Sunday, 9 April 2017

Look Online For Great Tea Recipes

By Ann Edwards


Once again the internet is the go-to place for any recipe, old or new. There are many sites that tell us how to make old favorites and also give directions for new things that you have never imagined. It's the same for tea recipes. You may want to make the definitive sweet iced kind that evokes southern charm, or find a way to incorporate teas of all kinds in baked goods, desserts, and even main dishes.

Sweet iced tea has become so popular you can now get it in restaurants and fast food outlets. This takes more than simply adding sugar right before you drink. Some people make a sugar syrup and use that to flavor a pitcher, while others add sugar to hot, steeped tea and let the flavors combine before diluting it for drinking.

Variations on the traditional theme include adding orange and/or lemon juice to black teas for extra summer refreshment. Mint sprigs are a good addition, too. Herbal or spiced teas are delicious served cold. For a really different experience, try a warm, infused smoothie made with your favorite fruit.

Some recipes are centuries old, like spiced tea from India (this is what chai is, specifically Masala Chai. Chai means tea, masala means spice). Most chais have cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, and clove. After that, you can make a regional favorite, because it differs all over the sub-continent, or create your own.

Another ancient drink is kombucha, or the divine tea mushroom. This is a cultured drink made from black or green teas and sugar. The culture is added and the whole allowed to ferment for a week or so. The result is a brew with a pleasing sweet taste that is rich in probiotics and believed to be very healthy. It is good alone or with food. Online sites tell how to get the starter culture and make plain or flavored brews. This drink is now sold commercially; look for it in the refrigerated natural foods section of your grocery store.

Tea, either black/green or herbal, is used to flavor muffins, doughnuts, and scones. You can poach salmon in it, or make a frozen dessert. Substitute it for water when making oatmeal; think of your favorite apple-cinnamon tea for morning enjoyment in a bowl. You can make jellies with it, and there's something called Chinese tea eggs, a traditional treat sold by street vendors. How can you resist trying that one?

The camellia plant is grown in warm places all over the world. India and China are the largest producers, but now even the United States has an industry. England, which brought the beverage to the west, now grows some of its own in Cornwall, where the proximity of the sea makes up for the northern location.

Sun tea is fun to make. All you need is a large jar of water, four or five bags of your favorite tea, and a sunny day. By nighttime the power of the sun will have done the brewing.




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