We were quite young when we first learned about Stash Tea. It was in the early 1970s, and in those days, in the Northeast, there were few natural food stores. Yogurt was still a cult food eaten by “health nuts” and people in Greek and Middle Eastern communities. In these days of the hippie, we thought that the name paid homage to one’s stash of illicit substances.

The tea, which we ordered from a catalog back then, was great, and we just learned that we were wrong about the name.
 
 
STASH TEA HISTORY

Things were more progressive in Portland, Oregon, when The Stash Tea Company was founded in 1972. It started in the basement of a suburban Victorian house. There, surrounded by loose teas, herbs and spices, a trio of friends set out to provide better tea than the large brands offered.

They started with quality loose tea, and named the company for the special reserve of precious teas that many sea captains kept “stashed” onboard for their personal use.

The fledgling company quickly became a player in fine teas. One partner had a mail-order marketing background with Sears, one had worked with Frito-Lay, and the third had management experience at a natural foods store.

Offering a better tea alternative to the category monster Lipton and its competitors, Stash made a profit in its first year, mostly by selling to natural foods stores.

The customers there appreciated a brand that tasted better than the bagged tea brands then available.

By 1975, the company began marketing tea bags and a complete line of traditional, specialty blend, and herbal teas to restaurants and through mail-order catalogs. Restaurants and other segments of the foodservice industry became the company’s bread and butter.

Stash Tea launched a website in 1995 with the advent of e-commerce, making their teas available to customers nationwide.

After 21 years, the founders sold the company to Yamamotoyama Co., Ltd., a 300-year-old tea company based in Tokyo.

They then founded another startup, Tazo Tea, which they eventually sold to Starbucks for $9.1 million.
 
 
STASH TEA TODAY

Today, Stash Tea ranks among the top five specialty tea companies in the U.S. It sells a complete line of specialty teas: some 200 teas, tea accessories, and tea gifts.

 
So head online to check out your favorite teas and discover new ones. Send someone a tea gift.

Head to StashTea.com.

The line is certified kosher by KOF-K.
 
 
WHAT WE DISCOVERED

We spent some time on the Stash Tea website—a wealth of options and opportunities for discovery.

We first discovered their Double Bergamot Earl Grey black tea bags, which are so much more intensely bergamot than the brands we’d been using.

Ditto with the Super Irish Breakfast Tea and the Moroccan Mint Green Tea.

We also discovered a delightful selection of tea infusers for loose tea, including the cat in photo #4, plus a dog, a duck, a llama, a hedgehog, a narwhal, a sloth, and a unicorn. Check them out!

So treat yourself. Make a cup of tea and relax on StashTea.com for your break.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF TEA
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF TEA BAGS
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEA

[1] Time for a tea break. We’re heading to our “Stash” (all photos © Stash Tea).

[2] Peach Black Tea and White Peach Oolong Tea are Stash staff picks.

[3] There are 8 varieties of chai and dozens of flavored and herbal teas.

[4] There are delightful loose tea infusers, including cats and dogs.

________________

*Lipton remains the leading brand of bagged and loose leaf tea in the U.S., with sales of $218 million. Bigelow tea ranks second with $189 million. Twinings of London is third with $93 million, followed by Celestial Seasonings with $88 million. Private-label brands account for about $100 million [source].

Tea is the second most widely consumed beverage worldwide, second to water. In 2018, global tea production amounted to about 5.8 million metric tons. China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia were among the main tea producers in 2019, based on volume. China was responsible for the majority of total tea production with 2.8 million metric tons. Pakistan was the leading tea importer, with about $590 million worth [source].

[1] A quickie pizza for breakfast uses ready-to-eat naan flatbread instead of a pizza crust. The recipe is below (photos #1, #2 and #4 © Frigo Cheese).

[2] Add bacon, breakfast sausage or other topping(s) to the pizza.

[3] Campari tomatoes are similar in size to plum tomatoes, but with a round rather than oval shape (photo © Burpee).

