Countertop Chronicles has inspired me to make some sweet tea. The Henderson family recipe (my mother’s family), is as follows:
Boil a saucepan full of water. Once it’s boiling, add 2 cups of sugar. Stir until clear. Allow to boil for a minute or so. (Take care—with this much sugar, if the water boils over, it will carmelize, and that’s a mess.) Add 8 bags of tea. Simmer for a few minutes. (No more than four, I’d say. If you boil too long, it’ll turn bitter.) Then dilute this to a gallon in a pitcher, and let it cool in the fridge. Ideally, it’s served cold, without ice. For a change, add a single drop of mint extract.
Best when served with hot corn bread.
You know, there are actually some people who don’t like this. They’re called freaks. Or Yankees.
Lipton was bottling “southern style” sweet tea a few years ago. I found it in the convenience stores in Baltimore. On my return to California, I wrote to the Lipton company begging for some, but they said they would only sell it in the southern states.
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