June is iced tea month and I thought I would share a couple of vintage recipes for iced tea. You can find other great recipes for iced tea here
This recipe appeared in a cookbook "Aunt Babette's Cook Book, Foreign and Domestic Receipts for the Household" by Aunt Babette, published by Bloch Publishing and Printing Company, Chicago, in 1889.
Allow a teaspoonful of tea for each cup, put the tea in a porcelain-lined or china teapot, and pour as much cold water on it as you require for your tea. Set this in ice-chest for twelve hours or more. You will find this tea more delicate in flavor than when prepared with the boiling water. It will not have any bitter taste at all, which tea made with boiling water always has, if allowed to stand any length of time
Allow a teaspoonful of tea for each cup, put the tea in a porcelain-lined or china teapot, and pour as much cold water on it as you require for your tea. Set this in ice-chest for twelve hours or more. You will find this tea more delicate in flavor than when prepared with the boiling water. It will not have any bitter taste at all, which tea made with boiling water always has, if allowed to stand any length of time
Another recipe for Natural Iced Tea found in the cookbook "Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping" published by Buckeye Publishing Company, Minneapolis, in 1877.
Prepare tea in the morning, making it stronger and sweeter than usual; strain and pour into a clean, stone jug or glass bottle, and set aside in the ice chest until ready to use. Drink from goblets without cream. Serve ice broken in small pieces on a platter nicely garnished with well-washed grape leaves. Iced tea may be prepared from either green tea or black tea alone, but it is considered an improvement to mix the two.
Lemon Iced Tea
Tea made like that for iced tea (or that left in the teapot after a meal), with sugar to taste, a slice or two of lemon, a little of the juice, and some pieces of cracked ice, makes a delightful drink. Serve in glasses.
Prepare tea in the morning, making it stronger and sweeter than usual; strain and pour into a clean, stone jug or glass bottle, and set aside in the ice chest until ready to use. Drink from goblets without cream. Serve ice broken in small pieces on a platter nicely garnished with well-washed grape leaves. Iced tea may be prepared from either green tea or black tea alone, but it is considered an improvement to mix the two.
Lemon Iced Tea
Tea made like that for iced tea (or that left in the teapot after a meal), with sugar to taste, a slice or two of lemon, a little of the juice, and some pieces of cracked ice, makes a delightful drink. Serve in glasses.
Glad to see you participating in VRT again. I drink lots of iced tea in the summer, too. :-) Great trick with letting the water cool down and not pouring in the boiling water. Recipes don't usually say so, but it is true about the bitterness.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
I never realized there was so many nuances to making tea..I love these old cookbooks..they truly treasures and the recipes should be passed along. Not everyone has or collects vintage recipes and cookbooks...
ReplyDelete