Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Posts Tagged ‘black tea’

My List Of Foods Containing Quercetin

Posted by terrepruitt on August 30, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesI was looking in a catalog of supplements . . . one of my Nia students gave it to me after class.  We didn’t even have a chance to discuss it because she handed it to me as she was leaving, so I didn’t even realize it was a catalog of supplements until I flipped through it and saw every other page was an advertisement for a supplement.  Anyway . . . it had an article in it about the flavonoid, quercetin.  It reminded me of the information stating that it has been proven to be an anti-inflammatory and an antihistamine.  Since I primarily mention eating onions, apples, and citrus fruit in my two posts, An Apple a Day and Allergy Relief, I thought I would look up some information regarding what other foods contain this interesting plant component.  I found two sites with the same list.  I went through the list and found the things that I eat or would eat.  Some of the foods listed I didn’t even know what they were, such as Bog wortleberries, dock leaves, and lovage leaves.  Some I wouldn’t eat because they are peppers, such as ancho peppers and hot green chili peppers.  But I would eat some of the items listed.  I DO eat some of the items listed.  I could increase my consumption of some of them.

Here is my list.

Food Chart

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesThis is a food chart showing fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains rich in quercetin.
mg/100 g.
Apple, raw with skin        4.42
Apricot, raw                    2.55
Blueberries, raw             3.11
Broccoli, cooked            1.06
Broccoli, raw                  3.21
Butterhead lettuce         1.19
Cherries, raw                 1.25
Cherry tomatoes, raw     2.77
Green beans, raw           2.73
Kale, raw                        7.71
Plums, raw                     1.20
Red grapes                    3.54
Red onion, raw             19.93
Spinach, raw                  4.86
Tea, black brewed          2.07
Tea, decaf brewed         2.84
Tea, decaf green brewed    2.77
Tea, green brewed         2.69
White sweet onion, raw      5.19

I love apples.  I could easily eat more of those.  I don’t experience apricots that much, but I like them ok.  I think you know how I feel about blueberries, but I did discover I like them in a green smoothie.  I LOVE cherries!  Not so sure about eating green beans raw, but I just had kale in a green smoothie this past week.  I have received plums and grapes in my produce box.  But I don’t eat them often.  I eat onions pretty much every day in a green salad.  It is good to know that quercetin is in tea.

So what about you?  Do you know what a Bog wortleberry is?  It has a lot of quercetin in it but not as much as canned capers or dock leaves.  Since I don’t know what dock leaves are I don’t know if you would eat a 100 grams of them, but I can’t imagine someone eating 100 grams of capers.  So, I guess it is good that they have so much quercetin in them.  You can still get some from a smaller amount.

I am sure there are a lot of people who eat a lot more than is on my list.  The peppers alone.  I know many people who love peppers.  Anything on my list that you eat?  Anything you might think of increasing consumption of?  What about the full list? 

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Chai Tea Latte For Me

Posted by terrepruitt on April 2, 2013

So in my post Venting Gets Me Good I explain how my complaint about Starbucks’ Chai Tea Latte landed me a great Chai Tea recipe AND cardamom, one of the spices used to make it.  Well, the original recipe calls for “pinches’ which didn’t seem like enough to me and is difficult to translate in a recipe.  So I decided that a pinch would be about an 1/8 of a teaspoon.  I felt that made a bit of a weak tea.  So I have increased the measurements and changed the water to milk ratio.  Also, lately when I have been in the mood to make this tea and have actually had the time and the milk I have not had fresh ginger so I have been using ground ginger.  It works for me and I am not left chewing on ginger.  While my fabulous Nia friend who gave me the recipe pointed out I could use a tea strainer to get out the ginger and the cloves, one reason I like to drink the tea is to drink the ginger and get the benefits from it.

Like many recipes SOMEONE has to have created it.  Then others morph it into what works for them.  I keep telling one of my friends about this recipe and that I made adjustments.  She seems excited to try it so she says, “And you put the adjustments on your blog?”  I had not so that makes it difficult for her to make the tea with my adjustments when I have not noted them.  So I decided to do it.  Plus it helps me.  I use my blog as my recipe book and when I have to keep remember to adjust it is not as helpful as when the measurements are just documented accurately.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaHere is the recipe I have been using and I think it is very lovely.

