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The earliest iced tea recipes began appearing prior to the Civil War in cookbooks like The Kentucky Housewife.
The Kentucky Housewife recipe clearly packs quite the punch - literally since it's alcoholic. Perhaps this was the first incarnation of Long Island Iced Tea
Sweet tea as we know it today dates back to the late 19th century when the below recipe was printed in 1879 in Housekeeping in Old Virginia.
Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book (circa 1884) published what may be the first iced tea recipe using black tea instead of the green variety, the version we are most familiar with today.
Historians mistakenly give credit to Richard Blechynden, the India Tea Commissioner & director of the East Indian Pavilion, as the creator of iced tea at the 1904 World's Fair. Supposedly, the East Indian Pavilion offered free hot tea to everyone but because of the heat wave no one was interested in sampling it. In an attempt to drum up drinkers, he circulated and chilled the tea through a series of lead pipes immersed in ice. The resulting cool, refreshing beverage was a hit with fair goers.
However, according to the book Beyond The Ice Cream Cone - The Whole Scoop on Food at the 1904 World's Fair by Pamela J. Vaccaro:
Regardless of who the made refreshing beverage popular, Americans by WWI were purchasing special tall iced tea glasses, long spoons and lemon forks to aid their growing iced tea passion. By the 1930's people commonly referred to the tall crystal goblets as 'iced tea' glasses.
A popular recipe from the pre-Depression era comes from the cookbook Southern Cooking penned by Henrietta Stanley Dull, editor of the home economics section of the Atlanta Journal.
Today iced tea and its Southern cousin sweet tea is readily available in numerous varieties and packaged in everything from cans to plastic jugs to tea bags for cold-brewing. Please share your favorite iced tea and sweet tea recipes along with any refreshing treats to accompany your tea on a steamy summer afternoon!
“Tea Punch – Make a pint and a half of very strong tea in the usual manner; strain it, and pour it boiling (hot) on one pound and a quarter of loaf sugar. Add half a pint of rich sweet cream, and then stir in gradually a bottle of claret or of champagne. You may heat it to the boiling point, and serve it so, or you may send it round entirely cold, in glass cups.”
The Kentucky Housewife recipe clearly packs quite the punch - literally since it's alcoholic. Perhaps this was the first incarnation of Long Island Iced Tea
Sweet tea as we know it today dates back to the late 19th century when the below recipe was printed in 1879 in Housekeeping in Old Virginia.
"After scalding the teapot, put into it one quart of boiling water and two teaspoonfuls green tea. If wanted for supper, do this at breakfast. At dinner time, strain, without stirring, through a tea strainer into a pitcher. Let it stand till tea time and pour into decanters, leaving the sediment in the bottom of the pitcher. Fill the goblets with ice, put two teaspoonfuls granulated sugar in each, and pour the tea over the ice and sugar. A squeeze of lemon will make this delicious and healthful, as it will correct the astringent tendency."
Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book (circa 1884) published what may be the first iced tea recipe using black tea instead of the green variety, the version we are most familiar with today.
"Ice Tea or Russian Tea - Make the tea by the first receipt, strain it from the grounds, and keep it cool. When ready to serve, put two cubes of block sugar in a glass, half fill with broken ice, add a slice of lemon, and fill the glass with cold tea."
Historians mistakenly give credit to Richard Blechynden, the India Tea Commissioner & director of the East Indian Pavilion, as the creator of iced tea at the 1904 World's Fair. Supposedly, the East Indian Pavilion offered free hot tea to everyone but because of the heat wave no one was interested in sampling it. In an attempt to drum up drinkers, he circulated and chilled the tea through a series of lead pipes immersed in ice. The resulting cool, refreshing beverage was a hit with fair goers.
However, according to the book Beyond The Ice Cream Cone - The Whole Scoop on Food at the 1904 World's Fair by Pamela J. Vaccaro:
"Both hot tea and iced tea appeared on most restaurant menus at the Fair - at the Barbecue, Fair Japan, the Old Irish Parliament House, the Louisiana and Texas Rice Kitchen, Mrs. Rorer's East Pavilioin Cafe, and so on. It is highly unlikely that all these restaurants jumped on the bandwagon of Blechynden's "new idea," and scurried to the print shops to have their menus reprinted!"
A popular recipe from the pre-Depression era comes from the cookbook Southern Cooking penned by Henrietta Stanley Dull, editor of the home economics section of the Atlanta Journal.
"TEA - Freshly brewed tea, after three to five minutes' infusion, is essential if a good quality is desired. The water, as for coffee, should be freshly boiled and poured over the tea for this short time . . . The tea leaves may be removed when the desired strength is obtained . . . Tea, when it is to be iced, should be made much stronger, to allow for the ice used in chilling. A medium strength tea is usually liked. A good blend and grade of black tea is most popular for iced tea, while green and black are used for hot . . . To sweeten tea for an iced drink-less sugar is required if put in while tea is hot, but often too much is made and sweetened, so in the end there is more often a waste than saving . . . Iced tea should be served with or without lemon, with a sprig of mint, a strawberry, a cherry, a slice of orange, or pineapple. This may be fresh or canned fruit. Milk is not used in iced tea."
Today iced tea and its Southern cousin sweet tea is readily available in numerous varieties and packaged in everything from cans to plastic jugs to tea bags for cold-brewing. Please share your favorite iced tea and sweet tea recipes along with any refreshing treats to accompany your tea on a steamy summer afternoon!