Using Green Tea As A Healthy Cooking Ingredient

Let’s get one thing out of the way to begin with. Tea, especially green teas can be used in the kitchen both as a beverage and as a cooking ingredient. Once you dig into the tea recipe options out there you’ll find the range to be quite startling.  In this article we want to reinforce this concept of using green tea leaves in your cooking.

As more is discovered about the health benefits of green tea, a growing number of households are starting to use it more and more. The list of benefits are numerous and range from fighting tooth decay to lowering blood sugar and from reducing the risk of certain types of cancer to controlling blood cholesterol.

I have incorporated green tea into my daily life. I drink it for its soothing effect and I also use it as a cooking ingredient in a number of different dishes, making use of its distinctive fresh, grassy aroma. The Japanese in particular have a long tradition of using green tea in their cuisine. To get you started I’ve listed the three different types of green tea that can be used in both savory and sweet recipes.

• Tea leaves that have been infused just once.   These have a gentle flavor and can be used in the same way as any green vegetable. You can mix them into a pasta sauce add them to salads and rice dishes (see my mushroom side in the image below).
• Cooled tea infusions. I use this for boiling fish. It’s remarkable how tender they become as a result.  There is also a long tradition of pouring hot tea over rice.
• Powdered teas. The highest grade is called matcha and this is what is used in Japanese tea ceremony.  Matcha can be quite expensive so look for cheaper powdered teas made from the more widespread sencha green tea grade.

The key when cooking with tea is to take steps to reduce the bitter tasting flavor that can remain in the leaves. It may seem a little bit overwhelming cooking with green tea but all you’ve got to do is experiment a little.

My first foray into green tea cooking simply involved stirring some tea leaves that I had just used to make a cup of tea into a mushroom side I prepared for my omelette (see image above). I was very pleased with the result. It certainly added an exotic twist to my rather traditional recipe and I enjoyed the vegetal flavors that came through.