The Queen Cook Book: A Careful Compilation of Recipes and Practical ...

I cup sugar i egg, i teaspoon salt Work thoroughly together, roll one-half inch thick, cut in what shape you like and let rise thirty or fifty minutes, then fry in hot fiat as other cakes. DRINKS. TEA. The tea plant in its mild state is a bushy shrub, and sometimes a small tree, but in cultivation is kept dwarfed. Like other plants long in cultivation, the cultivation has produced several varieties. The original country of tea is not known. It was found in a wild state in Assam. It only grows in very warm 30 The Qneen Cook Book climates. The Portuguese are said to have been the first to import tea into Europe, and were acquainted with it as early as the sixteenth century. In 1664 it is recorded that the English East India Company made the Queen of England what was considered the brilliant present of two pounds of tea. Previous to this, and at this time it was the custom among Europeanations to make tea of hot infusions of various kinds of leaves, notably those of the sage (salvia), which at one time had a high reputation, and was regarded as a sort of panacea. Indeed, it is a good hot drink, for one who has just taken a cold. Its dried leaves were taken to China by the Dutch East India Company to be exchanged for tea. Teas are classed as black and green, distinctions not due to the production of different species, but to the age of the leaf when gathered, and the methods of preparation. It is raised in abundance in China, Japan, East Indies, and now some in California. The quality of the tea depends largely upon the age of the leaves at the time of picking. The younger the leaves the more delicate their flavor. There are four different pickings through the season. Teas of the cheaper kind are very much adulterated. Never buy the powdered tea. The best quality of black teas is the pekoa. The best green teas are the best Japan, and the gunpowder, (which are the first gatherings), are the best. Excessive use of tea produces wakefulness and increased mental and bodily activity, which is followed by a reaction that brings exhaustion and a corresponding depression. Most of the unpleasant effects of tea are ascribed to the volatile oil. The long continued breathing of air impregnated with this oil, produces illness in the packers of tea, who press it down with their bare feet; and the tea tasters at the tea The Queen Cook Book 31 marts in China, who are ever careful not to swallow the infusion, are obliged in a few years to give up their lucrative positions, with shattered constitutions. The Chinese, who drink tea at all times, are careful to use none less than a year old, as in that time the oil either evaporates or is so modified that it ceases to be injurious. Is it not safer not to drink tea at all, and healthier and more nourishing to drink milk either hot or cold (but do not boil) for supper 6r have a cup of hot cocoa, or chocolate made of milk } The best way to steep all kinds of tea is, take one even teaspoon of green tea for two cups of boiling water, after you have brought it just to a quick boil with two tablespoons of water. Black tea is coarser, take a heaping teaspoon for two cups and steep it the same way. The old custom of boiling black tea twenty minutes makes it blacker, but not a refreshing cup of tea. Wash and dry the tea steeper, tea pot, coffee boiler and coffee pot, every time they are used, as much as you do your silver; and scald them well before using. Do not use a metal tea pot. Green teas are an astringent. Cocoa.