Citron Tea - Hot or Cold

When I first found out about Citron Tea and shared a cup with a friend, I was amazed that I had never come across it before. It is delicious hot, and chock full of vitamin C.

I love this stuff! I now have a couple of mugs full of citron tea each day, and it is especially warming and delicious on these cool autumn days.

Initially, a Google search brought up information only about citrus tea and various recipes. Then I realized I was putting in an incorrect search term of "citrus tea", whereas the real subject term should have been "citron" tea; a big difference, I found out.

From 2005, a post referenced at Jam Tea:

In the past few months I’ve discovered a weird new kind of tea. At first I thought the people drinking it were just freaks. I watched some people scooping out spoonfuls of what appeared to be jam, schlopping it into mugs, adding hot water, stirring it up real good, and drinking it. I was shocked by this behavior. Clearly, jam is meant for bread and crescent rolls and such, not hot water.

These people explained to me, however, that the stuff in the jar was not jam. It was, in fact, tea. This kind of tea comes from Korea, I understand. The most popular flavor is “citron tea.” It’s made with honey. I dunno… looks like jam to me.

So I tried this so-called “tea” and I found it really good! It’s sweet, like the “fruit tea” (I think it’s just Kool-aid) you get in teahouses. When you get to the bottom of your cup, there’s always these grapefruit shreds. They’re pretty tasty too.

Citron tea comes in a jar, and looks like orange marmalade, definitely like the dark tea we are used to seeing. The listing on the label does not even list tea as an ingredient.

It really does taste like something between a hot fruit drink and lemonade, but the bits of citrus fruit peeling at the bottom of the finished toddy give it added zing. It also has (supposedly) 3x the vitamin C equivalency of lemons.

Here is a picture of Citron Tea (courtesy of Flickr):


It is available at Korean and Chinese groceries, and also, amazingly, at the Oriental food aisles in many Costco stores. A yummy new taste treat!

Knitting an Easy Lace Scarf

Today is "Show and Tell Friday" over at Kelli's Place: Check out her website and see what others are talking about at Kelli's House.




This is a new knitting project started this week. It will be a 62" long scarf from a pattern handout given by Knit One Chat Too.

The fiber is hand dyed by the Hand Maiden, a Vancouver dyer. It is 50% wool, 50% silk, with a nice hand to the fiber. It is a pleasure to hold and work with this yarn. The reddish and mauve colors are sweet and keep those stitches from getting monotonous!

This is my first attempt at knitting a simple lace pattern and is listed at the Ravelry web site and on the Flickr web site. The pattern consists of only four rows in a simple repeat, with three of the rows using only a straight knit row or straight purl row. Easy!

Hand Dyed Yarn and Canadian Knit Shops

My friend Darlene was kind enough to ferry me to several yarn stores in Calgary last week. We visited Knit One Chat Too where their motto is:

Stop by Knit One Chat Too to enjoy conversation, coffee or tea, and knitting! Come in for classes tailored to fit knitters of all ages and skill sets. Or just stop by and relax in the warm environment and view our latest products!

And it was so true that personal assistance was provided, along with encouragement for your knitting efforts, and a cup of coffee. It was a friendly shop with a comfy sofa and overstuffed chairs available in case you needed a sit down or a quick refresher lesson on a particular hand craft technique.

My purchases at Knit One Chat Too included three skeins of hand dyed wool/silk fiber hand dyed by the Hand Maiden. This company is located in Vancouver, BC.


(photo courtesy of the Hand Maiden)

When traveling away from home, I try to pick up something from the new area so that when I come across it again in my own territory, the object will remind me of the time and place visited.

One of the skeins I purchases was dyed in gorgeous shaded of pinks, oranges, light crimson and burgundies. I began knitting on a lace scarf yesterday and am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. The fiber is a pleasure to hold since it is 50% preshrunk wool and 50% silk.

Another shop we visited, Gina Brown's, provided additional sock yarn for my stash. And look what I picked up there as a knitting toy: a whimsical monkey tape measure.

The nose of the monkey is the retractable gadget that reels in the tape.

You can purchase one of many similar tapes at Create For Less. It is a handy accessory, and one that makes me smile when reaching for it.

Thanks, Darlene, for a fun shopping experience.