Friday, August 8, 2008

Recycled Tea

Tea is very expensive here in Brazil, and there aren't many flavors. Since I got pregnant I've been trying not to drink many caffinated beverages....so that meant giving up my morning coffee. I thought about buying decaf, but a tiny little package is twice the price of a big package of regular. So, I moved on to tea....all to be disappointed with the selection and price.

But, I learned a great way to make my own tea from fruit. It's a good way to use every part of the fruit you're eating, instead of just throwing it away. I learned this from my mother-in-law who told me, "We don't waste anything". Which is so true.

It's really simple too! I made my first tea from pineapple. We bought a fresh pineapple to eat as a family. When I cut it up, I saved the hard peel. I washed the peels off, then put them in a pot. I added enough water to cover the peels by about an inch. Then I added a few cloves. I boiled it for about 20-25 minutes (which smelled sooo good). Then you just strain the liquid from the peels through a very fine strainer. And Presto! You've just made tea! How easy is that!

I'm so excited to try it with other fruits as well. I'm looking forward to trying apple, orange, and whatever else I can think of that might work. I also bought some cinnamon sticks to put in with my next batch of tea.

The pineapple tea turned out great! What a treat and a great way to use every part of the fruit you eat. Cheap and easy......what more could you ask for? Try it yourself and tell me what you think!

5 comments:

Stacie@HobbitDoor said...

Neat idea! Do you drink it hot or cold or both?

Michele said...

Stacie--I drink it hot, but I bet cold would be good too. You just gave me another good idea. Thanks!

Audra Krell said...

okay, this is so cool! I love your ideas. I just started drinking tea this past 6 months and yours sounds delish!

Stacey said...

What a great idea! That is how I make the ginger tea that I drink but it never occured to me to use fruit peels to do that same thing. :o)

Susan said...

Yummy,the have great teas here in Germany. I have never thought about brewing peels. Sounds good, I need to try that!