The Spice & Tea Exchange
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October
1
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From now until November 1st, The Spice & Tea Exchange invites you to send in your favorite Thanksgiving recipes to AskChefDonna for a little tweaking, TSTE-style? Your recipe may be featured on our blog during the month of November! Recipes chosen for our blog will receive a free sample of the TSTE product(s) in the recipe. In further appreciation of your
submissions Chef Donna will also choose one of these recipes to be featured in our November Newsletter! That person will then receive our Grand Prize – a gift package containing the best of TSTE’s Fall Blends, including: Autumn Harvest, Baker’s Blend, Bird Brine, Herb Turkey Blend, Mulling Spices, Pumpkin Pie Blend, Spiced Ham and Spice Cocoa Mix! These are the essential seasonings you need to make your cooking stand out this holiday season! So, get your recipes ready, and “Ask Chef Donna!”
How to enter:
Submit your recipe on our Ask Chef Donna form located here, and include your full name and address.
June
18
Did you know June is National Iced Tea Month? Why not take a new look at some of your favorite teas from The Spice & Tea Exchange® and brew up some delicious iced tea to help beat the heat? Summer begins this week, let’s kick it off right with a
super easy tea brewing method that won’t heat up your kitchen – Cold Brewing!
Choose your favorite TSTE loose leaf tea, grab a 16 ounce glass container (with a lid) and bottled or filtered water. If you have an infuser ball or large tea filter they are helpful but not necessary. So what kind of tea did you choose? I’m making Mango Green Tea, but you choose your favorite. Remember, there aren’t any “rules” so go crazy and make what you like! Be daring and try a new tea that you’ve never had iced. Different types of teas steep for different amounts of time so I’ll give you the basic brewing instructions and then I’ll give you guidelines for each type.
Put your tea in an infuser or tea filter if you have one. If you don’t have one, you can put your tea in the glass container loose. Add 16 ounces of bottled or filtered water. Don’t use water for your tea that you wouldn’t drink plain – good water makes good tea! Cover your container and place it in the refrigerator. When the time is up, remove the tea infuser ball or filter from the tea and enjoy! If you placed your tea leaves directly into the container simply strain the tea through a fine sieve or layered cheesecloth into a second container. That’s it! The hard part is waiting but once the time is up you will have a delicious iced tea with very minimal work.
As promised, here is more detailed brewing information for each type of tea.
Black Tea/Flavored Black Tea – 3 level tsp to 16 oz. water
- Steep Time: 18hrs – 21hrs
Oolong/Flavored Oolong – 2 tsp to 16 oz. water
Green Tea/Flavored Green Tea – 2-2 1/2 level tsp to 16 oz. water
White Tea/Flavored White Tea - 2 1/2-3 tsp to 16 oz. water
Rooibos/Herbal – 3 tsp to 16 oz. water
- Steep Time: 18hrs – 21hrs
Once you have delicious, cold brewed tea you may sweeten it if you’d like or just enjoy it the way it is! Get creative; add some herbs, spices or even pieces of fruit with the tea leaves. Let us know what your new favorite cold brewed tea is! Be sure to enjoy your tea within a few days for the freshest flavor.
Welcome to summer!
Posted by Lisa Shipman, Field Consultant for The Spice & Tea Exchange®
=”300″ /> From Food on Flames:
“In the beginning there was fire. And, we suppose, some unsuspecting animal wandered into it. After that, things were never the same, and each summer is another chance for you to prove just how provocative fire and meat can be together. Purists may say that a backyard barbecue requires nothing more than an open flame and a hunk of meat, but you know the right spice can make a cookout into something spectacular! The Spice & Tea Exchange® is known for rubs and blends that make cooking and grilling easy and flavorful, and bringing together our favorite chef, Donna Desfor, and our friends over at Live Pretty, to create recipes using our specialties is a natural. The nuanced flavors and smoky smells of grilled food bring to mind all that is good about long days and sharing meals. One of the best things about the grill – it’s not just for burgers! Your grill can be used for every phase of the meal, from veggies to side dishes, from meat entrees to dessert. This summer, backyards across America will be filled with the smell of smoke, the sizzle of cooking meat, and the fun and camaraderie of families and friends. Kick-start your next social gathering, or be inspired for an intimate family evening of outdoor cooking with these recipes compiled especially for you, as a special Thank You for being a guest of The Spice & Tea Exchange.®”
Our first e-cookbook, Food on Flames, is now available online and as a download! We hope you enjoy the recipes and photos as much as we enjoyed putting this together for you, and we invite your feedback! Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think – feel free to suggest more ideas for future ecookbooks as well! Enjoy!
