A Victorian recipe reborn -- summer pudding!

Summer pudding.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

It's "too darn hot" around here! Yet, there are festivities where sweet things are expected.  Ice cream and popsicles are always a good thing (I keep a box of popsicles or fudgesicles in the freezer all summer), but what if you want something a little more elegant, but you don't want to heat up the house?  Summer pudding is a refreshing, no-bake, party-worthy dessert.  Opinions differ as to the origins of the recipe; it seems to be a late-Victorian Trifle combined with a Charlotte.  No matter; it's delicious, and easy, and involves 2 minutes of simmering on the stove, so your house stays cool!  I made a summer pudding for a party on the 4th of July, and it went over really well.  Here is the recipe I used, based on a recipe from a book by Elizabeth David, posted to the Leite's Culinaria blog:

12 oz. frozen sweetened raspberries (thawed)
1 box fresh raspberries
1/2 lb. fresh sweet cherries (pitted)
2 Tablespoons plum jam (could use raspberry or strawberry)
1/4 cup sugar
1 loaf sliced white bread, day-old or dried slightly in the oven, crusts trimmed
heavy cream

Another Titanic event to attend!

View of the Rose Garden from June 2004.

Although the majority of Titanic commemorative events happened last month, on or around the actual anniversary of the sinking, there are still a few here and there, providing more opportunities for wearing the costumes that everyone worked so diligently to complete.  The next one on the calendar for the San Jose area is the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild's Titanic Survivor's Reunion Picnic.  Here are the details:

Titanic Survivors’ Reunion Tea: Imagine yourself as someone who might have been a passenger on the Titanic, and survived the tragic sinking.  We'll get together for a picnic to celebrate our survival and remember those who were lost.  Gentlemen and older children welcome!
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2012.
Location: San Jose Municipal Rose Garden (near the Rosicrucian Museum)
Cost: $25 per person
Suggested Costume: day or dressy afternoon dress, 1900 through 1915, all classes.

It's Iced Tea Month -- despite the rain!

Moroccan Mint tea by Nicolas Mailfait.

June is Iced Tea Month here in the United States, and while the recent rain reminds us that it's technically still spring, the month of June can experience temperatures high enough here in the Santa Clara Valley to make iced tea really refreshing.  While cold tea, served with or without ice in the glass, has been a familiar drink in the United States since the middle of the 1800s, especially in the warm Southern states, “iced” tea is generally agreed to have been “invented” – at least formally introduced – to Americans at the 1906 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.  Iced tea became a sensation and has remained a popular warm-weather beverage ever since then. 

Review of Stash Coconut Mango Wuyi Oolong tea.

Stash Coconut Mango Wuyi Oolong.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

I am currently trying to assist a family member or two in improving their diet, substituting iced tea for the various sweetened and artificially flavored cold beverages that they usually drink. One person is extremely picky about everything and “doesn’t like the flavor of tea” but wants the health benefits, so I have been experimenting with flavored oolong teas in order to avoid the characteristic “black tea” and “green tea” flavor, but keep all the antioxidants.

I purchased Coconut Mango Wuyi Oolong tea, from Stash, at Nob Hill Foods in Milpitas. The tea is packed in Stash Teas’ characteristic brightly colored foil teabags, and is pleasantly fragrant. The aroma is fruity, but only slightly coconutty, and the flavor is similar. It makes a nice iced tea, sweetened with Splenda, but doesn’t taste like typical “iced tea” and contains all the great antioxidants of real tea.

To make a pitcher of iced tea for my family with this blend, I used this recipe:

½ quart water
several cups of ice cubes
6 Stash Coconut Mango Wuyi Oolong teabags
3 packets Splenda sugar substitute

Bring the water to a boil, remove from the heat, and pour over the teabags in a heat-proof container. Steep for 4 minutes, then strain. Add the Splenda and stir until it is completely dissolved in the tea. Allow the hot tea to cool for several minutes; meanwhile, fill a two-quart size beverage container halfway with ice cubes. When the tea has cooled somewhat, pour it over the ice cubes in the container. Allow to cool completely (the ice will melt) and chill. Serve with a piece of dried mango or tiny bit of unsweetened shredded coconut in the bottom of the glass, or a squeeze of lime juice if you like!

The tea, on its own, has a nice flavor, both hot and cold. The coconut flavor is really mild and only detectable in the aroma when the tea is hot. The mango flavor is sutble, as well, but ads a nice element to the oolong. We went though a box of this tea fairly quickly – since it takes 6 teabags to make 2 quarts of iced tea – and I’ll probably be looking for this more in the future, although my family was not in love with the flavor, because it doesn’t taste like juice or soda!

