Food serves as the universal bond that unites humanity. At the table, we are all equals, and it's through the lens of food, recipes, and ingredients that the vibrant tapestry of our cultures is revealed. This recipe book embodies that spirit. Beyond...
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Southern sweet tea is the only tea really served in "The South". If you ask for tea, you'll get sweet tea. If you ask for unsweetened tea, they'll look at you like you have lost all faith and hope in the world and have no joy left. Sweet tea originated as a luxury item because ice, tea, and sugar were so expensive.
Tie the bagged tea together (about 6-8 tea bags for a gallon of tea, or 3-4 for two quarts, depending on your pitcher. Oftentimes it's made in bulk and kept in the fridge). Lipton is the preferred brand because it's cheap, but any generic black tea should do. If the box implies it's a British tea with names like 'Earl' or 'English Breakfast', those are blends of black tea. Abort mission and start over. Get the cheapest black tea you can find.
Boil the appropriate amount of water in a large pot, add tea bags, take off heat, and let steep for about five minutes. You can go longer or shorter depending on how strong you want the taste. Then, remove tea bags. If you add a pinch of baking soda, it neutralizes the tannins in the tea and gives it a smoother taste.
Congratulations, you've made tea! But it's not sweet, so it doesn't count. If you serve this to your guests in the South, they're too polite to tell you that you need to find God, but they're likely thinking it. How could you be such a monster?
Simple Syrup:
1 part sugar to 1 part water boiled until the sugar dissolves
That's...that's it. I generally use 1 cup of simple syrup (1:1 sugar water) for a gallon, but you can adjust to taste. That means you would use ½ cup of simple syrup for a 2-quart pitcher. You can boil the sugar into the water for the tea, but it's better to let the tea steep in just water, and then add the simple syrup. This will make it easier to dissolve and adjust sweetness to taste. This may mean not filling up your pitcher with the tea just yet because you'll want to account for the syrup.
But you can flavor it, too! Common flavors include fruits, like cut strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. You can put frozen berries into your water and boil it until all flavor is gone, and then strain the pulp and put in your sugar and boil.
Other common modifications include putting in a slice of fresh lemon.
I'm sure it's possible to do this with green tea, too, using green tea bags instead, but it's not really done. Sweet green tea gets you a side eye from everyone who doesn't already like sweetened green tea. But I do! So go ahead if you enjoy it.
