon. Add 3-5 raisins to each bottle and transfer them to the fridge.
- When the raisins rise to the surface, your mead is ready.
Not actually a mead
Mead uses honey using other sugars as your primary source of sugar just makes it Hooch. maybe research the recipes next time.
Cecilia Hoikka
Yes, Mead was always made with honey in history, this is though how Sima is made in Finland nowadays and people search the drink with keyword mead. Newest trend is to make it with a sourdough starter instead of yeast. There are many variations of Sima. As I have known the word hooch is would be pontikka in Finnish, illitly distilled liquor that has higher alcohol content. Sima as we make it today only has like 0,2% alcohol.
Jared M
Is there a way to make this more alcohol - like raise the alcohol content to about 10% or so
Cecilia Hoikka
In theory you should use more sugar, and let it brew at room temperature for a longer time. You could use different type of yeast, brewers yeast. The yeast type matters a lot. Also the brewing is best made in a plastic barrel with water lock. Sorry, don't have any recipe for this since I have not made it. Found a Finnish blog post that you might want to check out. http://aatoksenaatokset.blogspot.com/2018/04/sima-2018-resepti.html