Green Tea Chai Latte Pudding - Think Outside The Box!

Decades of mediocre mass-produced boxed pudding have led us to believe this dessert is difficult and time-consuming to prepare. Not true! Real pudding is easy to make and much tastier than pudding made from a boxed mix. Preparing it from scratch allows you to try different flavor combinations you won't find on the supermarket shelf. It takes less than 30 minutes to make (not including chilling), and can easily be made the day before serving.

This is my recipe for Chai Latte pudding. While most Chai Lattes use black tea, I have chosen to use green tea. The more mellow flavor allows you to taste the tea and spices in harmony.

Ingredients For Four Servings

• 1/4 cup of loose green tea
• 2 star anise pods
• 1 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns
• 4 whole cloves
• 4 cardamom pods
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon of orange zest
• 2 cups of whole milk
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 4 teaspoons of cornstarch
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Directions

Use a mortar and pestle to crush the star anise, peppercorns, cloves and cardamom. Put into a non-reactive saucepan along with 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the orange zest and sugar. Bring to a simmer, slowly for optimal flavor extraction. Remove from heat, add the green tea, cover and leave to steep for three minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, the cornstarch, egg yolks, sea salt and vanilla in a bowl. After the three minutes have passed, strain the hot mixture. Gradually add the hot mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

Return to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat. Whisk constantly until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and continue whisking until the pudding is thick, about 2 to 3 minutes. Pour into serving containers, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before eating.

Tips and Suggestions

For an attractive presentation, chill the pudding in tea cups. Top with freshly whipped cream and ground cinnamon or nutmeg.

Constant whisking is crucial to prevent premature coagulation of the eggs. Failure to do so will result in small bits of scrambled eggs in your pudding.

Always remember this never-failing rule of cookery: bad ingredients will always make bad food while great ingredients coupled with proper technique can make outstanding food. Choose your ingredients wisely.

Heather Krasovec own and maintains an informative site about green tea health benefits, http://drinkgreenteaforhealth.com/, which also features an incredible selection of the finest organic green tea available

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How to Make Green Tea - Perfectly

Finding your perfect "Matcha" is easier than you think. There are two main methods to prepare Green Tea. The easy method, or the Traditional Japanese ceremony method. The latter is a bit beyond this article, but more information will soon be available on my website.

Growing your own Green Tea plants

Green Tea plants seem to have originated in China. There is evidence that suggests that Green Tea has been used for more than 5000 years. From China, Green Tea spread around those eastern regions namely Japan, Taiwan, India and even up to Russia.

The Tea Plant (camellia sinensis) prefers high altitudes with a tropical rainfall. But doesn't thrive well at lower altitudes. But with care and attention, you should be able to grow a few Green Tea plants in your back yard, or a green house.

There are a few places that you would be able to buy Green Tea saplings. Picking the young leaves off your own Green Tea plant will make an awesome and fresh brew.

Brewing your perfect cup of loose leaf

There are a few factors that you need to keep in mind when you want to brew your green tea.

• The Quality of Water
• The quality of Green Tea
• Water temperature
• And the time needed to steep

If you change any one of these factors, you will have to make adjustments to the others. Or you could end up with a very bitter cup of Green Tea.

The water quality is a major issue. Tap water is generally not considered pure enough. There are very many chemicals in normal tap water that alter and influence the flavour of tea. I highly recommend pure spring water at best, heavily filtered water at worst. And stay away from tap water.

The lower the quality of Green Tea, the longer you have to steep, and the higher temperature water you need to use.

As a rule of thumb, never, ever use boiling water. I usually let my boiling water cool down for a few minutes before adding the loose leaf teas. I follow a few simple steps:

1. Boil the water. Some people say that boiling water that has cooled down makes tea taste better than water that has not yet been boiled. I have found no differences in taste, but find it easier to let boiling water cool down than trying to gauge the water temperature without a thermometer
2. Pour the boiling water into your empty Green Tea pot and let it stand for a minute. The cold Tea Pot helps in cooling the water down, while the hot water also warms up the tea pot.
3. Pour out the water from the tea pot into your drinking mugs. This helps cool the water down even more, and warms up the cups. The warm cups help retain the heat in your cup of tea while you are drinking. Let the water stand in the mugs for about a minute. The added advantage of this, is that you now have the exact amount of water you need for your brew
4. Discard the remaining water in the tea pot. The exact amount of water is in the drinking mugs. Green Tea can be steeped multiple times, but if you leave the tea to steep in the little bit of extra water, you could get very bitter tea.
5. Add your Green Tea Loose leaves to the pot. A good indication is about a teaspoonful of tea per cup that you are planning to brew.
6. Empty the water from the mugs into the tea pot and let brew for 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Pour out the green tea to fill a quarter of the drinking mugs and rotate or swirl the tea pot gently.
8. Fill the mugs to half, and gently rotate the tea pot again.
9. Finally fill the drinking mugs making sure that no water has been left in the tea pot.

