How to Use Green Tea in Unusual Ways

Green tea has sky rocketed in popularity recently. It's no wonder this naturally healthy drink has taken off with its purported health benefits. The benefits of this tea range from a role in the prevention of chronic diseases to the ability to increase metabolism and help burn fat. Even though sipping a freshly brewed cup of green tea is one way to enjoy its delicious taste and health properties, there are a variety of other ways to appreciate this popular drink.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Make green tea ice cream.
   
   Although you can make green tea ice cream from scratch in your ice cream maker, a simpler solution is to transform store bought vanilla ice cream into green tea ice cream. To do this, you'll need matcha green tea powder which is a powdered form of green tea rich in healthy catechins. You can sometimes find this powder at health food markets and oriental food stores. If not it's available online at Heal Anything. To make the quick green tea ice cream, soften a pint of vanilla ice cream by setting it outside the freezer. Once the ice cream has softened, mix a teaspoon of matcha green tea powder into the ice cream until well blended. Put the ice cream back into the freezer to harden a bit. When it has hardened, serve it by itself or add a little chocolate syrup. Delicious!

2. Make green tea face cream.
   
   The benefits of green tea extend to preventing photoaging of the skin which is why you see green tea as an ingredient in many commercial beauty creams. It's far easier and less expensive to make your own. To do this, mix matcha green powder with olive oil (for dry skin) or mayonnaise (for normal skin) and apply to the face in the evening. Your reward will be softer, younger looking skin if used regularly.

3. Make green tea milk and yogurt.
   
   The casein in cow's milk is thought to inactivate the healthy catechins in green tea. For this reason, it's best to use non dairy milk such as soy, almond, oat, or rice milk when making these products. Start by adding a teaspoonful of matcha green tea powder to a pint of nondairy milk. The matcha green tea powder doesn't dissolve when the milk is cold. Heat the milk green tea powder combination in your microwave for two minutes and stir thoroughly to dissolve the powder. You may need to put it back in the microwave for an additional minute to get the powder to completely dissolve. Add more matcha powder and sweetener to taste, if necessary. To make green tea yogurt, add a teaspoon of matcha powder to a cup of vanilla yogurt and mix thoroughly. Again, soy based yogurt is best since it lacks casein. You can even make quick and easy green tea lattes.

Tips & Warnings

• Green tea also makes an excellent, all natural food coloring and can be added to a variety of food items including soups and gravies.

Resources

• Source for matcha green tea powder

[LilacGirl]

on 6/1/2008 I will try these uses for green tea. Thanks.