Dalandan Rooibos Iced Tea

The little girl is a fan of iced tea.  But we dislike Nestea or any of those "tea" drinks that are really just sugar, water and flavoring.  The good news is that she likes real tea... even the ones served at Chinese restaurants.  But her favorite is rooibos - caramel or Strawberry!

Anyway, we found dalandan at the local organic market the other day and she wanted some.  She said she wants the fruits for the juice to make tea.  I had to explain that to qualify as tea, there should be more than the fruit. 

I was actually confused for a while because the name plate read "Mandarin" so I asked the saleman what it was.  He said (at first) that it was the local orange or kahel.  And I just had to ask because as far as I know the local orange is dalandan.  He finally admitted that it was.  Of course I haggled the price of the dalandan to a reasonable one.  I also wondered how many people were fooled into paying a higher price for dalandan that was marketed as "Mandarin"...

Here is our dalandan rooibos iced tea!

The recipe:

about 7 pieces of largish dalandan, juiced
3 tablespoons caramel rooibos, steeped in 1/2 liter of hot water then strained and cooled
1 liter cold water
agave, as sweetener, to taste

Just mix everything in a juice pitcher.  Throw in a couple of slices of dalandan and chill thoroughly!

Here are the juiced dalandan.  The little girl was happy to help.  Actually she wanted to use the citrus juicer!  I used the reamer!

The dalandan fruits were seedless so no straining necessary!  And I do love a pulpy drink!  Feels more authentic... somehow.  The little loved her dalandan iced tea, although she asked for more sweetener.

Iced Chrysanthemum Tisane

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant recently and the little girl discovered chrysanthemum tea.  She asked what it was and we explained that it is a "tea" that is made with chrysanthemum flowers, (although I suspect that the brew offered by the restaurant is actually a "powdered" ice tea mix).  The little girl was so enamored by it that she asked me to make "flower tea" at home, sweetening the deal by offering to help me. 

Good thing I still had some dried chrysanthemum flowers!

The tea itself was not difficult to make, nor did it take too long.  But that's if you like hot tea (which I do) but the little girl wanted iced tea, so she had to wait!

Anyway, my mom always said that chrysanthemum tea had "cooling" effects, which meant that it "cools" the body, so it was a very good drink for summer time.  Or when a person is "hot" with fever, flu, sore throat, or ... STRESS!  Supposedly, this tea also helps with liver rejuvenation, as well as enhancing general health and reducing signs of age.  

And here's our tea "brewing"...

To make it -

1/2 cup dried chrysanthemum flowers (about 15 grams, thereabouts)
1 tablespoon dried goji berries
6 cups of water
2 to 3 tablespoons rock sugar (or to taste) (about 30 to 50 grams)

Boil the water with the rock sugar until the rock sugar melts.

Meanwhile, rinse the chrysanthemum flowers with hot water (pour in hot water, count 1, 2, 3 then strain immediately).  Rinse the dried goji berries (the same way), too.

Let the water boil about 5 minutes then turn off the fire.  Count 1 to 25 (slowly) then put the flowers and goji berries in.

Steep for 10 minutes.  (longer steeping time means stronger flavor.)  Strain and decant to a bottle and let cool completely.  Chill overnight.  (Adding ice is not recommended because it dilutes the mix too much.)

For hot tea, omit the rock sugar and steep 5 minutes after rinsing the flowers.