"icedtea" news and stories

Quality iced tea (i.e. iced tea made from quality loose leaf tea) can be confusing because it's made in different ways by different people. I've been reviewing teas for several months now, and even I haven't been sure of the best way to make iced tea until very recently, when I finally decided (through necessity of the hot weather) to try it on my own.

The first thing you should know is that you should not make sun tea. This is a long-used method of throwing the tea in a pitch of water and then letting that pitcher of water sit out in the sun... at exactly the perfect temperature to breed bacteria and potentially make you sick.

Yes, your grandmother's made it since you were a kid or your mother says it's fine, but trust me. Sun tea is a bad idea, and even if it weren't, there is very popular method of making iced tea that eliminates any need to leave your tea in a jar out in your yard all day.

Most trade shows are the stuff of, if not nightmares, then at least a sleepwalk from one charmless kiosk to the next. Not so at the 54th Summer Fancy Food Show, where 20,000+ gourmet retailers, restaurateurs, chefs, media folks and plain ol' food fans spend three days chomping their way through a fever dream of some 180,000 specialty foods. The throwback "Fancy" is a bit of a misnomer by now, as there's a very wide slice of products on offer, ranging from swankity wines, oils, cheeses and caviar to humble chewing gums, ketchups, chili seasonings and snack mixes.

Here are my first day favorites from the more wallet-friendly end of the spectrum. More thorough reviews will follow, but I've gotta recover from hauling around a 21lb* shoulder bag of collected samples and press releases first.

The other day, I blogged about my awesome Big Book of Backyard Cooking. In the review, I mysteriously mentioned my favorite iced tea recipe, but I didn't want to go into detail until I could share pictures of all the tasty ingredients. So, over the weekend I ran to the store twice (because I lazily didn't check my food supply before going the first time), and whipped up a nice batch of my absolute favorite iced beverage: Julep Iced Tea.

Instead of bourbon, which keeps many a folk sauced at the Kentucky Derby, this recipe uses a super-potent batch of English Breakfast tea. It takes a little more effort than your usual iced tea, but it's well worth the effort. Julep Iced Tea is super tasty, with that immediate kick of fresh mint and the sweet, sugary aftertaste of lemony tea. Check out the recipe after the jump and the gallery below.

AOL Food has brewed up an iced tea-stravaganza! Get recipes, tips & tricks with How to Brew Iced Tea, read our ongoing Bottled Iced Tea Reviews, and slurp up fun historical and cultural facts in our Iced Tea Quiz. Don't forget to c'mon back to share your quiz scores, tea brewing strategies, and suggestions about what store-bought blends we should sample next.

Get sipping!

And we had a few things to say about Southern Sweet Tea a while back.

• Summer is almost over, so make some desserts with plums.
• Clafoutis is a French comfort food.
• Taste Test: Who makes the best supermarket iced tea?
• The Plonk of the Month: Muscadet.
• The dish above? Nougat Glace.
• Some highlights from food-related Craigslist postings.
• This week's recipes: 10 Minute Tomato Sauce, Grilled Striped Bass, Bread and Butter Pickles, Caprese Salad, Panzanella, Zucchini-Walnut Bread, and Mrs. Neil's Peach Pie.