By only partially pouring the Green Tea into the mugs ensures that the Green Tea flavour is evenly distributed between you and your Tea partner. Gently swirling your teapot between pours mixes the flavour into the infused water still in the tea pot. But be careful not to swirl to energetically, as that will more than likely give you a stronger brew, and possibly bitter at that.

The best method to judge, is to taste your tea. Subtly altering any of my steps will change either consistency, strength and ultimately flavour. Keep experimenting until you find your balance.

Loose Leaf Green Teas can be re-steeped several time. I usually only go up to 3 time. Add an extra minute each time you re-steep your tea leaves. This will ensure that you get the maximum flavor available from each steep. When the flavor runs out, it is time to use some fresh loose leaves.

How to make Green Tea in Bags

Almost boiling water and a steeping time of 4 to 5 minutes. Tea bags by nature are efficient and easy way to enjoy your Green Tea, especially if you are on the move and don't have the time, or the equipment to follow my (or a similar) brewing method.

The quality of Green Tea in bags is in most cases lower. Especially supermarket bought tea bags.

Also ... the leaves are broken, and the bag itself restricts loose leaves from fully opening. If your tea bags contain particles of tea, then you will need to adjust your brewing method to compensate. More heat and a longer steeping time will be needed.

I personally prefer loose leaf green tea to tea bags, but .. there have been the odd occasion when tea bags have been advantageous.

After finding this miraculous brew in a severe time of need, Green Tea has become an almost obsessive hobby. Within weeks of starting to drink green tea regularly, I was able to notice the beneficial effects in my own body. Slight weight loss, better concentration, and, I am finally rid of that constant bloated feeling.

Join me as I delve into the world of Green Tea, uncovering some of the mysteries, exposing the myths and most of all ... Living Healthier, Living Longer

[http://www.green-tea-health-benefits-exposed.com]

Live healthier ... Live Longer!

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Type 2 Diabetes - Green Tea Dental Strips

Peridontitis, inflammation of the tissue holding the teeth in place, is a problem for many diabetics, and can often lead to tooth loss. Tea extract has been studied as a weapon to guard against periodontitis.

In March 2013, the Journal of the Indian Society on Periontology published an article from Halgekar's Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre in Belgaum, India:

• catechins, molecules found in green tea, were applied to the gums of volunteers. Bacteria involved in causing periodontitis were significantly lower in population one week and five weeks after application of the tea extract.

From these results, it was concluded this type of tea extract could be used in addition to standard dental procedures in preventing and treating periodontitis.

In May 2013 the Journal of Medical Food reported the results of a study carried out by investigators on the Faculty of Dentistry at Laval University in Quebec, Canada:

• extracts of green, black, white, and oolong tea were shown to inhibit growth of a bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis, known to cause periodontitis. They also helped to keep the bacteria from latching on to cells in the mouth, inhibited the bacteria from making detrimental enzymes, and inhibited secretion of molecules involved in inflammation.

It has therefore been suggested tea extracts could be incorporated into oral care products to be delivered to the teeth and gums.

Researchers at Vishnu Dental College in India tested green tea extract in strips placed directly upon the gums. Their study, reported in the Journal of the Indian Society of Peridontology in March 2013, included 50 volunteers with periodontitis; half of the participant had diabetes:

• these types of strips were placed onto their gums showed over 10 percent of the extract released within 30 minutes and the balance released by 2 hours. Both groups showed significant improvement.

From this information, it was seen extract strips containing this type of tea applied directly to the gums, could be a useful treatment for periodontitis in both diabetics and nondiabetics.

It will undoubtedly be some time before the dental strips are available commercially, but several extracts in pill form are available. It would be best to consult your doctor before beginning supplementation.

Green tea is good hot or cold. At http://www.health.com there is a recipe for minty iced green tea. It calls for fresh mint leaves, tea bags, agave, and fresh lavender leaves. There is a recipe for citrus-honey green tea at the website AllRecipes. It includes lemon zest, grapefruit juice, green tea powder, and honey.

The website CoffeeTea.about suggests making iced green tea latte with soymilk. Soymilk with calcium is also good for the teeth and other bones. From the same website comes a recipe for strawberry sencha fresca, with strawberries, lemon juice, honey, mint leaves and green tea. Foodnetwork.com suggests making iced ginger green tea with sugar (substitute) and sliced ginger. Drink healthy.

Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. By making easy changes to your daily routine, its possible to protect your heart, kidneys, eyes and limbs from the damage often caused by diabetes, and eliminate some of the complications you may already experience. Green Tea could make a difference.

For nearly 25 years Beverleigh Piepers has searched for and found a number of secrets to help you build a healthy body. Go to http://DrugFreeType2Diabetes.com to learn about some of those secrets.

The answer isn't in the endless volumes of available information but in yourself.

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Green Tea Bath

Green tea can be beneficial to you in two ways.

1. chemically

2. emotionally

Traditionally, the chemical benefit of tea is received by brewing the tea and then sipping it. The emotional benefit is derived from the practice of taking the time to stop and enjoy the aroma and the visual reward of the tea leaves unfurling as they are brewing and then of course from the final enjoyment of drinking the tea. Did you know that many benefits can also be derived from tea by bathing in it?

