Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tea Flavoured Apples


So, whilst my daily grind at work, I happened upon an interesting discovery. In my lunch bag there are always two things, an apple and a bag of tea. Often my apple would end up being placed directly on top of the tea, and it would all be sealed up and stored for hours in the lunch bag.
I do believe the first time both these items shared a small space for a few hours, I took a bite out of the apple and thought "golly this apple is delicious." Well, more so than a Gala apple normally is anyways.

It turns out that apples have a lovely ability to absorb the scent and even a little of the flavour of any tea leaves that is in close proximity to it. Did you know that? When I realized this was happening, I began to experiment. Basically I put a whole apple in a lot of tea leaves for a day, and then ate the apple. It was delicious. It tasted like tea and apples and calendula petals and vanilla and etc. 


Now before you try it, I've found that very floral teas do not make good tea flavoured apples. Too perfumed and not appetizing. Dessert teas make amazing tea apples, and just try it with some chai -- it is divine. 

For those who don't feel like reading, or need some pictures to illustrate what I am saying, here is a quick visual guide.

Step one: Get an apple. Preferably get one with a thin skin. I always use Gala apples, but try the ones you own before you go to the grocer for any special types of apple. 

Step two: Get yourself some dried tea leaves in a seal-able container. Even some tea in a Ziploc baggie would do the trick.  Try not to pick teas that are too floral (but hey, who knows, you might like that.) I recommend chai or dessert styled teas.

Step three: Put an apple in there, seal it up, and wait. It will start taking the scent and flavour after a few hours, but will be decently potent if you wait a day. Just don't forget about it in there. A rotting apple will ruin all your tea, and wouldn't you feel like a knob.