Why Try Tea Rubs On Your Next Barbecue

Tea Outdoor barbecuing is a great activity to do with family and friends especially during summer. There’s nothing like enjoying the warm weather and indulging in the love of meat at your own backyard. Chats and bonding with family and friends are made special with a specially marinated and rubbed barbecue over a hot grill.

We could also get to share our traditional homemade recipes for barbecue dry rubs. Our natural tendency for gastronomic exploration makes us seek out new flavors and innovate on our usual mixes, marinades and rubs. Tea rubs can be an excellent barbecue rub innovation you can try out on your next backyard barbecue session.

Tea Leaves Have A Great Aroma

Aside from great taste, it’s also the aroma that attracts us to that particular food. The same is true with barbecues. Applying rubs with ingredients that can enhance aroma can catch the attention of your family and friends as you cook your barbecue.

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Leading Tea Brands Contain Illegal Levels Of Dangerous Pesticides

Whitney Webb – Several leading tea brands in the US and Canada have tested positive for levels of pesticides so high that they significantly exceed the legal limit.

tea
Credit – Organic x Benefits

For many people, tea is the ultimate healthy drink of choice. Herbal teas have been enjoyed around the world for thousands of years for their pleasant taste and aroma, as well as for their healing properties. However, some tea brands, including many of the best-selling teas in the US, may not be as healthy as they’d like you to believe. Many of the herbs used in teas are allowed to have significantly higher pesticide levels than fruits and vegetables, sometimes 100% more. This may mean that your tea-drinking habit may be giving you health problems instead of helping them.

CBC News of Canada, using an accredited lab, tested some of the most popular tea brands in North America and elsewhere for pesticide residues. What they found was astounding. More than half of the teas tested had pesticide residues above the legal limit, and 8 out of 10 teas also contained multiple pesticides. The brands tested were: Lipton, Tetley, Twinings, Red Rose, No Name, Uncle Lee’s Legends of China, King Cole, and Signal. Of that list, only Red Rose brand tea was completely pesticide-free. Uncle Lee’s contained over 22 different types of pesticides, such as endosulfan.

Uncle Lee’s Tea tested positive for
22 types of pesticides (view image)

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Feds Taking Kombucha Off Shelves?

kombuchaANH-USA No, we’re not kidding. Help us stop this unwarranted attack. Action Alert! 

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, a division of the US Treasury Department, recently sent letters to several producers of kombucha, warning them that since their beverages supposedly exceeded the allowable alcohol limit, they must be labeled as alcoholic beverages and be subject to alcohol regulation or face hefty fines and legal action.

Kombucha is a fermented tea drink brewed with yeast and bacteria. The drink contains trace amounts of alcohol, but it typically falls below the federal limit of 0.5% alcohol by volume.

Why is this happening? Is there a safety concern? Not in the least. On the contrary, kombucha appears to be very good for you. It seems unlikely that the government would go after kombucha without prodding from some special interest. Has the soft drink industry detected a threat from a rapidly growing market and decided to use the power of the federal government to eliminate competition? There doesn’t seem to be another explanation.

The facts of the case reveal just how outrageous this investigation is—further suggesting that crony interests may be pulling the strings. The government is using the same alcohol test for kombucha that it uses for wine, beer, and spirits. But the organic acids and natural sedimentation in kombucha can be read as ethanol, which throws off the results of the test.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) sent a letter to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau explaining that their testing methodology is flawed. Polis asked them to stop their harassment of the kombucha brewers until a unique testing method can be devised that is appropriate to the specific chemistry of the beverage. Continue reading

The Wonders Of Herbal Teas

Blood sugarDrinking tea isn’t just something you do at lunchtime. The British have been drinking it religiously for hundreds of years, people in the Far East even longer. But tea is not just any other liquid to help quench your thirst. Many herbal teas are known to have far-reaching healing powers.

The health benefits of herbal teas are wide ranging and all natural, helping with everything from acid reflux to irregular blood sugar, stomach cramps to depression.

Herbal teas and their healing powers

Burdock Tea

Burdock tea has long been known for its power to regulate blood sugar. Patients with liver problems have been frequently advised by their physicians to drink burdock tea regularly, as a preventative measure.

Chamomile Tea

This is one of the most popular of all the herbal teas. Chamomile helps with various stomach ailments like acid reflux (heartburn). It has also been known to help deal with anxiety and nervous conditions as well. Others even go so far as to claim it can help with the common cold. Chamomile has been a favorite of tea drinkers for years as a relaxant just before bedtime.

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16 Herbal Teas To Put On Your Grocery List

Herbal teas make for wonderful, low calorie and relaxing drinks.

Apart from having a beneficial effect on health, herbal teas are fragrant and appealing. Let’s take the mystery out of the herbal teas and discover together which teas are good for which symptoms.

You may want to copy and print these tips for the next time you’re in the tea aisle,  so you can make a knowledgeable selection.

1. Nettle  Is made with the leaves of stinging nettle, named for the tiny hairs on the fresh leaves which can sting the skin. Despite it’s rough exterior, nettle is one of nature’s best remedies for an assortment of ailments including anemia, high blood pressure, rheumatism, arthritis, coughs and colds, congestion, urinary tract infections, and kidney and bladder problems.

2. Chamomile Tea Chamomile is a popular herb that’s used in teas worldwide. Chamomile soothes the stomach and relieves bloating and indigestion. Chamomile also calms the mind and helps people relax and deal better with their stresses. Some people are allergic to chamomile and should avoid taking the tea. People who find it hard to go to sleep should drink a cup of chamomile tea before going to bed. Chamomile is known to fight insomnia by relaxing the body and the mind, enabling the person to fall asleep naturally.

3. Ginger Tea  Ginger is an energizer and a simulator. Drinking ginger tea both stimulates and soothes the digestive system. Ginger has been known to aid people experiencing nausea. Arthritic people have found ginger tea helpful since it has anti-inflammatory properties.

4. Peppermint Tea  Peppermint is a fragrant herb that makes for a soothing drink. Peppermint helps you digest foods better and also reduces flatulence and digestive issues. Peppermint is prescribed to people with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and gallstones in capsules. A cup of peppermint tea will ease nausea and vomiting, especially if you suffer motion sickness. If you have heartburn, don’t drink peppermint tea as this might aggravate your condition. Peppermint tea brings down the severity of herpes outbreaks. The natural mint flavor of the herb helps to freshen your breath. Other health benefits of this tea are control of muscle aches and chronic pain, clearing of congestion and mild coughs, mild asthma and reduction of stress.

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