Terre’s Favorite Chai Tea Latte:

2 cups of water
2 tea green bags
10 cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 (heaping) tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cups milk

Boil the water then add the tea bags.  Let simmer for a few minutes.  (Here is where you decide how long according to how strong you like your tea).  Squeeze out the tea bags and remove them from sauce pan (or whatever you are using to make the tea). Then add all the spices.  Allow it to sit and simmer a bit.  Then add the milk and let it simmer gently.  Add sweetener of your choice. Serve and enjoy!

The original recipe said to use “2 tea bags (black, green, redbush, etc.)” so I it seems you can use whatever you like.  If green does not agree with you, then don’t use it.

I think this makes a very yummy tea.  And I call it Chai because that is what the recipe said when I first got it.  One thing I do like to do while drinking this tea is stir often.  I want to drink the spices and get their flavor.  When all the spices end up at the bottom of the mug it is not as flavorful a cup of tea.  Plus in order to get the benefits from the spices you need to drink them.

One day when I tweeted out that I was making Chai someone responded that she makes it every day and she adds fennel.  I have yet to try that.  I don’t see why you can’t add anything you want.  This is just a starting place . . . .

So . . . . . tell me what you think?  Do you like it?  What changes did YOU make to make it “Chai Tea Latte For You”?

Posted in "Recipes" | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Venting Gets Me Good

Posted by terrepruitt on January 31, 2013

I go to Starbucks when I have a gift card.  I like Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes.  When I first started getting them they were almost too spicy for me.  Then they seemed to change a bit.  They got less flavorful.  Then one time I got one at a store I don’t normally frequent and I thought my teeth were going to fall out.  It was soooooo sweet.  Yes, I know that the fancy drinks at Starbucks and other coffee houses are a huge source of sugar.  That is ONE reason why I don’t buy them.  I DO have them on occasion when I am blessed with receiving a gift card.  To me they are a nice treat.  But this one hurt my teeth and my stomach.  I chalked it up to this store making them different.  But then I went to the store I usually go to and it was the same thing.  Ugh.  I posted a Facebook status asking if they had changed their recipe.  I know places and manufacturers do that all the time.  One of the responses I received was to make my own Chai.  The response even included the recipe.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaA few days after that I was in the grocery store and I actually remembered while I was in the spice aisle that I needed cardamom to make the chai.  I looked and looked and when I finally found it I almost choked.  It was $12.99.  I didn’t realize it was that expensive.

So, again, I posted on Facebook, I said that I would stick to using my gift cards at Starbucks instead of spend $13.00.  And again the replies were awesome.  People near and far reminded me that I live in an area rich with many cultures and that I could find cardamom at Indian Spice stores.  The major benefits to that would be that it would be cheaper and more than likely better.

But before I could remember to get to a store one of my amazing friends brought me a little box of it.  She is awesome like that.  She frequents an affordable spice shop so she picked me up some.

Here is the recipe that Danielle Woermann (a Nia Black Belt) posted for me on Facebook.  I am unaware of where she got it.

Masala Chai. Serves four.

Boil 3 cups (.7 liters) of water with
4 cloves
2 pinches ground nutmeg
2 pinches ground cinnamon
2 pinches ground cardamom
1/2 inch (1.27 cm) piece of grated fresh ginger

Add 2 tea bags (black, green, redbush, etc.) and simmer for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup (.2 liters) almond milk or milk of your choice, and heat until hot, but not boiling. Add sweetener of your choice. Serve and enjoy!

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaI decided to measure my “pinches” so that I could have a more accurate measure and adjust accordingly.  I used an 1/8 of a teaspoon as a “pinch”.  I think that I need to work on it a bit.  Either the person doing the pinching who created this recipe has REALLY LARGE pinches or they like a more mellow tea.  I think that this might be really good if I made it ahead of time and let all the flavors really seep into the water.  The time that is stated in the recipe didn’t seem to do that.  Also it does help if, when you are drinking it, you actually get some of the spices in your mouth . . . . which also makes for an oddly textured and a bit chewy tea.  But I’m ok with that.

I think I might experiment with chopping the ginger.  For some reason I don’t might little tiny chunks of fresh ginger as opposed to what came off my grater . . . . it was odd.

That is a GREAT thing about recipes though, right?  I love to try them the way they are then adjust them to my tastes.  Maybe this is one that you can make and enjoy — either adjusting or not.

Do you like Chai Tea?  Do you have a recipe?  Doesn’t this one sound yummy?

Posted in "Recipes" | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »