The Mendocino Tea Company Recipes using tea graden fresh fruits and vegies.

Mincemeat filling

Here is a recipe for mincemeat filling that includes green tomatoes, pears and apples.

• 3 Quarts chopped green tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp Sea Salt (not iodized)
• 2 Quarts peeled apples
• 1 Quart peeled pears, sweet but not yet soft
• 1 orange rind grated first, then peeled and chopped
• Grated peel from 1 lemon
• Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• ½ Cup Frozen concentrated apple juice, undiluted
• 1 C strong Mendocino Grey (Earl Grey) Tea
• 2 Cups Raisins
• 3 ½ Cups Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice (fresh grated when possible)
• 1 tsp ginger
• ½ Cup Dark Jamaican Rum or Brandy

1. Chop green tomatoes into a colander, add sea salt, mix well and set aside for at least two hours to drain.
2. Peel and chop apples and pears, put them in a large stock pot, add tomatoes, grate in orange and lemon rinds, chop and add orange.
3. Add vinegar, apple juice, tea, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, allspice and ginger.
4. Cook on medium heat until flavors are well blended, about two hours.
5. Add Rum or Brandy

Place in 1 pint, sterilized jars while still hot, seal jars and place in a water bath (boiling water covering the top of the jars) for 20 minutes, or place in jars that you can refrigerate and use within 2 weeks, or freeze in 1 pint bags to be used for desserts later.

If you intend to use the mixture to make pies, it is delicious added to other fruit as you place it in the shell. Apples, pears, peaches, apricots all taste good with this mincemeat.

I know it sounds labor intensive but if you have an afternoon this is a wonderful way to spend your time. Once you get the mixture on the stove you can go on about your day, just checking and stirring now and again. The cooking mincemeat fills your home with a wonderful fragrance and once you have completed placing it in jars you will have plenty of gifts for giving over the holidays.

back to top

Persimmon Pudding

This recipe is a tradition with my family for the Holidays:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Mix 1 cup persimmon pulp (two large) with
   ¼ cup milk or tea
3. 1 egg
4. 2 Tablespoons melted butter
5. 1 teaspoon vanilla
6. Set aside mixture
7. Mix together:
   
   • 1Cup flour
   • ½ tsp salt
   • 1tsp baking powder
   • 1tsp baking soda
   • 1cup sugar
   • 1tsp cinnamon
8. Add wet ingredients to dry
9. Mix in ½ cup walnuts and ½ cup raisins
10. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes

I have memorized and forgotten this recipe more times than I care to count. It lends itself to changes well. I have used spelt flour and whole wheat flour at different times with great success. I have used honey for sweetening or xylotol. You can make this with no dairy, substituting canola oil for butter and tea for milk, and you can leave out the egg and add an extra persimmon instead. You can also leave out the nuts or the raisins.

I’m always trying new dieting ideas and have had this pudding, which is more like a rich, moist cake, every year since the early sixties. I think of this recipe as a gift in itself.

back to top

Easy pear crumble

I’m still cooking with the last of our pears. Here’s an easy pear crumble recipe:

Inside:

• Enough pears to fill a baking dish, cut into chunks
• ½ Cup Ginger-Lemon Tea
• 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch

Topping:

• ¾ Cup Walnuts or Pecans
• ½ Cup Flour (I use spelt flour)
• ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 5 Tablespoons Butter (melted)

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Mix pears, tea, and corn starch together in the baking dish
3. Combine nuts, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in food processor and pulse 5 times or so (it should still be chunky).
4. Drizzle melted butter over flour mixture and pulse about 10 times quickly, until ingredients are mixed together only.
5. Crumble topping over pears and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until brown on top.

back to top

Wassail

Here is a loose recipe for Wassail, feel free to improvise:

1. Put three or four pints of ale or beer in a large pot
2. Add Tablespoon Mendocino Tea Company Chai, Herbal Chai or Ginger-Lemon
3. Cut up 2 or 3 apples and 2 oranges and add. If you have juice add 1 pint (apple, pineapple, cranberry, orange or any kind).
4. Squeeze in juice from 2 lemons
5. Heat this all together until just before it comes to a boil.
6. Pour it into a big bowl.
7. If you have whipped cream, float it on top, but this too is optional

Take the Wassail outside and pour some of it on any fruit trees you may have, or pretty much any plant that you want to encourage. Share the rest with friends or drink it in celebration of your plant friends.
Shout “Huzzah!” three times (my favorite part).
Bless us every one, the light is returning soon.

back to top

Slow Cooked Chicken

• 1 Chicken
• 1lb Carrots, small size or cut up
• 1lb Potatoes, either creamers or cut up
• 1 Large Onion, cut up
• 5 Cloves Garlic, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 3 Stalks Celery, cut in chunks
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Pot Ginger Lemon Tea

1. Brew your Ginger Lemon Tea first, and set aside.
2. Place all other ingredients in a slow cooker or roaster.
3. Pour in tea and cook slowly until vegetables are tender.
4. Cut chicken away from bones and remove bones.
5. Serve and enjoy. Any leftovers can be made into a delicious soup.

back to top

Beef Stew

• 1 Pound Stewing Beef in Chunks
• 1 Pound Carrots, either small size or cut up
• 1 Pound Potatoes, creamers or cut up
• 3 Large Onions, cut up
• 5 Cloves Garlic, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 6 Stalks Celery, cut up
• 3 Turnips (optional), cut into large pieces
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Pot China Black or Wuyi Oolong Tea

1. Brew tea and set aside
2. Sear meat in hot stew pot.
3. Add 1 onion and garlic and sauté until transparent.
4. Add vegetables and salt & pepper
5. Pour in tea.
6. Add enough water to just cover meat and vegetables.
7. Cook until meat and vegetables are tender.
8. Serve

back to top