You can make turn any kind of tea into an ice pop, from a diet pop made with noncaloric sweetener to an elaborate fruit-filled, creamy pop.

Start with your choice of plain tea, chai, Earl Grey, Constant Comment spiced tea, rooibos or other herbal tea, whatever. Then pick a sweetener and perhaps an inclusion.

You can use agave syrup, honey, flavored simple syrup (lavender, lemon, mint, etc.), fruit juice, fruit purée, maple syrup, sucralose (Splenda), sugar, sweetened condensed milk, etc.

Add in a creamy option, or chopped or puréed fruit, and the mix-and-match options are endless.

> National Iced Tea Month is June, and National Iced Tea Day is June 10th.

> All the tea holidays.

> All the ice cream and frozen dessert holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: TEA ICE POPS TEMPLATE

You’ll need ice pop molds or a substitute.

Ingredients

 
Inclusions

Also called “mix-ins,” you can add fun and flavor with these inclusions:

 
Preparation

1. BREW the tea twice as strong as for drinking, brewing enough to fill your ice pop molds.

2. SWEETEN to taste. Add the sweetener while the tea is still hot. Stir to dissolve completely. (Note that if you want an ice-cold refresher, you can make pops with no sweetener at all. They refresh like ice-cold water—or an ice cube—on a hot day.)

3. ADD in any creamy ingredients or texture ingredients, and mix well. Note that chopped fruit will sink to the bottom of the ice pop mold. To cut down on this, wait until the pops freeze to a slushy consistency, and then mix in the fruit.

4. POUR the mixture into the ice pop molds and freeze.
 
 
WHY WE SAY ICE POP, NOT POPSICLE

Popsicle® is the trademark of the Popsicle Corporation, which is now part of Unilever Global. Thus, you can only use the term Popsicle when referring to one of their products.

Otherwise, what you have is an ice pop. That’s the generic term, just like tissue is the generic of the trademarked facial tissue Kleenex®.

Other examples of trademarked products vs. generics: Sanka® is decaffeinated coffee. Saran Wrap® is plastic wrap. Jacuzzi® is a whirlpool bath. Magic Marker® is a felt-tip pen.

And on and on.

> The history of the Popsicle.

> The different types of frozen desserts: a photo glossary.

> The history of ice cream.
 
 
TEA, NOT FROZEN

 
 
________________
 
*Organic flowers are grown without pesticides.
 

[1] The flowers are purely optional. You can leave the pops plain or add some of the delicious inclusions below (photo © Maury’s Hive Tea).

[2] Black tea with lemon. Here’s the recipe (photo © Leite’s Culinaria).

[3] Add peach slices or chopped peaches to peach iced tea. Here’s the recipe (photo © Jennifer Pallian | Unsplash).

[4] Make herbal tea ice pops with elaborate mix-ins. Here are the recipes (photo © Numi Tea).

[5] Thai Iced Tea Pops are richer and creamier because they contain sweetened condensed milk. Here’s the recipe (photo © Pineapple And Coconut).

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[1] Original Green Tea, which along with Original Black Tea are the two unsweetenened, zero-calorie teas in the line (all photos © Eat The Change).

[2] Berry Hibiscus, one of the two herbal (caffeine-free) teas in the line.

[3] Our personal favorite, Half Tea & Half Lemonade (also known as the Arnold Palmer).

[4] A tribute to the OG line of premium bottled teas, Honest Tea.

Thank goodness for Just Ice Tea. We just returned from the specialty food industry’s big annual trade show, showcasing some 2,000 food producers who sample their wares. It’s hard work, going up and down the aisles tasting chocolate, then barbecue sauce, then pepperoni, then hot sauce…after just two rows (out of 70+ rows) one can get a bit woozy.

So after 10 rows, staggering under all of the carbs that had broken down into sugar in our bloodstream, we came to the booth of Just Ice Tea. A bottle of Just Ice Tea refreshed us so much, that it is deservedly our Top Pick Of The Week.

It turns out that Just Ice Tea is a rebirth of a Nibble favorite that had been acquired by Coca-Cola: Honest Tea.

Honest Tea was founded in 1998. In 2011, the brand was sold to Coca-Cola. Goldman served as “TeaEO” of Honest Tea through 2015 and stayed closely involved with the brand through 2019. He then shifted to launch his new food company, Eat the Change*, with chef Spike Mendelsohn.

Last year, Coca-Cola decided to discontinue Honest Tea—a pricey product that didn’t give them the margins they were seeking. Based on the terms of the purchase, the original founders of Honest Tea were able to go back into the iced tea business. They just couldn’t use the name Honest Tea.

The new brand, Just Ice Tea, officially launched on September 20, 2022. We would have called it Just Iced Tea, i.e. tea that is iced.

However, founder Seth Goldman noted that the name “Just Ice Tea” also sounds like “justice,” following the “honesty”-inspired Honest Tea.

Whether ice or iced, the brand is part of founder Goldman’s larger company, Eat the Change.
 