[4] Frigo’s fresh mozzarella.

[5] Breakfast pizza with eggs and pancetta. Here’s the recipe (photo © DeLallo).

National Pizza Week begins the second Sunday in January, and you can start it off with pizza for breakfast— All of the pizza holidays are below; and check out these pizza statistics.

This is a speedy recipe because it switches out ready-to-heat-and-eat naan flatbfread instead of pizza dough. You can also use a small prebaked pizza crust.

The recipe is courtesy of Emily Ellyn, Retro Rad Chef and Frigo Cheese. Here are more of Chef Emily Ellyn’s recipes.

> The different types of flatbread.

> The history of pizza.
 
 
RECIPE: FLATBREAD PIZZA WITH CHOICE OF TOPPINGS

Some breakfast pizza recipes are topped with an egg, and you’re welcome to do so here. We recommend frying the egg separately and adding it as a garnish. Otherwise, after the crust is golden and toppings are browned, crack two eggs over each naan. Return them to the oven and bake for another 2-4 minutes more, until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still runny (photo #5).

You can also substitute sliced hard-boiled eggs.
 
Ingredients

 
Garnish

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Brush the naan flatbreads, bubbly side up, with the olive oil and sparingly season with salt. Then, place the naan on a sheet tray or pizza stone.

2. DIVIDE the marinara sauce and spread it over the tops of the naan. Top with the mozzarella and tomato slices. Add any additional pizza toppings, as desired.

3. PLACE the naan pizzas on the middle rack and cook for 10–15 minutes or until the mozzarella becomes melty and the crusts are golden brown.

4. REMOVE the pizzas from the oven and top them with the freshly ground black pepper, fresh basil and oregano. Slice and serve them with shredded Parmesan cheese and dried chili flakes.

Mangia!
 

THE YEAR IN PIZZA HOLIDAYS

Whether you get takeout pizza or make your own, mark your calendars for:

Struggling through diet after diet in the 1980s, we ate a lot of salad. In those days, before the wide distribution of artisan vinegars and olive oils, we preferred “diet” salad dressings to generic oil and vinegar. The brand with the widest choice was Walden Farms: zero calories, zero carbs, zero fats. Not to mention, cholesterol-free, gluten-free, keto-friendly, and certified kosher by OU.

While we embraced it at first, we grew tired of the overall flavors. But that was then.

Now, Walden Farms has improved its line of salad dressings—very good flavor and a lot of them, for dressing, marinades, and recipes. And still zero calories, zero carbs, and zero fats. We tried them and were impressed!

All of the salad dressings now have natural flavors with improved taste and texture on the inside and a label design on the outside.
 
 
ZERO-CALORIE FLAVORS FOR EVERY PALATE

What dazzles us is how many choices there are: 22!. How many dressings can fit on the grocer’s shelf? They’re all available on the Walden Farms website.

 
Discover more at WaldenFarms.com.
 
 
THE 5 MOST POPULAR SALAD DRESSING FLAVORS

According to The Association for Dressings and Sauces, Ranch is the most-popular dressing flavor in the country (Here’s more about ranch dressing). The runners-up:

 
 
RECIPE: ASIAN TOFU OR CHICKEN SALAD

This recipe (photo #5), from @TheVeganMomma, uses Walden Farms’ Sesame Ginger Dressing—zero calories, zero net carbs, zero sugar and fat—for this tasty, low calorie salad. She made it with tofu; we substituted chicken. You can use both!
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

Just chop up the ingredients, add dressing and toss.

[1] Italian is the second most-popular bottled dressing in the U.S., after Ranch (all photos © Walden Farms).

[2] Toss mixed steamed vegetables with zero-calorie Walden Farms vinaigrette and top with grilled fish.

[3] The most popular bottled dressing in the U.S.: Ranch.

[4] Make Buffalo wings with zero-calorie Walden Farms BBQ Sauce and Blue Cheese Dressing.

