Berry Tea

My Dad is from Mississippi and he brought us up drinking sweet tea. Normally, he made sun tea. We loved it. While my sister was visiting, I would make some sweet tea. My nieces and my sister really liked the tea so I wanted to post it for her. This way she can make it any time she wants. Now, I know there are more sweet tea recipes than the alphabet. My Dad always added his sugar after the tea was brewed. I've seen many sweet tea with a simple sugar added. Well, I really just wanted to speed up the process to save time so I melt the sugar in the water before adding the tea bags. (Yes, how dare I use a pot but please forgive me since my teapot broke.) Since it is berry season, I have added berries to my tea many times. Today's berry of choice was blackberries.

Berry Sweet Tea
Sweet Tea:
8 cups cold water
1 cup sugar
3 black tea bags

Directions:

1. In a small pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
2. Add the sugar and stir. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and add the tea bags. Allow to steep until a dark amber color about 4 minutes.
4. Add the remaining cold water.
5. Serve immediately with ice or refrigerate.

Berry mixture per serving:
1/8 cup berries (4 blackberries)
1/4 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Pour one glass of beverage.
2. Sprinkle the berries with the sugar.
3. Mush the berries. 
4. Add the mashed berry sugar mixture to the glass and serve immediately.

Recipe by Jen of Sweet Morris.

One year ago...........................I made Steak and Ale Pie.

Did you already know...............
-Tea bags were invented in America.
-The first tea bag patent was in 1905.
-96% of tea drinks use a tea bag.

Berry Lemonade

My favorite drink is Sweet Tea. Oh, today's blog isn't about Sweet Tea but my second favorite drink: the great, the tangy, lemonade. Yea! My favorite friend asked if I still had some blueberries left. My supply is slow diminishing but don't worry I am going to freeze the rest.

Some children have their Dad build them tree houses. My oldest daughter had her Dad build her a lemonade stand. It turned out pretty good. My youngest children have already been trying to talk me into letting them put up the stand. Then I would have to share my lemonade and that is pretty hard. Now, the sweets I make I have no problem sharing but lemonade is a different problem.

Berry Lemonade
2 cups water for the sugar syrup
2 cups sugar for the sugar syrup
3 cups water
2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 cups of fresh berries (I used blueberries and raspberries.)
3 cups ice cubes

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups of water with the 2 cups of sugar to make the sugar syrup.
2. Heat the water and sugar over medium heat and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Allow the sugar water to cool and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until ready to use.
4. In a large pitcher, combine 2 cups of the chilled sugar syrup, 3 cups of water, lemon juice, and lime juice.
5. In a small bowl, add 1 cup of the fresh berries and smash for about 20 seconds.
6. Add the smashed berries and the remaining 1 cup of fresh berries to the pitcher. Stir well.
7. Add the ice cubes and serve.

Recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather.

Did you already know....
-One lemon will produce about 2 to 3 Tbsp of juice.
-According to Guinness World Records, the largest lemon weighed  11 lbs. 9.7 oz.
-The largest lemon was grown in Israel in 2003.