 
JUST ICE TEA FLAVORS

As with Honest Tea, Just Ice Tea is “just sweet enough.” It uses as little sweetener (organic agave syrup†) as possible.

The brand is USDA Certified Organic, Fair Trade Certified, and OU Kosher.

There’s something for everyone in this line, each refreshing and low in calories.

 
 
GET YOUR JUST ICE TEA

> Discover more on the company website.

> Here’s a store locator.
 
 
MORE ABOUT ICED TEA

*Eat The Change currently sells two better-for-you organic snacks, Carrot Chews and Mushroom Jerky.

†Honey Green Tea also contains organic honey.
 
 

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The Fourth of July is the biggest hot dog-eating day of the year. According to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, an estimated 150 million hot dogs are consumed on Independence Day—enough hot dogs to stretch across the country and back.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, “peak hot dog season,” Americans will gobble up 7 billion hot dogs—beef, chicken, pork, turkey, organic, vegan, and now…regeneratively sourced, exemplified by Applegate Naturals’ The Do Good Dog Uncured Beef Hot Dog (photos #1 and #2).

While Applegate introduced the Do Good Dog in November 2021, the news just crossed our e-desk recently and introduced us to a new term: regeneratively sourced.

There’s more about regeneratively sourced agriculture below, but the gist of it is a positive impact on the land: better for the planet.

Beef for the Do Good Dog comes from SunFed Ranch, headquartered in Woodland, California approximately 15 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Their beef carries the Savory Institute’s Land to Market Seal (photo #3), certifying that it was raised on verified regenerative U.S. grasslands.
 
 
DO GOOD DOG INGREDIENTS

The environmentally friendlier dog is made with just four ingredients:

 
The result: a delicious, juicy bite with a flavor that’s sure to satisfy—whether boiled, broiled, grilled, or mixed into grandma’s secret baked beans and franks recipe.
 
 
WHAT IS REGENERATIVELY SOURCED BEEF?

Regenerative beef comes from cattle raised and fed by rotational grazing. This allows the animals to graze on real grass, and their manure contributes more nutrients to the grasses and plants.

This in turn results in more nutritious meat from the animals that graze there. It’s great for the environment.

In fact, it’s better for the environment than beef from any other source (that includes vegan and other imitation meat). It:

 
 
MORE ABOUT REGENERATIVELY-SOURCED BEEF

Emerging research shows that regenerative practices, such as holistic managed grazing, have the potential to better the environment and mitigate climate change.

According to the Savory Institute, the cattle that graze this way are part of a system that has the potential to contribute to the regeneration of up to 260,000 acres of U.S. grasslands. This makes it one of the largest verified systems for regeneratively sourced beef [source].

Regeneratively-sourced beef is on the rise. Applegate’s commitment to supporting and selling it has helped SunFed Ranch to double its grass-fed cattle production.

Another benefit to the environment and the animals: Diverting cattle out of the commodity feedlot system [source]

If choosing food that regenerates the land sounds good to you, look for Do Good Dogs products online or in-store at select retailers near you (start with Whole Foods).
 
 
> The different types of beef: a glossary.

[1] Do Good Dogs do good for the land (photos #1 and #2 © Applegate Farms).

[2] Ready to enjoy!

[3] The seal of Verified Land To Market ensures you’re getting regeneratively sourced beef (photo © Savory Institute).

[4] Eating the good stuff (photos #4 and #5 © SunFed Ranch | Facebook .

[5] He’s eating an ideal diet—no grain, no bull!

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[1] Wylie Dufresne’s potato chip salad (photo © Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times).

[2] We used salt and vinegar potato chips from Kettle Brand (photo © Kettle Brand).

Wylie Dufresne’s potato chip salad at Stretch Pizza in New York City may not seem so revolutionary.

It’s a green salad topped with custom-made salt-and-vinegar chips. The chips act as both croutons and vinaigrette.

“…nothing is as good or mind-bending” says The New York Times. The article continues:

“This dish already has a cult following. Among the faithful, there was minor panic last month when Grub Street reported that Rick Bishop, the Sullivan County farmer who makes the chips, had retired.”

If it sounds good to you, here’s how you can make one at home. Here’s our own version, somewhat different from the original.

> The history of salt and vinegar potato chips is below.

> The history of potato chips.

> The history of potatoes.

> National Potato Chip Day is March 14th.

> National Vinegar Day is November 1st.
 
 
RECIPE: POTATO CHIP SALAD (NIBBLE VERSION)

Ingrients

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the vinaigrette with optional lime zest.

2. TOSS the lettuce, scallions, and optional dill with a modest amount of vinaigrette—to dampen, not to soak. Fold in the tomatoes.

3. PLACE in a serving bowl and top with potato chips. Serve.
 

Per The New York Times, salt and vinegar potato chips were created in 1968 at Griffith Foods, a subsidiary of an American Company located in Bristol, England. Griffith Foods specializes in food product development.

The chips were invented by Jim Connell, a Canadian chemical engineer who worked for the Canadian subsidiary of the lab and was working on a venture at the U.K. facility.

