Archive for March, 2010
Commercially available yogurts are usually heavily sweetened, sometimes artificially colored, and often excessively priced. Making your own is economical and a good way to avoid highly processed sugar, while providing boundless options to be creative with flavors. Lately, I’ve been perusing Arbor Teas’ line of organic loose leaf herbal and rooibos teas for inspiration in my yogurt making. Flavors I’ve made include Crimson Berry Fruit Tisane (my hands-down absolute favorite), Orange Spice Herbal Infusion (with notes of lemongrass, cinnamon and ginger), and Vanilla Almond Rooibos (pictured to the right). Albeit tart, yogurt provides an impeccably blank canvas for the flavor of even the most delicate tea to stand out resoundingly.
Using a yogurt maker* undeniably streamlines the entire process, making things easier by automatically maintaining the proper incubation temperature. However, if you are like me and don’t own an automatic yogurt machine, then follow the steps I’ve outlined below. As with most things, your first batch is always the hardest, but once you get the method down, it feels like such an accomplishment to be able to create this healthy staple in your own kitchen. Tea-flavored yogurt has yet to hit the supermarket shelves. Why not impress your friends with something completely unique and entirely wholesome? Hope you enjoy this Cooking with Tea recipe From the Kitchen of Olivia!
DIY Tea-Flavored Yogurt
1 quart (4 cups) milk (any kind will work including whole milk, 2%, 1%, skim, pasteurized, homogenized, organic, raw, diluted evaporated, dry powdered, cow, goat, soybean, etc)
2 TBS existing yogurt with live “active” cultures, or powdered yogurt starter (freeze- dried bacteria cultures such a Yogourmet); this is the starter
3-4 TBS organic loose leaf tea
* If you are using a yogurt maker, follow the instructions from the manufacturer. Incorporate the sachet of tea as described below during the heating and cooling of the milk. Remove the sachet before adding your starter/culture.
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March 26 2010 | Cooking with Tea | 1 Comment »
Our amazing food blogger Olivia May (From the Kitchen of Olivia) found this wonderful recipe for Matcha Pancakes. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, this recipe looks fun, festive, and fabulous! Of course, you know where to look if you are searching for the organic matcha required to make the recipe. Check out the full recipe at the blog Une-deux senses.
March 16 2010 | Cooking with Tea and Tea Fun | No Comments »
One of our traditional blends at Arbor Teas is our ever-popular organic Irish Breakfast tea. With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I got to wondering about this particula
r blend. Where did the flavor profile come from and why is it so popular in Ireland?
One of Ireland’s most famous (and most consumed) brands of tea, Barry’s Tea, claims that on average the Irish consume up to 6 cups of tea per day! And if that doesn’t convince you that the Irish drink a lot of tea, this statistic will: Ireland is one of the largest tea consumers per capita in the world! Now in my opinion that is a boat load of tea. What led Ireland to become such a large tea drinking country?
The history of tea in Ireland is similar to that of England (another well known tea drinking country). It was initially introduced to the upper class in the early 1800s and later spread to the rural and lower class in the mid 1800s. The tea that was available to the average Irish citizen was usually of poor quality and brewed strong, therefore it was consumed with plenty of milk. This tradition of brewing strong tea and adding milk is still prevalent today. We at Arbor Teas describe our Irish Breakfast blend as “so strong you could stand your spoon up in it,” and that is no joke.
Strong tea is preferred by the Irish – often continuously brewed on the stove all day long. Tea became so popular in Ireland that on May 8, 1910, The New York Times printed an article titled “Tea is Ireland’s Evil – Ranks before Alcohol as an Enemy of Public Health.” This now antiquated article (amazing how science has changed our perception of this healthful beverage!) relates that even within the most inaccessible communities in Ireland “The teapot stewing on the hearth all day long is literally on tap; the members of the family, young as well as old, resorting to it at discretion.”
It wasn’t until World War II that Ireland’s history with tea diverged from that of England. Up until WWII, Ireland received most of its tea from the English auction houses, importing little from countries of origin. However, during WWII Ireland took a neutral stand and refused to allow Britain to use its western ports. As a result, Ireland’s tea ration was drastically cut. With the help of newly adopted post-WWII laws, Ireland began importing its own tea direct from source and to diverge from Britain’s traditional tea flavor profile. continue reading »
March 07 2010 | Miscellaneous and Products and Tea Facts | 8 Comments »