Enjoy iced tea with some infusions or traditional favorites
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
From the Press of Atlantic City: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/113/story/185492.html

June is National Iced Tea Month, and the Tea Council of the USA wants us to drink up its many benefits. Tea has zero calories and contains a multitude of substances that help the body maintain healthy cells and tissues and contribute to heart health.

The best way to get a really good glass of sweet tea or lemonade is to brew tea bags and squeeze lemons. To outdo the fast-food restaurants that offer a giant glass of sweet iced tea for $1, the home cook has taken those summer beverages to a higher level.

Creative cooks are adding fruit juices to tea and lemonade and mixing some very refreshing beverages to make our hammocks and rockers even more pleasurable. According to the Tea Council, tea is the second most widely consumed beverage in the world after water and can be found in almost 80 percent of all U.S. households. On any given day, more than 127 million Americans drink tea - mostly over ice.

Tea has been around for centuries, but it was in the early 20th century that women's magazines began offering recipes for tea punch. Recipes called for mixing lemon, orange, pineapple, red grape, cherry or strawberry juices with tea, adding canned or preserved fruits, and garnishing with Maraschino cherries and fresh mint.

Properly preparing iced tea and tea punch required practice, time and patience, virtues Americans found wanting as the century progressed, according to the Tea Council. But to those women who had time, a perfectly brewed pitcher of iced tea was the mark of a successful hostess.

Lemonade also tastes better made from fresh-squeezed lemons, but because it's a favorite drink of youngsters, many parents rely on the instant variety. Instant lemonade can be jazzed up for adults by adding pineapple juice, cranberry-apple drink, club soda or carbonated lemon-lime beverages.
MCT News Services