Steeped - A Book Review

This new cookbook, Steeped: Recipes Infused with Tea, by Annelies Zijderveld is simply delightful.

From the moment I held it I was struck by the design -- The cover is pink and gold and the inner cover mimics gold foil -- the kind of gold foil you might find used in high end tea packages. Clever!

I love the concept of this book -- recipes for any time of the day using tea. Sections include morning tea, midday tea, afternoon tea, high tea, and sweet tea. Very clever!

I was once gifted with a book that claimed to teach me everything about tea. I learned more in the first ten pages of this book than I did with that entire volume. And after reading this book, I can;'t wait to go back to Boston. The last time I was there, my son took me to a quaint little tea shop with more tea than I knew existed. Time to stock up so I can get busy baking with tea.

There are many recipes in this book that I can't make as is (and you probably won't be able to either), but what I did get from the book is ideas!! Despite being an avid, life-long tea lover, it has never occurred to me to use tea as a spice, or to bake with tea, or to add tea to existing recipes, but, inspired by Annelies, I am starting to do so.

Some of what I will be trying include Arnold Palmer Powder (a lemon and tea powder), green tea stock and tea extract (guess what? it's just like making vanilla extract, but with tea leaves).What I love best about this book is the recipes within the recipes -- for the sauces, powders, and other tea-infused staples that the recipes use.

It's never occurred to me before to add tea to applesauce, or jam, or oatmeal, or soup. Why not?

I can't make Annelies' Black Tea Pie Crust or Tea Crackers as is -- the recipes in this book do call for wheat/spelt, eggs, and dairy products -- but I can definitely learn from these recipes to infuse tea into my own!

Tea time can be any time!