[5] This tasty, low-calorie Asian Sesame Ginger Salad can be vegan with tofu or meaty with chicken. The recipe is below (photo © Vegan Momma | Walden Farms Facebook.

[1] Sables, French shortbread cookies, made with blue cheese (photos #1 and #2 © Jasper Hill Farm).

[2] Bayley Hazen, one of America’s great blue cheeses (LINK REVIEW?).

[3] Use real maple syrup, not “pancake syrup” (photo © Rent Mother Nature).

[4] You can dip shortbread in chocolate, or enrobe the entire cookie (photo © Wisconsin Dairy).

[5] Salted caramel chocolate shortbread. Here’s the recipe (photo © Spice Islands).

[6] Candied lemon shortbread. Here’s the recipe (photo © Go Bold With Butter)

January 6th is National Shortbread Day. You might want to bake some traditional shortbread, or take a walk on the wild side with blue cheese sablés. What are sablés (pronounced sob-LAY)? They’re the French take on shortbread. The difference is that sablé, French for sandy (i.e. a sandy texture), is a more crumbly texture of the Scottish version. The ingredients are the same (flour, butter, eggs, sugar, a pinch of salt), the technique is slightly different.

Pecan sandies are an American version of sablés. See the difference in the footnote*.

The recipe below [shown in photo #1] adds blue cheese to the dough for a sweet and savory take. The recipe uses Bayley Hazen, one of America’s great blue cheeses. You can substitute, but make it a quality blue cheese.

You can find other recipes for savory-only shortbread: blue cheese or curry, for example.

> There are more shortbread cookie recipes below.

> The history of shortbread.

> The history of cookies.

> The history of blue cheese.
 
 
RECIPE: BLUE CHEESE SABLÉS WITH MAPLE GLAZE

Prep time is 15 minutes, 4+ hours to refrigerate the dough, and 15-20 minutes bake time.
 
Ingredients For 2 Dozen Cookies

 
Ingredients For The Glaze

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the cookie dough in advance. Blend the butter and blue cheese on low speed until totally combined, about a minute or two.

2. ADD the sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Beat until completely combined and creamy, but be careful not to over-mix. Add the egg yolks one by one, mixing just until the batter is smooth.

3. STIR in the flour with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, just enough to make sure there aren’t any pockets of dry flour. The dough will be sandy, but it should become cohesive when pressed.

4. ROLL the dough into a long log about 2” thick, working quickly to avoid drying out the dough. Wrap the log in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours. When ready to bake…

5. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. UNWRAP the chilled dough. Slice the uneven ends from the log, then cut the log in half. Slice each log into a dozen ½”-thick rounds. Arrange 12 cookies on each baking sheet, spaced about 1” apart.

7. BAKE the cookies for 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, just until the edges turn golden.

8. COOL the cookies on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then carefully remove them to a cooling rack.

9. MAKE the glaze. Combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside while the cookies cool. Once the cookies are completely cooled…

10. USE a pastry brush to paint the top of each cookie with glaze, covering the entire surface evenly. You only need a little bit; the glaze is very sweet and a thin layer of it is enough to balance out the cookies’ savory edge.
 
 
MORE SHORTBREAD COOKIE RECIPES

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Plant-based foods are enjoying the spotlight, and old standards like beans are finding themselves on a plate with popular breakfast foods. Beans are rich in protein and fiber, and also provide a good level of satiety, the satisfied feeling of being full after eating. That’s why we’re highlighting beans for breakfast!

Beans are one of the most versatile, nutritious, and affordable ingredients you can use in everyday cooking.

It’s easy to add a side of baked beans, black beans, kidney beans or other beans with breakfast eggs. Here, thanks to Flavor & The Menu, are six more reminders of how easy it is to add beans to breakfast.

Using canned beans like Bush’s make it a snap.

You can find bean recipes for every meal at BushBeans.com.

> The different types of beans.