Stash teas can be purchased at most major supermarkets in the San Jose area; I purchased Coconut Mango Wuyi Oolong tea at Nob Hill in Milpitas.

Tea vendors at San Pedro Square Farmers' Market!

Teagre Teas booth at the Farmer's Market, San Jose CA.
Farmers’ markets have been increasing in popularity over the years, and in no place more than the Santa Clara Valley. These wonderful weekly assemblies are one of the last remnants of our area’s agricultural past, reminding us that some of the world’s most fertile farmland is currently underneath the sprawling metropolis of San Jose.

Aside from a great place to get wonderfully fresh and ripe fruits and vegetables, our farmers’ markets are a source of local and handmade goods from bread and flowers, to jewelry and clothing. A new product to join my local farmers’ market at San Pedro Square, downtown San Jose, is gourmet blended tea!

I first noticed the Tea Fancy booth in 2008, at the edge of the food section. The owner, Liuba Bejerano, was giving out samples of her custom-blended teas, and I bought a tin of her Black Currant flavored black tea, which I have enjoyed very much. She sold her own tea blends as well as teas from other companies, like Republic of Tea. When I first met Liuba, she told me that she worked as a real estate agent most of the time, but that tea was one of her passions. The website on her card, www.teafancystore.com, is currently not in operation, and since I haven’t seen her at the market yet this year, I don’t know if she’s still in business. I encourage all tea lovers in San Jose to send Liuba an e-mail and ask her what’s up!

A more established San Jose tea business, Chic Chateau sells local designer jewelry and clothing at the farmers’ market, in addition to the tea and merchandise at her shop and tea room at 3rd and San Fernando. The owner, Luvi, puts a lot of effort into choosing the loose teas that she serves in the tea room and sells in the boutique, and she has both flavored and unflavored teas, black, oolong, green and white teas, as well as rooibos and other herbal tisanes. A fun business with a personable owner, Chic Chateau has become my go-to tea room in San Jose, when I want to celebrate a special occasion, and my tea guild has met there multiple times. I have never seen tea being sold from the Chic Chateau farmer’s market booth, but that may be in the works for the future. We’ll have to wait and see!

A new vendor for 2009, Teagre Tea has an interesting booth with their loose teas displayed in clear glass vials, in special rotating holders. They always have several blends already brewed and ready for sampling, which is fun. Teagre Tea specializes in gourmet organic loose teas, both flavored and unflavored. They have 9 black tea blends, 5 oolongs, 13 greens, 3 whites, 9 rooibos blends, 5 tisanes, a flavored pu-erh, and what they call Discovery Packs and Master Bags. They also have two children’s flavored teas, and two spice blends. Last Friday I stopped by and tried their Tropical Fire black tea, which I remember as a tasty citrusy, coconutty brew. It was nice as a hot tea but I bet it would be even better iced! They are in the process of putting up a website, so the web address is www.teagre.com, but there is no information on it yet. The owner’s daughter, Victoria, recommended that everyone e-mail or call them for more information until the website is up and running.

It is so exciting for me to see tea vendors at the farmers’ market! I try to get my fresh fruit and vegetables at the San Pedro Square farmers’ market, while it’s open (May through December), and my Fridays will be extra fun since I can sample and look at so many wonderful teas at the same venue. I encourage everyone in San Jose to come down to San Pedro Square on Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and check out the tea!

Contact information:
Chic Chateau: website www.chicchateau.com
E-mail info@chicchateau.com
Phone (408)280-7323

Liuba’s Tea Fancy: www.teafancystore.com
e-mail info@teafancystore.com or referliuba@sbcglobal.net
Phone (415) 812-8519

Teagre Tea: website www.teagre.com (not yet up).
E-mail tamaramalave@yahoo.com or vboyert@gmail.com
Phone (408) 772-4500 or (408) 564-7362

Celebrate Iced Tea Month!

image from Wikipedia.
Did you know that June is known as Iced Tea Month among tea-lovers? With the beginning of summer comes the perfect weather for a refreshing glass of iced tea. Although there is no reason to become bored with good old iced tea – because of the wide range of flavored teas commercially available – tea can be used to make many other cold beverages.

Alcohol-free beverages include punches, virgin cocktails or “mocktails”, spritzers, and of course, the ever-popular Arnold Palmer. Named for one of the most famous California golfers, an Arnold Palmer is nothing more than iced tea and lemonade mixed together in equal parts. It is one of my favorite ways to drink iced tea in the summer! You can also add things like rose water, orange flower water, and simple syrups flavored with mint, orange peel or other fruits to your iced tea for more variation.

