Memories steeped in sweet tea

The State ^ | Jan. 30, 2002 | Jay C. Grelen

[aomagrat]

Sweet tea, as one of the characters in the movie ''Steel Magnolias'' noted, is the house wine of the South.

It is what we drank when we cooled our houses with attic fans. As a teen-age hay hauler, I'd drink a jug a day.

When I sit around telling stories, that's what I drink, winter or summer.

I am the uncaped crusader for the preservation of the tradition, which is in trouble. Young people don't know how to make tea, and bottled liquid they call tea is sprouting like kudzu in stores.

Here is my tea pedigree:

I have consumed sweet tea at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House in Savannah, Ga., and at Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill, N.C., where you sweeten your tea with a concoction of mint and sugar water. I have drunk sweet tea with George Wallace.

My sweet-tea crusade developed in a roundabout way in 1993 after I spent a day picking Silver Queen corn in south Alabama. I, sweaty and dirty, went to a catfish joint and ordered a glass of tea to go. The cashier brought a full pitcher and set me in a rocking chair on the porch. I felt obliged to drink the entire pitcher.

I wrote about that woman's kind heart and proposed that sweet tea is much more than a drink. It's the memories of our grandmothers and Sunday lunch. It's a symbol of our hospitality. I invited readers to share a sweet tea memory. Readers rhapsodized.

We learned the importance of tea. My bosses at the Mobile, Ala., newspaper allowed me to sponsor a contest in which a panel selected the best sweet tea. The New York Times published a story about my crusade, which was followed by a story in Saveur, a fancy New York magazine. Then, Southern Living published a small story in which the writer proclaimed me a ``sweet-tea evangelist.''

In 1999, I took the crusade to Oklahoma. The battle there has been lost. To put Oklahomans in perspective, one day I was in a cafe in Hobart. After determining that sweet tea wasn't on the menu, I was happy to find that pinto beans were.

''You have any rice to put under those beans?'' I asked the waitress. She looked at me like I'd ordered a scoop of topsoil.

I have learned that the sugar you use matters. (You can't beat Dixie Crystals.) I use tea from a company in Mobile, which perfected a blend that is as clear after a night in the refrigerator as it is the moment you make it.

[FeliciaCat]

Agreed. I grew up on "ice tea" and have always called it that. My mom makes the best, let it brew in the sun all day, the serve in a big glass with ice and lemon. yum!!

[Stand Watch Listen]

FYI…

Virginia recipe
Sweet Potato Biscuits

Serving Size : 12

• 1 medium(9oz) sweet potato -- unpeeled
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter -- melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg -- beaten
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tb.+1 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

In a medium saucepan, cook the whole sweet potato in boiling (unsalted) water until tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 20 minutes. Let the sweet potato cool, then pare it and mash until smooth. You should have about 1 cup mashed sweet potato. Let the cooking water cool to warm (105 deg. or less).
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees.
In a medium saucepan, stir the mashed sweet potato with the melted butter until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Stir in the milk, sugar, and egg. Sift the cake and all-purpose flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl, and then stir into the liquids to combine. Knead briefly in the bowl to form a soft dough.
On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to 3/4 inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out biscuits. Gather up the scraps, reroll, and repeat the procedure until 12 biscuits are cut out. Transfer the biscuits to an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake the biscuits until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

North Carolina Recipe..
Sweet Potato Biscuits

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
4 cups self-rising flour
1 stick butter, melted
pinch of baking soda
1-1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons sugar

Mix together the sweet potatoes, butter, and milk until well blended. Stir in the flour, baking soda, and sugar. Shape the dough into a ball and knead about 8 to 10 times on a well-floured board. Roll the dough out 1 inch thick and cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Bake in a greased baking pan in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until brown.

Makes about 15

[blackdog]

God has smiled on me through you! Thank you! That made my day! Gotta go to the kitchen now.......

[Mrs Zip]

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[Mrs Zip]

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