My grandma sent me this recipe that she clipped from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. She doesn’t know it but the recipe is perfectly suited for my season of homemade gift giving. One-cup jars of this mix are the perfect gift to give a few of my tea-loving coworkers for Christmas.
ingredients.
- 12 cardamom pods
- 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp. whole cloves (about 15)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 3 T. minced candied ginger
- 1/2 c. loose black tea
directions.
- preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- in a metal pie tin, combine cardamom, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon and toasted in preheated oven five minutes. when cool enough to handle, place all spices in a ziploc plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.
- combine crushed spices with candied ginger and black tea. store in one or more canning jars.
to serve.
***steep 1 tablespoon chai tea blend in 1 1/2 cups water for five minutes. strain tea and add 1/2 cup milk, with honey to taste. reheat as needed.
I could not for the life of me locate candied, minced ginger. Instead I used crystallized ginger (that my sister had in the house) and used one of those hand-held Pampered Chef choppers to ‘mince’ the ginger. It’s not easy to mince something that’s the texture of gummy bears – in case you were wondering.
Toasting the clove mixture results in a delightful, fragrant smell that permeates your entire kitchen (or entire living space if your place is small enough).
Admittedly I was a bit skeptical of the end product as I was preparing it. I didn’t understand how I could get all of the various flavors evenly distributed in one tiny tablespoon of the mix used for the steeping process. I was pleasantly surprised to find I liked my homemade chai tea ‘latte’ more than I thought would.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 