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Tea Is For Much More Than Just Drinking

John Lehndorff Knight-Ridder Newspapers

According to Celestial Seasonings, you can do much more than make a cup of tea with its tea bags.

The Boulder, Colo.-based tea manufacturer has devised recipes which use bright flavors extracted from the teas to add zip to salad dressings, meats, seafood and desserts.

Here are a few of the herb tea recipes which will eventually be collected in a cookbook:

Raspberry Zinger Vinaigrette

1/2 cup white vinegar

2 Raspberry Zinger tea bags

3/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

Steep your Raspberry Zinger tea bags in vinegar for 10 minutes. Remove and gently squeeze remaining flavor from tea bags before discarding. In a jar, add the rest of your ingredients and shake. Serve over any salad you like.

Raspberry Zinger Chicken

1 cup white vinegar

4 Raspberry Zinger tea bags

2 boneless chicken breasts, halved

1/4 cup chopped yellow onion

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

Pour vinegar in a large bowl and add your 4 Raspberry Zinger tea bags. Let steep 15 minutes, then place halved chicken breasts in bowl and cover. Refrigerate at least one hour but no more than 3 hours.

Melt butter in large frying pan on medium heat, then fry chicken 4 minutes on each side. Remove chicken and set aside. Add onions to pan and saute until clear. Then add 4 tablespoons of the Raspberry Zinger vinegar, chicken broth, heavy cream and chicken breasts to your pan of sauteed onions. Cover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes more, until flavors are well mingled and sauce is slightly thickened. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Yield: 4 servings.

Bengal Spice Shrimp

3 cups cold water

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

8 Bengal Spice tea bags

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup diced yellow onions

1 cup diced green peppers

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

1 pint heavy cream

White rice (prepare in advance)

Combine water, 8 Bengal Spice tea bags, and shrimp in a large bowl. Refrigerate covered for 2 to 3 hours.

In large frying pan, sauteed onions, green peppers and water chestnuts in butter over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove shrimp from your Bengal Spice marinade and add the shrimp, along with the cream, to your pan of sauteed vegetables. Simmer 5 minutes or until shrimp is cooked through. Serve over white rice.