First Romance Tea Granita or Sorbet with Strawberry Hearts – recipe
The story of Ceylon tea begins almost two hundred years ago, when the country we now call Sri Lanka was still a British colony. First Romance Tea Granita or Sorbet with Strawberry Hearts makes use of this tea. Study of tea planting had started in 1839 in the botanical gardens of Peradeniya, close to the royal city of Kandy. These plants had arrived from Assam and Calcutta via the East India Company.
East India Company Ceylon had been known for its production of coffee, but during the 1860s the coffee plantations were struck by disease. As the coffee disappeared, the planters switched to the cultivation of tea. By the 1880s most of the former coffee plantations had become tea gardens.
First Romance Tea has a base of black Ceylon tea, and the blend is floral with accents of marigold and blue mallow. It is laced with essence of strawberry and has flecks of mango. It makes a delightfully refreshing and light cup of tea – but it becomes an elegant dessert with very little effort.
First Romance Tea Granita or Sorbet offers a sweetly perfumed frozen dessert with a hint of strawberry. A garnish of heart-shaped crispy strawberry mirrors both the name of this tea blend and one of its indispensable ingredients.
First Romance Tea Granita or Sorbet
Makes enough dessert for several romantic evenings.
Ingredients:
4 heaped tbsp First Romance Tea
200g Caster Sugar
Juice of a lemon
Large baking sheet covered with parchment paper or non-stick liner
Method:
East India company Infuse the First Romance Tea in 1 litre of water brought to just under boiling point. Add the sugar and lemon juice.
Allow to stand for just 3 or 4 minutes. Any longer will result in a dessert that has a bitter edge.
Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or tea strainer.
Leave to cool and then thoroughly chill in the fridge.
To make a sorbet, churn the mixture in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
If you don’t have an ice-cream maker then pour the infusion into a shallow plastic box and put directly into the freezer. After 40 minutes remove the box and fork the now-freezing contents to distribute the ice crystals throughout the remaining liquid. Repeat this process till only the small ice crystals remain.
The First Romance Tea Granita or Sorbet can be served directly from the freezer, but the sorbet should be removed 15 minutes in advance so that it can be more easily scooped.
Strawberry Hearts
110g Caster sugar
125 ml Water
12 Strawberries – rinsed and hulled
Method:
In a small saucepan bring the sugar and the water slowly to a boil, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. This will only take a couple of minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 100°C/200°F.
Slice the strawberries lengthwise as thinly as possible.
Dip the slices in the now-cooled syrup.
Place each slice of strawberry on the lined baking sheet ensuring that none are overlapping.
Bake until the slices are dry but still retaining their colour. This could take a couple of hours depending on the thickness of the fruit slices.
Transfer the slices to a wire rack to cool.
To garnish the First Romance Tea Granita or Sorbet use the slices from the centre of the strawberries, the ones that look most like hearts. Allow 2 hearts per serving.
Recipe by Chrissie Walker © 2018
