Sunday, March 21, 2010

A-Z Munchin' Monday - I


ICED TEA

Well, I thought long and hard about singing the praises of ice cream, which has played a large role in my life (and my waist measurement, I suspect). But I thought I'd travel the liquid refreshment path and discuss iced tea.

There are differing schools of thought about iced tea. Some (including my family while I was growing up) feel that iced tea is not something to be sweetened with sugar or other sickening substances. Their tea tastes like - well, like tea. Like leaves that are ground up and suspended in water. And perhaps a touch of mint. This beverage is passable as a quencher of thirst, and not bad at all when it's sunny and ninety degrees.

Then there's the "sweet tea" school. This would include our neighbor and my buddy Tom's mom, who hailed from North Carolina, which was obvious as soon as she spoke. It is probably a rule for southerners to empty a five pound sack of sugar into every pitcher of tea they make. It's a wonder the liquid absorbs all that sugar.

Anyhow, then, Tom's mom would toss in some fruit particles (like hunks of lemon or other citrus fruit). of course, being a kid at the time, I loved this version of iced tea and wondered why it was not the universal iced tea offered everywhere, including at home. The I'd consume five glasses and proceed to bounce off the walls for a couple hours.

Later in life, when we were off on our three-week National Lampoon Station Wagon Tour of the West in 1998, I became addicted to raspberry iced tea. In my simple way of accounting for my actions, I felt that this concoction had to be better for me, and more of a thirst quencher when out in, say, Canyonlands in the desert of southern Utah, than a Diet Coke or the like, which is full of sodium after all. I was no doubt fooling myself. Raspberry iced tea is probably no better, health-wise or quench-wise, than a Diet Coke in such a setting. But my appreciation of a raspberry iced tea has lasted to this day, and I seem to order one up pretty often when dining out. Good stuff.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think we Southerners must get sweet tea in our baby bottles!!! I have yet to try the raspberry tea but it does sound refreshing. My mother-in law is from MI and is 90 years old. All through my marriage to her son, any time he is sick, she quickly proclaims that it is my sweet tea that made her son sick!!!

Loui♥ said...

Delightful post Ben..
Raspberry tea is refreshing..as is Peach.. but my preference is plain ole Lipton ..

MIldred..
How has your MIL survived..
all these years without sweet tea?
I am not a soda pop person..
never have been ..
No matter the season,
it is Iced Tea for me,
as soon as the coffee fix is done..
Never could tolerate the syrupiness..
of sugared tea..
have used Sweet and Low in my tea..
since becoming a young married in 1964...
my coffee fix is ready for a second cup..
laughing smiles..
Loui♥

Connie said...

I'm a fan of the raspberry tea when eating out too. I had the same thought about how it must be better for me somehow. Well, it is made from fruit...right? HA HA! Great post, Ben. I wrote about iced tea this week too. Didn't seem like there were a lot of choices for the letter "I" that I cared for much. Happy Monday to you! :)

Unknown said...

Here in Texas everyone loves their sweet tea, except me. Great post!

Minerva said...

I just left a comment on someone else's blog about Mrs. L's southern iced tea! How funny! I remember it being soooo good as a kid.

I like Crystal Light rasberry iced tea. yumm..

Happy Monday. Nice talking to you earlier.

Jen said...

Happy Monday Ben!
I like ice tea and drink it mainly during the warmer months. I like 'em all- sweet not so sweet and flavors! I use to always make sun tea too. Recently I have hears something about that not being good- something about bacteria-??

BUT NOTHING beats a diet coke!!

Gerald Neily said...

Southerners pronounce it "swate tay". My Mom had a different take. She would just take lemonade and add tea, making it less tea and more lemon. It's best with cookies, if you're looking for something other than the usual coffee or milk (or beer). I like my straight milk at full strength ("homo" as she used to call it) but I always buy 1% or 2% to put on cereal so I don't keep "homo" around. But like Jen, I'm really a Diet Coke guy (or Diet Pepsi or Coke Zero), which fortunately doesn't go with cookies, and if I ever partake of the forbidden nectar of the gods, Coke Classic, I'll be off Diet Coke indefinitely.

Cassie said...

Iced Tea straight up! NO sugar. No Lemon. That's the way we Northeners always had it. Never heard of sweet tea until I was in my 20's, but we did used to pollute our hot tea with sugar and cream.

Hey Ben, I used natural raspberry (hot) tea to help bring on labor with my daughter in 1980!