Our friends over at Live Pretty describe themselves as, “… a lifestyle blog dedicated to family, food, and entertaining, with a special focus on sharing both the extraordinary and everyday moments of our lives.” Check them out here, visit Live Pretty on Facebook or chat them up on Twitter – we think you’ll enjoy them as much as we have. Look for posts they will share with us all summer, right here!
April
30
Do you know why avocados, refried beans and tortillas are on sale at the grocery store this week? Cinco de Mayo is almost here! Celebrated on May 5th, it commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). It’s a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, but here in the U.S. Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican-American culture and heritage. Some Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States. My traditions include lots of homemade guacamole, tortilla chips, veggie burritos, cheese enchiladas, and fresh (emphasis on fresh) lime margaritas! I find bottled mixes too cloyingly sweet. When you make your own margaritas, you can adjust the sugar (and other ingredients, wink wink) to suit your tastes. Salud!
Fresh & Frosty Lime Margaritas
1 1/4 cups of your favorite tequila
3/4 cup triple sec
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 Tbsp TSTE Lime Sugar
about 8 cups crushed ice
2 Tbsp TSTE Lime Frost Sea Salt
6 lime wedges
Combine tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and 2 tablespoons TSTE Lime Sugar in a large pitcher. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Add crushed ice. Mix TSTE Lime Frost Sea Salt and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in shallow bowl or on a plate. Moisten the rims of 6 margarita glasses with lime wedge. Dip rim into the sugar-salt mixture. Pour margaritas into glasses then garnish with lime wedges. Enjoy!
Posted by Jen Hand from The Spice & Tea Exchange Distribution Center in St. Augustine, FL. Say hello to her on Twitter (@spiceandtea)
April
19
It’s National Garlic Day!
Garlic is one of the most popular spices and found in cultural dishes all over the world, so it’s no surprise it has its own day. No one knows who originated National Garlic Day, it isn’t recorded in congressional or pre
sidential proclamations. Nonetheless, we’re all over it here at TSTE. We’ve compiled some Garlic Day garlic facts and a quick recipe for Garlicky Herb Dip to highlight the occasion!
Garlic Facts:
- Originated in Asia
- Member of the onion family
- Garlic’s pungent flavor is caused by a chemical reaction that occurs when the garlic cells are broken
- Nickname: The Stinking Rose
- Neutralize the smell of garlic from your hands by rinsing in cold water while rubbing a stainless steel object
- Known for causing bad breath, but can be neutralized by drinking milk or eating parsley
- Has been used to infuse vodka and as an ingredient to make cocktails
- Once used to treat acne, warts, and toothaches
- At ancient Greek and Roman marriages the brides carried bouquets of garlic and other herbs instead of flowers
- Long been admired for its powers as an aphrodisiac. Legend has it that Tibetan monks were forbidden from entering monasteries if they had eaten garlic because of its reputation for arousing sexual desire
- Most known myth is that garlic deters vampires, but it’s also thought to protect against the evil eye and to ward off jealous nymphs said to terrorize pregnant women and engaged maidens
- The fear of garlic is called alliumphobia
Garlicky Herb Dip
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1 Tbsp. TSTE Vik’s Garlic Fix
1 Tbsp. TSTE Italian Herb Blend
Soften cream cheese, then add sour cream and mix thoroughly. Stir in Vik’s Garlic Fix and Italian Blend. Adjust seasonings to taste. Flavors are enhanced when dip is made the night before use. Great served as a dip with pretzels, chips, vegetables or as a spread for bagels or sandwiches.
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Have you met Vik’s?
The wonderful, all-purpose Vik’s Garlic Fix is one of my standard go-to TSTE blends, no matter the time of day or what’s on the menu. Garlic is the star, but plays well with the other herbs & spices in this well rounded mix. Vik’s is a friend to those who haven’t the time to pull every spice from the cabinet, but still want a flavorful meal on the table in minutes. Ready? Here are 6 + 6 quick and easy ways to use Vik’s Garlic Fix every day:
1. Soften cream cheese, mix in a spoonful of Vik’s, and spread on bagels. Good-bye morning breath!
2. Whisk a tablespoon of Vik’s into your next batch of scrambled eggs for breakfast-with-a-bang.
3. Potatoes tonight? Sprinkle Vik’s on baked, mix it into mashed, or oven-roast chunked potatoes with Vik’s and TSTE Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
4. Vik’s will make a simple can of tomato soup complex with flavors. Stir it in!
5. Saute some veggies (like cauliflower, red peppers, broccoli, and zucchini), add olive oil and Vik’s, toss with pasta.
6. Make hamburgers zesty by mixing Vik’s into the patties as you form them, or just shake it on top of burgers before you grill or pan fry.
