My Mother-in-law’s Iced Tea

 

 

How did mother-in-laws get such a bad rap? Perhaps my mother-in-law isn’t like most mother-in-laws, but I love my mother-in-law. She’s been present and helpful in raising our two boys; sometimes takes my side in discussions instead of her son’s; and she taught me how to make real iced tea.

 

Before I met my mother-in-law I would drink iced tea in restaurants or I would buy the instant stuff and mix up a glass at a time. I still drink iced tea in restaurants but am usually dissatisfied with the taste. My children wonder why I even bother ordering the stuff any more because I so rarely like it. The powdery stuff I can no longer drink. My mother-in-law has spoiled me.

 

I was very happy when my mother-in-law taught me how to make real iced tea. The same tea her mother always made. They lived in Southern Indiana so the tea I learned to make is sweet tea. Although not nearly as sweet as the sweet tea I had in North Carolina last summer. And I have to admit that I use less sugar than my mother-in-law. But I did learn a few tricks: Adding the sugar into the boiling water before the tea bags are added, stirring until the water is completely clear, then adding the tea bags and letting it sit for hours, until it cools to room temperature. The only other tricks are using good filtered water, without that chlorine taste and lots of ice. Yum!

 

I really look forward to a good glass of iced tea on a hot summer day and most days of the summer you will now see a pitcher of iced tea cooling on my counter. And every time I make a pitcher of iced tea, I think of my mother-in-law and how lucky I am to have gotten one so wonderful.

 

 

Iced Tea Recipe:

 

7 cups near boiling filtered water

1/3 cup granulated sugar (more or less to taste)

8 black tea bags- such as Lipton

 

Bring water to almost boiling in a teapot or saucepan. Temper your pitcher by filling it with hot tap water until ready to use. When water is near boiling, add to pitcher along with the sugar and stir until water is completely clear. Twist teabags together and place in pitcher dunking a few times to get teabags wet. Let seep for several hours or until room temperature. Add to glasses of ice and enjoy.