Blackberry Iced Tea

For the May/June issue of Newnan-Coweta Magazine, one of the books we reviewed was the great new Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook. You certainly don't have to be a southerner to enjoy eating fresh foods, and this book offers plenty of mouthwateringly good recipes for using up your garden bounty. The first thing I wanted to make, naturally, was one of the tea recipes, this one for Blackberry Tea using some of the peppermint I'm growing. Following is the recipe as it appears in the book, but I made it in "one-third" proportions so I would end up with just about 2+ servings. This was a little more time consuming than ordinary iced tea, but the delicious results were worth it. Enjoy!

Blackberry Iced Tea

3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries, thawed
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
Pinch of baking soda
4 cups boiling water
3 family-size tea bags
2-1/2 cups cold water
Garnishes: fresh blackberries, fresh mint sprigs

Combine 3 cups blackberries and sugar in large container. Crush blackberries with wooden spoon. Add chopped mint and baking soda. Set aside.

Pour 4 cups boiling water over tea bags; cover and let stand 3 minutes. Discard tea bags.

Pour tea over blackberry mixture; let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Pour tea through a wire-mesh strainer into a large pitcher, discarding solids. Add 2-1/2 cups cold water, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Garnish, if desired. Yield: About 7 cups.