7. Perk up homemade, delivery or (gasp!) frozen pizza with a dose of Vik’s. Use it liberally.
8. Marinate chicken with fresh lemon or lime juice, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a couple of tablespoons of Vik’s.
9. Hang Vik’s in a sachet on your front door to keep those pesky vampires at bay.
10. Vik’s makes the quickest shrimp scampi ever! Just saute shrimp in butter & oil, add Vik’s, serve over angel hair pasta for an almost instant meal.
11. Enhance any dip or spread with a little Vik’s. Try it in hummus or simply mix some with sour cream for a speedy chip dip.
12. Add Vik’s to your next pot of pasta sauce, open your kitchen windows, and watch your neighbors line up with plates of spaghetti.
Posted by Jen Hand from The Spice & Tea Exchange Distribution Center in St. Augustine, FL. Say hello to her on Twitter (@spiceandtea)
March
13
“There are only two kinds of people in the world,” the Irish saying goes. “The Irish and those who wish they were.” But for 24 hours on a mid-March day, the second half of that saying is blarney! On St. Patrick’s Day, we’re allbuy generic lasix
em> Irish.
Ever wonder how eating corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day became a tradition? 
While there is no dispute that cabbage and potatoes are staples of the Irish diet, it’s been said the vegetables were eaten with Irish bacon, not beef. But apparently Irish immigrants in America couldn’t afford bacon and switched to the cheaper corned-beef brisket, readily available at kosher delis. Others don’t accept this idea, saying the Irish settled in U.S. cities full of German and Polish butchers. Salt-brined beef was a major Irish export for hundreds of years, as well.
Either way, after the bagpipes are heard and parades are watched, on this St. Patrick’s Day millions of people will dress in green, raise a pint and sit down to what they consider the quintessential traditional Irish meal, corned beef and cabbage. Enjoy this recipe!
Corned Beef & Cabbage with Herb Sesame Mustard
10 cups water
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp TSTE Yellow Mustard
3 Tbsp TSTE Pickling Spice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh beef brisket, 7 to 9 pounds
3 ribs celery, cut in 2-inch pieces
2 large onions, cut in wedges
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 medium red potatoes, halved
5 carrots, cut into thirds
2 small rutabagas or 1 medium rutabaga, cut in 2-inch chunks
1 head of cabbage, cut in 6 or 8 wedges
Combine water, salt, sugar, mustard, Pickling Spice, and garlic in an 8-quart nonreactive stock pot. Boil. Remove from heat and set aside. When cooled, trim excess fat from corned beef and put into the liquid. You may need to transfer liquids and corned beef to a larger container or bowl (be sure it is nonreactive). Add cold water to cover beef, if necessary. Use a heavy pottery bowl to weigh corned beef down so it stays submerged in water. Cover pan and refrigerate for 5-7 days. Take out once a day to stir lightly & turn beef as needed. On the 6th or 7th day, remove beef from brine and rinse well with cold water. Place in a large (8-quart or larger) pot. Cover with cold water and add celery, onions, and 2 cloves of minced garlic. Bring to boil; skim off any residue which develops on surface. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover & simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
Uncover pot and add potatoes, carrots, rutabaga or turnip, and cabbage. An 8-quart pot should be large enough, but if you don’t have room for all of the vegetables, bring another pot of water to a boil, add 1 TBSP salt, and add cabbage or other vegetables which didn’t fit.
Cover the large pot and cook until meat and vegetables are tender, about 1 hour longer. If cooking vegetables in another pot, cook just until tender and keep warm.
Herb Sesame Mustard:
1 cup prepared mustard
2 Tablespoons TSTE Herb Sesame Blend (or to taste)
Combine yellow mustard and Herb Sesame Blend, then chill. Serve as an accompaniment to corned beef dinner or sandwiches.
Recipe from Jeffrey & Bryan from TSTE Winter Park.
