Blueberry Iced Tea

EVENT: A-Z CHALLENGE

THEME: A DISH BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER B

Before I go into my usual story telling mode, I have to explain to you what the A-Z challenge group is all about. Every alternate month the participants make a dish with the  relevant letter. The group was started in May by Jolly Makkar and Vidya Narayan. The first letter was A. For July we have to post a recipe with the letter B.  I have chosen to use blueberries.

The past few days in Montreal have been unbearably hot. Many states towards the Eastern side are experiencing a heat wave where temperatures are rising to 34°C but it feels so much hotter than that. A couple of days ago we went out as I needed sandals (the only pair I had broke). If it were India, we’d comfortably come out to shop in the evening but here the shops close at 5p.m. so had no choice but to walk in the heat. Most part of the avenue had trees but no breeze at all. At traffic lights hubby and I were looking for shady spots, till we could cross the road. By the time we got home, I had to take a cold shower to cool down. Yesterday, I refused to come out of the apartment as the heat was like a blast from the hot oven. Just a few seconds out in the balcony and I thought my skin would burn. In the middle of the night there were thunderstorms and it rained a bit. However, the weather just became more humid.  Today turned out to be a much cooler day with temperatures between 18-21°C and a cool breeze too. What a change. Tomorrow and the rest of the week is going to be hot again.

Hot weather means that when my son comes home he is looking for really cold drinks. I sometimes make chaas, sometimes a fresh juice or iced tea. With berries in season, I had to make iced tea using them. I actually had a blueberry squares recipe jotted down to make for letter B, but baking in this hot weather was out of the question. I made blueberry iced tea instead and it was a hit with the family.

Easy to make, I simply love the colour. Blueberries appear greyish blue but when pureed or cooked, it turns into a magenta colour – purplish red.  Blueberries and lemon pair pretty well. Adding mint was just to add more flavor to the iced tea.

As this post goes live, nearly 50 people have died in Montreal because of the heatwave. Its been mainly people who are immobile and old.

BLUEBERRY ICED TEA

Serves 6

1 cup fresh blueberries

5 cups cold water

1 cup boiling hot water

3 tea bags

10-12 mint leaves

3-4 tbsp sugar

a generous pinch of salt

3-4 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest (grated lemon rind)

ice cubes

1. Add mint leaves and tea bags to the boiling hot water. Cover and let the mixture infused for 5-10 minutes.
2. Strain the mixture to remove the mint leaves and tea bags.
3. Add the black tea into a big jug/pitcher.
4. Add blueberries into a blender jug with 1 cup water from the measured amount.
5. Puree the blueberries.
6. Add the blueberry puree to the black tea mixture.
7. Add the remaining water, sugar, salt, lemon zest and lemon juice.
8. Mix well and refrigerate the iced tea for 2-3 hours.
9. Add ice cubes into serving glasses and pour the blueberry iced tea over it and serve.

Tips:

• Use berries of your choice.
• Can use frozen berries for this recipe.
• I used Kenyan Tea which has quite a strong flavor, use tea according to your taste.
• Use honey, maple syrup or a sweetener of your choice.

A little note:

If you do try this recipe then please either

• add a comment below,
• send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
•  tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
• or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962

You may want to check out the following Iced Tea recipes:

Sending this recipe to the following event:

A to Z challenge, a challenge initiated on Facebook Group, wherein a group of bloggers come together and we choose key ingredients alphabetically to cook and post a dish every alternate month.. This month’s Alphabet is ‘B’ and I decided to make Blueberry Iced Tea.