tea-jelly

UPDATE! THIS GIVEAWAY IS OVER. THE WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENTERING!

I’d never heard of tea jelly before I started seeing Davidson’s Organic Tea demonstrate how to cook with the stuff.  Such as . . .

White Pomegranate Tea Jelly Gastrique

Earl Grey Eggnog Cookies

Then I started thinking of making tea jelly myself, using the aforementioned Davidson’s loose leaf teas, which I love from the bottom of my deepest teapot.

Davidson’s premise, (and I agree with it), is that as long as you’re going to be drinking tea, why not make it organic tea? The best organic tea. Especially if tea is a part of your daily lifeblood, like it is mine. Better for your body, better for the earth.

When my daughter saw a jar of my homemade jelly she asked, “What’s this?” and tried it, she then said, “We’ve got to hide it from the others.” It tastes like a refreshing lemon iced tea you can spread on your toast. Or over cream cheese on a bagel, or on top of chevre over a crisp cracker.

It also makes a tasty and interesting gift.

Which leads me to the giveaway.

teajellygiveaway

Davidson’s has donated a couple of real treats for me to give to one of our readers.

First, a boxed set of four jars of their house made tea jellies: Earl Grey, Classic Chai, Coconut Vanilla, and White Pomegranate

Then, a 2 oz. pack of Organic Dunsandle Nilgiri Loose Tea.

I’m tossing in a pretty acacia wood scoop, perfect for use with loose tea, plus one of my hand-knitted dishcloths, made with one of my favorite patterns, Ramen Noodle (you can see it in the background of the pic above, it’s blue and white).

If you would like to enter to win this sweet giveaway, please pop over to the Davidson’s website and come back and comment on this post with what you think looks irresistible/would like to try from Davidson’s. I’d love to know what you think of their stuff. I think I’m going to have to stick with my go-to loose tea, so good: Assam.

And if you decide to buy any tea bags, loose leaf, or iced teas while you’re there, don’t forget to use my discount code, DAISY7 for 10% off your order.

For tea jelly, which I made the other day for the first time, I chose a delicious Oothu Black.

It has a delicately floral yet rich flavor, which I thought would pair well with the organic lemon juice and zest I wanted to blend in. It did.

oothublacktea

Organic Black Tea & Lemon Jelly

Makes almost 3 pints

4 1/2 cups boiling water

6 Tablespoons loose organic black tea

1 package low-sugar pectin

3 cups raw organic cane sugar

1/2 cup organic lemon juice

zest of two organic lemons

Combine the tea leaves with the boiling water and allow to steep for about 10 minutes until you have a nice, rich brew.

Strain out the tea leaves and pour the tea into a medium saucepan.

Add the lemon juice and zest.

Bring to a boil.

While that comes to a boil, measure out the sugar.

Remove 1/4 cup of the sugar to a separate small bowl and add in the contents of the pectin package. Stir.

Pour the pectin/1/4 cup sugar mixture into the tea mixture and return to a boil.

Add in the remaining sugar and allow it to return to a full rolling boil and boil for 1 full minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat.

Pour into prepared sterilized canning jars and screw on lids using standard canning methods.

Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Remove from boiling water and allow to cool. Let sit undisturbed for at least 24 hours before opening.

I’m joking. Sample it as soon as you can find some worthy bread/cracker/cheese combo.

Don’t forget about the giveaway and your discount code, DAISY7.

 

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