Shortly after his arrival, the company was approached by Imperial Tobacco, which wanted to expand its product line to include potato chips.

The combination of vinegar and potato chips was a no-brainer. Malt vinegar is the condiment of choice for Britain’s fish and chips (chips are fries, known as crisps in the U.K.).

Connell found a way to make a dry seasoning version of the vinegar, with which to flavor the chips.

The tobacco company ultimately passed on the product. But a much smaller and older British company (possibly Smiths Potato Crisps) launched salt and vinegar potato chips to immediate success.

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A palate cleanser is a serving of food or drink typically served between the fish and meat course at a formal dinner and at other food events, such as wine tastings.

The palate, or roof of the mouth, works with the nose and tongue to determine what you taste.

The purpose of the palate cleanser is to cleanse the mouth of the lingering flavors of the prior course, bite, or sip to enable the flavors of the next course to shine through. In essence, the palate cleanser “resets” the taste buds.

A light palate cleanser also gives you a few moments to slow down the consumption of a progression of rich dishes.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE PALATE CLEANSER

The concept originated in French fine dining, where a lemon sorbet was often served between the fish and the meat courses. A scoop of sorbet was presented in a footed glass dish or a Champagne sorbet glass (you can use another small wine glass—photo #1—or a juice glass).

While we can’t find the precise origin of palate cleansing, it appears in 19th-century menus for sumptuous, multi-course French meals.

Each region of France had its own specialty—usually a locally produced product such as a shot of Calvados (apple brandy), or a scoop of Calvados sorbet, in Normandy.

Palate cleansers are also known as entremets*, Trou Normand (in Normandy [literally, “a Norman hole”]), Trou Bourguignon (in Burgundy [a Burgundian hole]), and remise en bouche.

While intermezzo is Italian for palate cleanser, not all small dishes served between courses are palate cleansers. For example, an amuse-gueule (“it entertains [the] throat,” in French) or amuse-bouche (the same thing, with bouche being the word for mouth instead of gueule for throat) are creative nibble served before a meal to whet the appetite.

These latter bites emerged as a mini course during the nouvelle cuisine movement, which emphasized smaller, more intensely flavored courses.

They differ from hors d’oeuvres in that they are very small, usually just one or two bites, and offered free of charge.

While sometimes the amuse-bouche could be a rather simple offering—such as a plate of olives or a ramekin of tapenade (remember the relish tray?), it often becomes a showcase of the artistry of the chef

Per the famous chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, “The amuse-bouche is the best way for a great chef to express his or her big ideas in small bites” [source].
 
 
TYPES OF PALATE CLEANSERS

A tart sorbet or granita is the most popular palate cleanser. A combination of cold, crisp, and sharp flavors, lightly sweetened, helps to dispel strong flavors or grease from the food most recently ingested.

Apple, citrus flavors, and mint sorbet are the clear winners here. You can add a garnish of fresh basil, mint, or tarragon

You can also make a sorbet with alcohol, like the aforementioned Calvados. Our wine editor makes his with grappa or marc†.

Also on the list:

 
Palate cleansers can be specific to beer tastings, cheese tastings, or wine tastings. Favored at these tastings are:

 
There are many other types of palate cleansers, from sucking on a lemon or lime wedge to eating water biscuits (unsalted crackers) to pickled ginger, as is served with sushi and sashimi.

For a casual gathering, cubes of watermelon with or without a mint leaf are a good bet (photo #4).

If you have nothing else on hand, offer a sprig of mint or parsley to chew on.

Most people come to prefer a specific palate cleanser that best works for them at a particular type of tasting.
 
 
________________

*Historically, an entremet was a palate cleanser. Today the term is used in France to indicate an individual dessert; specifically, a cake with layers prepared separately using individual molds or rings, then assembled to form the final dessert. Here are some delicious examples.

†Marc, short for eau de vie de marc (its full name), also called pomace brandy, is distilled from what is left over after pressing the grapes used in wine production. The skins, pulp, seeds, and sometimes stems, are collectively called pomace. It can be aged briefly or for years. The result tastes like very strong whiskey. It is served as a digestif at the end of dinner, after the cheese and dessert. Some people have it with their espresso. You don’t pronounce the c at the end of the word. It is pronounced mahr, to rhyme with car. In Italian it is called grappa, bagaço in Portuguese, and orujo in Spanish.

[1] Citrus sorbet (here, rainbow sorbet) is enhanced with a splash of prosecco. Here’s the recipe (photo © Neighborhood Food Blog).

[2] Serve frozen grapes in ramekins (photo © Fresh Direct | Facebook).

[3] A glass of lemon water or cucumber water (or both) is an easy-to-make palate cleanser (photo © Julia Zolotova | Unsplash).

[4] Watermelon cubes on picks are another easy option (photo © Piadina Restaurant | Hotel San Luis Obispo | California).

[5] A demitasse of chilled soup is a more elegant palate cleanser (photo © Hancock Gourmet Lobster).

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