Tea punches are simply iced tea (any flavor) mixed with your choice of fruit juice and/or soda pop (especially fruit flavored). Spritzers are iced tea mixed with flavored or unflavored soda or carbonated water, in a 1:1 ratio, or whatever you like. Tea "mocktails" are mixed drinks containing iced tea and any non-alcoholic ingredient used in a regular cocktail, like bitters, mint, sugar, lemon, ginger ale, salt, limes, etc. All of the above beverages can and should be garnished with edible flowers, a sprig of mint or lavender, or something else equally refreshing and attractive. They can be served in traditional cocktail glasses, wine glasses, punch cups or iced tea glasses, whatever you have and want to use. You have no need to limit yourself to plain water at a party, if you don't want to!

Here are some interesting non-alcoholic tea drinks that might be a good addition to your next summer barbecue:

Mint Edition martini
* 1/4 cup of fresh spearmint leaves.
* 1 ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice.
* 1/2 teaspoon of powdered sugar.
* 8 ounces of cold tea (black tea works just fine).

Crush your mint leaves. Rub a pinch of mint on the inside of the bowl of two frozen martini glasses. Pour your tea and lime juice into a shake 1/2 full of cracked ice. Add your crushed mint leaves. Shake gently, in a diagonal motion for a full minute. Add your powdered sugar and shake for another full minute. Strain into your martini glasses.
-- from MartiniArt.com

Geisha Tea

1/4 oz. ginger syrup
1/2 oz. lemon juice
3/4 cup brewed or bottled green tea
1/2 oz. Sprite

In a tall cocktail glass, fill to top with ice. Add syrup, lemon juice and green tea. Top off with Sprite. Garnish with a lemon slice.

To make ginger syrup:

Ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
1-inch knob fresh ginger

Instructions:

1. Put sugar, water and fresh ginger in a small saucepot.
2. Bring to a boil and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Remove ginger and chill.
-- Recipe from 10 Fabulous Alcohol-Free Cocktails, by chef Debbie Gold of 40 Sardines in Leawood, Kansas, reviewed in Fine Living Magazine.


History of iced tea, sweet tea and tea punch
Sweet Tea Mocktail recipe
Pomegranite Iced Tea
The Tiger Woods Mocktail (variation on Arnold Palmer)
Boston Iced Tea
Lemon Almond Tea
Five Great Mocktails from San Francisco

Iced tea for Memorial Day.

image from www.clipartguide.com
Iced tea is a particularly American beverage, and we’re starting to see the warm weather here in San Jose that makes iced tea really refreshing. Some Americans have even set aside the month of June as National Iced Tea Month! Since tea is naturally calorie-free and contains antioxidants and minerals, iced tea is a great choice for a refreshing warm-weather drink, although there are some Americans who love it so much they drink it year round! There are three main ways of making iced tea: hot-brew, cold-brew, and sun tea. [NOTE: the information below is for black or oolong teas. If you want to use green or white tea to make iced tea, use less-than-boiling water for the hot-brew method.]

To use the hot-brew method, basically, you make a pot of tea in the regular way, with boiling water in a heated teapot, but you add extra loose tea or tea bags -- about 1 1/2 times as much as you normally would -- to make a strong infusion. So, instead of using 4 teabags and 4 cups of water, you'd use 6 teabags for 4 cups of water. Add your boiling water to the pot and steep as usual, then pour the hot tea into a large heat-proof bowl or container, straining out the tea leaves or removing the tea bags, to cool, and then refrigerate. When it is thoroughly cold, pour the tea over ice cubes in a tall glass and serve. The tea will last, refrigerated, for a few days before it needs to be discarded (or used to water your garden).

To use the cold-brew method, fill a container with cold fresh drinking water and add your tea. This is my favorite way to use tea bags, since the small pieces of tea leaves in the bags won’t make the tea bitter if kept cold. Cover your tea-water container and place it in the refrigerator overnight, where the tea will infuse slowly. The next day, remove the tea bags from the container and enjoy your tea, served over ice! I like to use this technique to make tea in my water bottle: just put one or two teabags in there, fill with fresh water, put on the lid, and go!

To use the sun tea method, prepare a clear glass or plastic container with a cover – a large, clean canning jar is perfect – and add drinking water and tea bags. Instead of the refrigerator, cover your container and set it in the sun for at least 4 hours. Make sure the container is in the sun the whole time, so that the gentle heat can infuse the tea. When the tea is as strong as you like (taste it after 3 to 4 hours), remove the tea leaves, chill and serve as above. Since it's looking like Memorial Day Weekend is going to be really warm, make sure to bring plenty of iced tea to your barbecues, parades, or living history reenactments, and stay hydrated!

For more info:
How to make sun tea
How to make iced tea