You have probably heard about adding wine and even beer to certain dishes in order to bring out specific flavors and give your taste buds a more fulfilling dining experience. However, it's not just beer and wine that can be used in foods.
An increasingly popular ingredient in a number of recipes is your one and only favorite hot beverage: tea. With its unique flavors and aroma, tea can turn a recipe into an exquisite dish that will make you feel you're eating the food of the gods.
Firstly, you need to pay special attention when pairing up a tea with a meal and make sure that they do indeed complement each other. It can be a challenge to incorporate it into your favorite dishes, that's why we have prepared a list of things to know before putting your chef's hat on.
8 Tips for Using Tea as Food Ingredient
- There are several ways in which you can use tea as an ingredient in your food. The easiest way is by substituting the water or milk in your cooking with tea.
- When steam cooking, you can add tea leaves to the water or you can add powdered tea to your meal as you would add other condiments.
- For desserts, use brewed tea instead of water when melting butter or chocolate.
- When using tea as an ingredient, you should always take special care to pair your meal with the right kind of tea. The process is pretty much the same as if you were adding wine to your cooking. You need to select the right aroma to enhance the flavors in the meal.
- Use delicately flavored teas with light meals such as rice or chicken. Stronger, more aromatic gourmet teas can be used in dishes with a more dominant taste and abundance of various condiments.
- You can smoke or marinate meat using tea and tea leaves.
- Put tea leaves in the water, when cooking rice, fish or vegetables.
- The easiest way to start is to by following a few recipes before experimenting on your own.
There are hundreds of types of tea, each featuring a different aroma or flavor, but there are some general rules you should know before embarking on the journey of tea cooking. The following table will help you find the main tea varieties and help you choose the perfect one to use in you cooking.
Now to get you started, here are some mouthwatering recipes that include various teas as ingredients!
Your kitchen awaits! Put on that apron and start brewing. Your family is going to think you have started cooking classes and they will certainly ask for seconds!
View our Tea Forte Loose Leaf Teas.