POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Nutrition & HIV => Topic started by: J220 on April 09, 2007, 11:16:04 pm
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I am a coffee drinker, first and foremost, so it's not the most natural thing for me to brew up some green tea.
It occurred to me, is it possible to add the tea leaves directly to food I'm cooking? Will this be the same as drinking it, in terms of deriving the benefit from the ECGC (or whatever it is)?
Memories of cooking with good old' cannabis come to mind...ahhh. Well, maybe it will work with tea- minus the high, of course. Any thoughts on this?
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Green tea leaves are commonly used for dishes in Asian &/or Japanese cuisines, namely tempura leaves and green tea cooked rice. Since green leaves are already steamed or fired to prevent oxidation so low heat cooking with it is ok. However, when they are specifically brewed, the infusion is much stronger as the concentration is retained, proportional to the amount used. Cooking disperses the value somewhat unless large amounts of leaves are used. That will not seem economical over the long run. Also, there is an ideal way to drinking green tea. Generally, 2.25 grams of tea per 6 ounces of water, or about one teaspoon of green tea per cup, should be used. Green teas should be prepared with 180°F to 190°F (82°C to 88°C) water (not boiling) and steeped 2 to 3 minutes.
Another 2 ways to consume green tea are; adding green tea to coffee or making green tea ice cream using the powder form (matcha or maacha)*. For the latter, it is much easier to just add the powder into any ice cream, although if you want to taste more of the tea flavour, use vanilla. If you have problem finding matcha, but have a coffee bean blender and still want to get some, simply blend the green tea leaves till they are fine and powdered and use as substituted.
*Matcha is now a common ingredient in sweets. It is used in castella, manju, and monaka; as a topping for kakigori; mixed with milk and sugar as a drink; and mixed with salt and used to flavour tempura in a mixture known as matcha-jio. It is also used as flavouring in many Western-style chocolates, candy, and desserts, such as cakes and pastries (including Swiss rolls and cheesecake), cookies, pudding, mousse, and ice cream. Even the Japanese snack Pocky has a matcha-flavoured version.
The use of matcha in modern drinks has also been integrated into lattés, iced drinks, milkshakes, and smoothies, as well as alcoholic beverages. It can now be found in numerous health food products ranging from cereal to energy bars.
Have a great cuppa :D
Peace
Michael
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Thanks for that info Michael. When you say add tea to coffee, do you mean adding the powdered leaves to the ground coffee, before brewing, or adding the already-made tea to the brewed coffee?
Cheers, J.
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Most welcome J. If u use maacha, then u can simply add a teaspoon to your brewed coffee. However, if u r using normal green tea leaves or tea bag, simply brew the tea and let it sit for a while before u filter & mix it with your coffee.
Peace
Michael
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Found something that may interest you; ;) Enjoy...
Cooking with Green Tea
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Green tea is especially well-suited to salads, vegetable dishes, and seafood. Toss some lightly brewed leaves over a green salad or cooked vegetables for a grassy kick. Mix dry crushed leaves with other spices for a tasty rub for fish, prawns, or chicken. Add brewed leaves to a fish stuffing. You can also use green tea either on its own or with oil as a marinade. Try adding garlic, ginger, chiles, or lemon—the possibilities are almost endless, and that’s just for savoury dishes! To use green tea in sweets, add leaves to butter and melt. Then strain out the leaves and use the butter in cakes, breads, and cookies. The end products will be infused with the tea’s subtle, earthy flavour.
Diana Rosen, co-author of Cooking with Tea, says that when used in cooking, tea should be brewed at lower temperatures for longer, to avoid acidity and bitterness. Always use purified water to obtain the best possible flavour.
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Green Tea Chocolate Cake Recipe - Japanese Dessert
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INGREDIENTS:
3 small eggs (2 large eggs)
1 2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tbsp maccha powder (green tea powder)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsps chocolate chips
PREPARATION:
Put butter in a bowl and stir well until soften. Add sugar in the bowl and mix well. Whisk eggs in another bowl. Mix eggs and butter mixture together. Sift flour, baking powder, and green tea powder together. Add flour in the egg and butter mixture and mix. Add chocolate chips in the bowl and mix together. Spread some butter and place baking wax paper inside of a medium loaf pan.
Pour batter into the pan. Bake in preheated 325F oven for 30-40 minutes.
*Makes 4 servings
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Nice...I especially like the idea of using as a rub for chicken and fish, to use with the rest of seasoning I normally use. Also, I may just put some dried tea into my oilive oil, let it settle at the bottom, see how that works! The cake sounds extremely interesting, might give that one a shot next week. Now if only there were some of the other type of dried leaves around...! Thanks again Merlin.
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Japanese Cooking rocks!
Just a pity I can't find fresh green tea nor macha anywhere here in SA... :/
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Also, I may just put some dried tea into my oilive oil, let it settle at the bottom, see how that works!
EGCG is water-soluble, so you may not get large quantities of it into olive oil. Perhaps vinegar or apple vinegar are better solvents for this purpose. Anyways, keep us up to date how it works.
And concerning that other type of herbs, I totally agree... Any decent biscuit recipes for those?
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I beleave in enemas... if you don't wanna drink it.. do a saline enema... then green tea enemas are great! coffee... yerba mate... calendula... the vitals... minerals go straight to the blood stream... also drinking it is ok too!