Green tea contains antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and anti-bacterial properties. The main antioxidant found in green tea, EGCG (epigallocatechin3-gallate), was found to be 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times more effective than vitamin E. Tea also contains tannins. Tannins are astringent substances that shrink or constrict body tissues usually locally after topical applications.

Why bathe in green tea?

The skin is the largest organ in the human body. For the average adult human, the skin has a surface area of between 1.5-2.0 square meters (16.1-21.5 sq ft.), most of it is between 2-3 mm (0.10 inch) thick. The average square inch (6.5 cm²) of skin holds 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels, 60,000 melanocytes (cells that produce melanin which is a pigment) and more than a thousand nerve endings.

One of the most important functions of the skin is to provide the body with a defensive barrier from pathogens, which are agents that cause disease, and from harmful elements in the external environment, such as ultraviolet rays from the sun. The skin guards the underlying muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and internal organs and it also protects the body from excessive water loss. Severely damaged skin repairs itself by forming scar tissue.

Skin absorption is a route by which substances can enter the body through the skin. Absorption of substances through the skin depends on a number of factors, the most important of which are concentration, duration of contact, solubility, physical condition of the skin and part of the body exposed. All the natural and beneficial ingredients in green tea make it a perfect choice for bathing in it so the nutrients may be absorbed through the skin.

A green tea bath is very easy to make. First you place six organic green tea bags in a tub of very hot water for ten to twenty minutes. Your bath water will turn a golden brown or dark brown color and this will let you know the antioxidants and vitamins have been released into your bath. Remove the tea bags and adjust the water temperature for your bath. You may also add a quarter to a half cup of olive oil to the bath water. Olive oil contains antioxidants and it will soften and sooth your skin if you tend to have very dry skin. Relax in your health bath for at least thirty minutes.

Research suggests that green tea can inhibit skin cancer due to its protective properties. Tannins in the tea not only heal burns and stop bleeding, but they also stop infection while they continue to heal the wound internally. The ability of tannins to form a protective layer over the exposed tissue keeps the wound from being infected even more. The natural antiseptic qualities in this tea also relieve the itching and swelling in cuts, scrapes, bites, hemorrhoids, anal fissures, rashes and acne blemishes. Of course, when dealing with a medical condition. one should always check with their doctor to make sure that bathing is recommended.

An alternative to a tea bath after a hard day at work, especially if you stand on your feet all day, is a green tea foot soak. Using Helen Foster's recipe from The Beauty Book

1.Bring water to just under boiling and pour it in a large foot bath container.

2.Place five green tea bags and a few drops of peppermint oil into the water.

3.Allow water to cool slightly for a few minutes, and then soak your feet.

Green tea baths are nourishing, detoxifying and healing, both chemically and emotionally.

Doreen Storozuk is a hairstylist and business owner who has a keen interest in the amazing health benefits of green tea. She enjoys research and writing and invites you to visit her website at [http://HealthByGreenTea.com] where she promotes green tea in an unbelievable range of products including tea, skin care, green tea bedding and gift baskets.

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Tea Recipes

If you love tea, you may be interested in tea recipes. Tea is actually an amazing ingredient in a variety of recipes.

Tea leaves are not just for steeping anymore and some of the most tantalizing recipes are being developed by top chefs by using tea leaves as an ingredient.

Here are just some of the types of recipes you can find that include uses leaves or liquid. (and by the way, you sometimes eat the leaves!!)

Marinades - there are becoming more and more marinades and sauces that use tea as an ingredient. You can add some flair to a bland white sauce by adding just a teaspoon of green tea leaves or some stongly brewed black tea.

Cakes - there are some terrific cake recipes that use tea as an ingredient. All you do to create your own fabulous recipe is replace the liquid with strongly brewed tea. I just made some Rooibos Angel Food Cake and it was delicious. My daughter made Spiced Angel Food using a Christmas Chai Tea as the liquid replacment.

Ice Cream - Most of us have heard about Green Tea Ice Cream - it typically uses matcha (powdered green tea) as an ingredient and matcha is excellent in many different recipes. It also gives a beautiful green tea color to your scones, cookies and cakes.

How about a licorice tea ice cream? Sounds delicious doesn't it? Tea can be used as an ingredient in many recipes and dishes. I often use it as I would a spice or herb.

So a few leaves floating in the soup? My family loves it and it is really good for you too. You get all the health properties of the tea you are infusing and cooking with.

So as a general rule of thumb, and in my experimenting with using tea as an ingredient - the easiest thing to do is replace the liquid in the recipe with a strong brew - 4 times strength what you would drink is a great rule of thumb.

Bergamot Scones are simply delicious. The undertone of the bergamot or beebalm is really nice. Just use very strong bergamot tea in place of half the cream.

I hope this article inspired you to do more with tea than just drink it!

For more great tea recipe ideas, visit Teyas website CrazyForTea and her Tea Recipes section. You can add your own recipes to the collection or try out one of the fabulous tea recipes listed. Crazy For Tea is a website dedicated to the tea lover in all of us.

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