Hibiscus

[jenn123]

Today i purchased dried hibiscus from a grocery store and made tea with it. So yummy and tart. I looked it up on the csidcares.org food database. It said zero to all types of sugars. Can this be ? My HFI daughter would be happy to have a new option. Has anyone tried this tea before ?

[ukbill]

There might be a tiny tiny amount in the residual netar in the flowers.. however I would say this is not going to be enough to make any sort of an issue go for it!
Peppermint tea is safe also as is mint tea. Camomile tea has not caused me any issues nor has tea made from fennel seeds.
Hope this helps?
Keep smiling..

[Katie535]

I love English breakfast and earl grey, although these are caffeinated so they might not be the best for a child.

[jenn123]

Thanks for feedback. Excited for her to try. She loves decaf black teas. I made popsicles our of teas this summer and a big hit.

[Katie535]

How about tea flavored with a small amount of vanilla? This weekend, I tried a delicious “creamy earl grey” tea. It tasted amazing, and it had a little dried vanilla mixed with the tea leaves. I am assuming it was the bean? Does anyone know if a small amount of vanilla bean is HFI safe? It sure tasted good. I use a lot of dairy cream in my tea. I was traveling and ended up eating a meal that I reacted to, I don’t think it was the tea.

[colormist]

A quarter teaspoon of vanilla has .065 g of sucrose and 0.137 g of sugar total (it doesn't break down the rest of the sugars). It seems pretty low compared to potatoes, but I wouldn't use it more than a couple times a week. I usually use Mapeline extract. It tastes similar to vanilla and has less sucrose.

[antonia]

I’m very confused by vanilla. Is the sugar from the bean itself or is it in the carrier ingredients of an extract?

You could try storing a vanilla bean with your tea. It will permeate anything it is stored with if you keep them in an airtight container together.

[ukbill]

Most vanilla beans you buy have been soaked in a sugar solution...to keep them moist I presume?

The extract will have sugar added as a preservative or flavouring or both.

I like the idea of putting them in a jar with tea.

We could try that with pudding rice (round grain rice) in countries where its not adulterated with added vitamins and minerals stuck to the grain with sugar as in the USA.

Alos putting a couple of beans in dry semolina for a few weeks before using to make semolina pudding would be great also!

Nice idea

[antonia]

Yes I got the idea after noticing when I stored vanilla beans in a good quality, sealed, porcelain canister that the vanilla penetrated anything stored with it (I think I had seeds and nuts in there with it) as well as the canister itself totally permeated vanilla. Then I read in some parts of Europe they make vanilla sugar using a similar process and thought why not try it with flour and grains, anything dried that will soak in the aroma just try it. You could open up the bean by splitting it down the middle and you might get even more flavor from it. The flavor will be more delicate, more subtle than putting it directly in your food but still very nice.

I’ve been putting vanilla bean and a cinnamon stick in with oats and it makes very nice porridge as well as sugar free cookies. And vanilla bean in with Palmera’s flour for all her baked goods such as biscuits, muffins, pancakes, waffles, butter shortbread, pie crust pastries, etc.

[antonia]

Also you can try this with any strong aromatic. I was thinking of trying dried, ginger root next.

[colormist]

Let me know how the ginger root goes! So many of my favorite recipes call for ginger and it's just not the same without it, but with it I get so sick.

[antonia]

Have you ever tried making ginger infused oil? I wash and dry whole ginger root and then slice length wise into 3 or 4 pieces. Simmer ginger slices in 1/2-1 cup olive oil (use a small, butter melting sauce pan so ginger is completely submerged) until very fragrant, about 40 min. Remove ginger root and then freeze any oil that you don’t use right away. (Never leave homemade infused oils at room temp or refrigerator temp because botulinum toxins can develop.)

I use the oil for meat dishes and rice and such. I thought “gingered” flour might make good butter shortbread?