Good-bye Arizona: How to make frugal, fresh and safe sun tea

March 25, 4:44 PMDC Fresh Foods ExaminerRobin Ripley

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Save your cash and avoid the additives. Make your own fresh
sun tea at home.

I sip tea all day long during the summer. But frankly, I'm dumbfounded that people actually buy iced tea in bottles and cans for $1 or more a pop. What are they thinking? Not only is brewing tea at home incredibly cheap and simple, think of what is added to canned or bottled tea.

Here are the ingredients for Arizona Sun Brewed Style Iced Tea - Raspberry Flavor: Premium Brewed Tea Using Filtered Water , High Fructose Corn Syrup , Citric Acid , Natural Raspberry Flavor.

The Arizona people claim that their tea is "100% all natural." I'm not sure how that claim can be true when high fructose corn syrup is a key ingredient. There is nothing at all natural about high fructose corn syrup.

Here's how Wikipedia describes high fructose corn syrup:

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – called isoglucose in Europe and glucose-fructose in Canada – comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to increase its fructose content, and then been mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose). HFCS is ubiquitous in processed foods and beverages, including soft drinks, yogurt, cookies, salad dressing and tomato soup.

The most common types of high-fructose corn syrup are: HFCS 90 (mostly for making HFCS 55), approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose; HFCS 55 (mostly used in soft drinks), approximately 55% fructose and 45% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in many foods and baked goods), approximately 42% fructose and 58% glucose.

Forget those expensive, highly processed fake teas and make your own tea using solar power. Here's how to make your own really fresh and 100% natural sun tea.

-Scrub your sun tea container with hot soapy water. (By the way, because everyone always asks, the one you see pictured here is by Anchor Hocking and is available at Wal-Mart for about $6. I use this fairly small container--just enough to get me through a single day so that I have fresh tea every day.)

- Use one regular-sized tea bag for about every two or three cups of cool, fresh water.

- Place the bottle in the sun for four to six hours, depending on how hot it is outside and how strong you like your tea.

- Refrigerate to store and drink within a couple of days.

- To avoid the buildup of harmful bacteria in your tea, don’t prepare more than you can drink in a day or two and throw out the leftovers. Always use a squeaky clean container to make tea. Never drink old tea, especially if it has turned syrupy or has ropy strands.

Thank you for reading! You can reach me at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com and can follow me on Twitter at @RobinWedewer.

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