Using Tea As A Low-Fat, Health Promoting Spice

In general many spices have health promoting properties beyond containing antioxidants.  Some spices help inhibit bacterial growth, some are good for your heart and circulatory system and others are good for memory and cognition.  Using different spices is a great way to enhance and compliment the flavor of many dishes while adding an extra health kick.  One you may want to add to your spice rack is tea.

Tea is being used more and more as a spice and for good reason.  Tea has a lot of the same properties as other spices, it doesn’t add fat to your dishes, it doesn’t add sodium or sugar, but it does add a health benefit and new intriguing flavor to your spice rack.

In some cultures tea has been used for many years to add flavor to foods.  Tea has been used in Britain to flavor tea cakes, in Japan to make a specific dish that involves pouring green tea over the rice before it is served, and black tea has been used to smoke and simmer foods for years in China. 

Now modern cooks are making use of various teas — green tea, black tea and wulong tea– to create new dishes and new flavors in traditional dishes.  They are learning that simple additions of the right kind of tea can add a rich flavor to the food without overtaking the natural flavors of the food itself.  To experience this for your self try adding a jasmine green or light wulong teabag to rice as it is cooking, or add a teaspoon or so of brewed English Breakfast tea to a salad dressing. 

Tea can work well to enhance the flavor or appetizers, the main course or dessert.  I’m sure you’ve seen green tea ice cream at the store, but there are so many ways to use black or wulong tea to season other desserts as well.  Deep black teas like English Breakfast or Darjeeling have tones that can help add depth to the flavor of chocolate desserts, while green teas can add a punch to creamier desserts.  Using flavored teas like chai can add an interesting flavor to rich desserts like cheesecake or even frosting for your traditional cake.

As with any spice you can be creative when cooking with tea.  You can use either brewed tea in a dish or add the tea bag while cooking, or you can add tea leaves to a spice grinder and add it like you would fresh ground salt or pepper.  Once again you can use a variety of teas this way from black and green to wulong and flavored teas like chai.  Once you practice with it a little bit you will start to get the hang of what flavors go best with certain dishes. 

Not only with cooking with tea be good for you but it will also add new subtle flavors that may have your guests asking for more of the unique dish.