I love sweet tea more than coffee. We make it by the gallon every other day and sometimes everyday. We drink it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When my husband first saw this picture, he asked, “Why are you putting tea on your site?” I am putting tea here because I have met many people who can’t stand sweet tea. When I ask them why they say they don’t like it, they say they don’t like some chain restaurant’s, grocery store’s or fast food restaurant’s sweet tea. Then they say they like Arizona or Lipton tea, and then follow up by saying they like one of those brand’s specialty teas like Lipton’s white tea (the one in the bottle). Many restaurants, especially fast food and other chain restaurants use large amounts of corn syrup to sweeten their tea. This creates an overly sweet tea that few people like. It is possible to sweeten tea and enhance the flavor without ending up with brown sugar water. This post is a friendly reminder that you can easily and economically make delicious sweet tea at home.

So what is the formula for perfect sweet tea? Well that is very subjective. There are a handful of people who treasure heavily sweetened tea. Many people like it moderately sweetened, and some people like to appreciate tea with no sugar. And which brand of tea do you use, Lipton or Luzianne? Many southerner’s swear by Luzianne, however I can’t really tell a huge difference in taste. Currently, we use the gallon size tea bags from Lipton. I get them at Sam’s, they are very convenient. I bring my water to a boil in a saucepan, then take the water off the heat, and add the bag. I let it steep, covered for about 15 minutes. Some people bring the water to a boil with the tea bag in the water, others boil the tea. There is one thing for certain, you shouldn’t let the tea steep for a very long time because it may become bitter.

Now time for the sugar. You must add the sugar to the pitcher first, then add the hot tea, then dissolve the tea in this water. Sugar is very difficult to dissolve in cold liquid. How much sugar? I have suggested 1 cup per gallon, but use your personal taste to get it just the way you like it. After the sugar is dissolved, I add just the tea bag and fill the pitcher with filtered water. I would recommend using filtered water if you are filtering your water to drink. If your water is good enough not to filter, just add it non-filtered.

Here are my favorite ice tea variations:

• Sweet Green Tea, just use all green tea bags.
• Sweet Mint Tea, Halve the amount of tea bags and add fresh mint leaves to the hot water.

What is your favorite type of ice tea?

Sweet Tea Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 gallon sized iced tea bag, 6 family sized tea bags, or 12 regular tea bags
• 1 cup sugar, a suggestion
• Filtered water

Method

1. Bring water to a boil. Remove water from heat and then drop tea bags in boiling water. Let steep for 15 minutes. Pour hot tea concentrate over sugar.
2. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add tea bag and finish filling pitcher. Stir tea and squeeze bag gently and remove.

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We have enjoyed lots of hot chocolate this holiday season. We all love to add the miniature marshmallows. I am going to try and attempt homemade marshmallows this week. I have seen lots of great recipes for them, and I can’t wait to give them a try. This is a recipe that I have modified from a stove top hot chocolate recipe from Hersey’s. My family and I have enough of that lactose intolerant gene, that we are unable to drink milk. We also have to limit our dairy products. We seem to do okay with dairy products if they have been processed enough, such as most cheeses, yogurt, powdered milk, and butter. But only if we eat them in small amounts. So, because we are unable to enjoy traditional hot chocolate, I created this delicious hot chocolate mix with powdered milk. To save us on a few more holiday calories, and because I know we are addicted to this stuff, I made it with nonfat dried milk. It is really a delicious alternative to traditional hot cocoa. I made several jars of the mix. Some were for gifts, a jar to take on our Christmas trip, and some jars to keep around the house. It is much better, and economical than the pre-made hot chocolate mix. It is also much easier than the stove top hot chocolate. You can make it with regular dried milk also. For the most delicious chocolaty mix, use Hersey’s dark cocoa powder, it is out of this world!

Non Fat Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 cups non fat powdered milk
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 pinches of salt

Method

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl well, and place in jars or any other airtight containers.
2. Directions: 1 part mix to 2 parts hot water. Optional, add a touch of vanilla extract, or a shot of coffee liquor, and don’t forget the marshmallows!

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