> The history of beans.

> 13+ bean holidays.

> Check out the different types of breakfast eggs.
 
 
EASY WAYS TO ADD BEANS TO BREAKFAST

1. Breakfast Burrito

The breakfast burrito is a fan favorite. Make one with black beans, pico de gallo, scrambled eggs, guacamole, and a corn or flour tortilla. Born in Mexico, today’s style of burrito was devised in the U.S.A. (photo #4). Check out the history of the burrito and the modern burrito.
 
 
2. Huevos Rancheros

Huevos rancheros is a Mexican breakfast dish named after the ranchers who first enjoyed it. The basic dish consists of fried eggs served on lightly fried or charred corn or flour tortillas topped, with pico de gallo (a salsa made with tomatoes, chili peppers, onion, and cilantro).

Common accompaniments include refried beans, Mexican-style rice, and guacamole or slices of avocado, with cilantro as a garnish.

You can make a deconstructed version with smashed black beans topped with two sunny fried eggs, pico de gallo, salsa verde, and tortilla chips. Here’s a recipe for pico de gallo.

You can also have a side of beans—baked or otherwise—with any style of eggs.
 
 
3. Black Bean Breakfast Chili

Top black bean chili with two eggs, homestyle potatoes, queso fresco, and salsa verde.
 
 
4. Breakfast Bowl

America has embraced bowl recipes, and that includes breakfast bowls, with their layers of flavor and texture. At breakfast, beans make a great base for bowls. You can use ingredients from the Caribbean and Latin America to add more flavor to canned beans.

Here’s an idea for Egg & Mushroom Cazuela from Chicago’s Tortas Frontera:

Create a bowl of black beans, roasted sweet potatoes, scrambled eggs, Jack cheese, and roasted poblano strips, topped with wild arugula, Cotija cheese, cilantro, tortilla strips, and avocado.
 
 
5. Shakshuka

A Middle Eastern dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chiles and garlic, shakshuka or shakshouka is commonly spiced with cayenne, cumin, nutmeg, and/or paprika.

Here’s a recipe. Serve it over a base of seasoned beans.
 
 
6. Carnitas & Beans Frittata

Make a frittata (photo #3) and top it with beans and carnitas. This dish can take you from breakfast through lunch and dinner.
 
 
7. Toast With Mashed Beans

Beans have much more protein than avocado toast, or any other spread. Baked beans on toast are a British classic.
 
 
8. Mexican Parfait

Layers of beans, Greek yogurt or sour cream, and any other fixings you heart desires make this a wonderful way to enjoy your breakfast yogurt. Here’s the recipe (photo #8).
 
 
MORE WAYS TO ENJOY BEANS AT EVERY MEAL

Salads

There are many bean salad recipes but the ones we serve most often are:

 
Sandwiches & Wraps

 
Pasta & Grains

 
Soups & Stews

Beans can be added to just about all stews, and many soups. Start with:

 
Casseroles & Bakes

 
Snacks

 
International DishesCuban black beans and rice (congri).

[1] Hearty breakfast chili topped with queso and a fried egg (photos #1, #3, and #4 © Bush’s Best).

[2] A breakfast bean casserole, layered with kidney beans, srambled eggs and cheese (photo © Sun Basket).

[3] Carnitas and beans frittata: you can substitute an omelet for the frittata (the difference).

[4] A bean burrito with avocado and brown rice wins the breakfast triple-crown (photo © Good Eggs).

[5] Mash seasoned black beans, or use baked beans from the can, British style. If you like, sprinkle with shredded Cheddar or other favorite cheese (photo © Nik | Unsplash).

[6] Huevos rancheros with black beans. Here’s the recipe (photo © Tesco Real Food).

[7] Shakshuka and black beans. Here’s the recipe (photo © Bake To The Roots).

[8] Southwestern yogurt parfait, delicious for breakfast for lunch. Here’s the recipe (photo © Food Should Taste Good).

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