Monday, June 2, 2008

Iced Tea, Summer's Elixir


With the summer heat fast approaching it’s time to make some room in your fridge for iced tea. Iced tea may just be the king or queen of summer drinks. June, National Iced Tea Month, is the prefect time to revisit iced tea.

During the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, iced tea became vogue. Richard Blechynden, India Tea Commissioner and Director of the East Indian Pavilion, was having trouble serving hot tea to fair goers, considering the scorching heat of the summer day. He quickly decided to serve the tea over ice and the crowds loved it. The rest, they say, is history. Today 85% of the tea consumed in America is over ice.

The oldest recipe for iced tea can be found in many 1800’s cookbooks, these recipes where called punches. They were made with green, not black, tea with touches of alcohol, sugar and fruit.

A number of recent studies suggest that tea (black, green, hot or iced) can prevent cancers and may prevent heart disease. The chemical polyphenol in tea has powerful antioxidant properties. Polyphenols deactivates cancer-causing agents by neutralizing tissue-damaging free radicals.

I know lemonade is sweet and tart, but iced tea can refresh and protect your health. Besides, you can always make lemonade-iced tea.


Strawberry Mint Tea
I like the delicate taste of green tea with strawberries but if you are out of green tea, black tea will work just fine.

6 cups of water
½ cup sugar
8 green tea bags
1 pint of fresh strawberries, stems removed and quartered
a handful of fresh mint, chopped

Boil water in large pot. Add sugar, tea, strawberries and mint. Turn off heat and stir. Let steep for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags. Let steep and cool for 30 minutes. Pour through a fine-meshed sieve into a gallon container. Add enough water to fill container. Serve over ice.
Yield: one gallon



Ginger Iced Tea
The spicy bite of ginger is refreshing to the end.

6 cups of water
7 black tea bags
4 1” pieces of ginger, about 3T chopped
½ cup sugar


Boil water in large pot. Add sugar, tea and ginger. Turn off heat and stir. Let steep for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags. Let steep and cool for 30 minutes. Pour through a fine-meshed sieve into a gallon container. Add enough water to fill container. Serve over ice.
Yield: one gallon