What was your SG and what kind of yeast did you choose to use?? I've made mead for a few years now (in addition to a regular line-up of beer) so I'd love to know what ratio of water/honey/fruit/veggies you've used.

I started without a hydrometer or even much equipment, so I'm not much help on the technical elements. So far, though, it's all Lalvin D-47 and Virginia wildflower honey (not much, and will probably need back sweetening). Jalapeno & blood orange used a half pound of chiles and a pound of blood oranges in primary. When I racked to secondary I added juice-only from another pound of blood oranges. There's also a little jasmine green tea in this. Mango & peppercorn involves 3/4 bottle of Looza mango juice cocktail and a tablespoon of freshly ground peppercorns. When I racked to secondary I added some jasmine green tea mixed with some older Maryland honey. The JAOM is without spices, as I mentioned. About 30 raisins and a Valencia orange. When I racked to secondary I added, if I remember correctly, only some jasmine green tea. Both primary and secondary for all 3 was done in gallon-size glass jugs. In the future, I'll be using a 2 gallon bucket for primary....

Those are some wonderful combo's and I'm interested in how they turned out. The Lalvin D-47 is a great yeast to use for Mead and will ferment as high as 17-18% (which is where my last mead came in, so we named it Caboose Kicker). We have a mead with mangos and chili powder going on right now, inspired by a Mexican dessert called a Mangonada, which is insanely tasty during the hot weather.