So is Florida "sweet tea" what we'd call Nestea/iced tea up in Canada?

[ronandannette]

Yes you can.

I have never once in my life seen these products in a Canadian supermarket.

 

[tvguy]

I have never once in my life seen these products in a Canadian supermarket.

Next time you're at the grocery store take a look and let us know.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I had a conversation with several under 30's at work, they had never heard of powdered instant milk. My kids grew up with it as an emergency backup in case we ran out of fluid milk.

Odd that they never heard of it. You use it in cooking. I buy a box every 5 years or so, to use when I bake bread. You only need a tablespoon or so, so the box lasts forever.

As a kid, my mom would mix reconstituted powdered milk with "real" milk, so we drank half-and-half all the time.

 

[tvguy]

Odd that they never heard of it. You use it in cooking. I buy a box every 5 years or so, to use when I bake bread. You only need a tablespoon or so, so the box lasts forever.

As a kid, my mom would mix reconstituted powdered milk with "real" milk, so we drank half-and-half all the time.

When we used our bread maker I seem to recall it called for powdered milk. Now I just keep a pint of that aseptic boxed fluid milk that needs no refrigeration on the shelf as emergency backup.

 

[bookgirl]

1. 
   History of Chitterlings/Chitlins:
   
   Let us consider what chitlins are - they are hog intestines or guts. Some people turn up their noses at the mention of chitlins; other leave the house while they are cooking, driven away by their odor. However, the volume sold for New Year's dinners, with Christmas and Thanksgiving not far behind, attests to chitlins popularity in the United States. Chitterlings is the more formal name, but most people call them chitlins. They are usually part of a larger meal that includes collard greens, fried chicken, and other traditional Southern foods. Chitlins are not for the faint of palate or smell, which is why traditionally they were cooked outdoors at backyard hog killings in winter. They are a food that you either love or hate!
   
   
   And for those who say they'd never eat that:
   
   Have you ever eaten a hot dog/sausage/brat/kielbasa, etc with a natural casing:
   

Casings are soft cylindrical containers used to contain sausage mixes (Fig. 314). Casings can be of natural origin or artificial. Natural casings are obtained from animal intestines derived from slaughtering. Manufactured artificial casings are made of cellulose, collagen or synthetic materials.


Same thing, different name and preparation.

 

[TLSnell1981]

It's actually pronounced as one word in the South...sweetea.

 

[goofyernmost]

I'm a tea drinker--iced or hot, depending on the time of day or time of year. I typically have tea sweetened with Splenda. We moved to NC from New England last year, and I tried sweet tea once. I couldn't choke it down. It was so sweet, it felt syrupy in my mouth. I'm sure it's an acquired taste. My family isn't interested in trying grits, pigs' feet, or chitlins, either. We do love the biscuits down here, though--gotta give a shout-out for those.

FTR, it also seems like stuff is super salty down here, as well. The first time we got fries from Bojangles, we thought there must have been a mistake. Nope. Ditto for onion rings from Dickey's Barbecue--I couldn't eat those either, due to the salt. (I don't know how regional these chains are).

By and large, we love living in the South, but there are distinct regional differences in food preparation.

Sounds like you're in the Raleigh area, as am I. I will agree with the pigs feet and chitlins but, grits are not either of those and I love grits. Put a little butter and/or honey on them and it's like heaven. I loved them when I lived up north as well. I have never had the onion rings at Dickey's, but, I'll take your word for it. I usually just have ribs and potato salad. I find a lot of things pretty salty down here.

 

[elaine amj]

We're Canadian and we like our hot tea. My daughter always orders "steeped tea" from Tim Horton's, i.e. hot tea already brewed with the bag removed. Not knowing any better, she ordered steeped tea at a McDonald's in Tennessee and was alarmed to receive sweet tea instead. She tried to communicate what she actually wanted and eventually had to settle for a cup of hot water and a tea bag, which is what she should have expected as a best case scenario in the first place. She had a similar struggle at her hotel in Atlanta the next day. The panicked texts she sent me were hilarious. I should have thought to warn her that tea preferences are regional.

Live in Ontario - and I completely understand

And no, I have never seen unsweetened iced tea or sweet ice tea, southern-style anywhere here in the Great White North (hmmm...maybe some brewed stuff in bottles lately? But that's rare). It's all Nestea/Brisk - which is basically unfizzy pop/juice in my book. I do like it, but tastes NOTHING like brewed ice tea. I love it when I travel down south and get unsweetened iced tea everywhere. The best is going to conferences and having it served along with ice water. Yay! I am cheap and typically just drink ice water everywhere I go. So going places where it is priced the same as ice water is AWESOME

 

[QueenIsabella]

Sounds like you're in the Raleigh area, as am I. I will agree with the pigs feet and chitlins but, grits are not either of those and I love grits. Put a little butter and/or honey on them and it's like heaven. I loved them when I lived up north as well. I have never had the onion rings at Dickey's, but, I'll take your word for it. I usually just have ribs and potato salad. I find a lot of things pretty salty down here.

Close enough! I will say, the last time I tried grits, it was at a Cracker Barrel in Massachusetts. On principle, I won't judge southern grits, based on that, and if I have an opportunity to try them again, I will.

We loved Dickey's smoked meats, but didn't care for the potato salad. My Dh liked the onion rings--he's more of a salt fiend than I am, and DS19 had good things to say about the cole slaw, which he refused to share. We would try them again, for sure, but maybe just for the entree versus a whole meal.

It also cracks us up that fried chicken is like a religion down here. Not that we're complaining--I don't think I could eat KFC again.

I do love the availability of tea down here. It was tough up north, everyone drinks coffee. There, Dunkin Donuts is the place of worship.

 

[Prose]

Odd that they never heard of it. You use it in cooking. I buy a box every 5 years or so, to use when I bake bread. You only need a tablespoon or so, so the box lasts forever.

As a kid, my mom would mix reconstituted powdered milk with "real" milk, so we drank half-and-half all the time.

The only times I have ever used powered milk in my life were in college as cheap creamer and when making bread during the bread machine trend of the 90's - otherwise it would be off my radar, and I am WELL over 30. DD is 16 and she doesn't know that such a thing exists. If you are not a baker, you could easily not know about it.

 

[EMom]

I have never eaten them, but it's chitterlings, not chitlins.

You are beyond six degrees of separation from chitlins if you felt compelled to correct the spelling, especially considering that anyone who pronounced it "chitterlings" would be met with eye rolls at a minimum. I'm no chitlin expert (save to know
I don't want to eat them) but I do know that anyone who has been within 50 miles of them wouldn't insist on a chitterling spelling even on test day.

 

[LuvN~Travel]

Down here, mainly in Georgia and Alabama (both of which I have lived in, I wont include Florida for many reasons lol) we usually use Lipton or Luzianne. And, of course it usually mean you are ordering sweet tea in restaurants unless you actually say non sweet. We use the simple syrup method too, usually put the sugar and a cup or so of water in the bottom of the pitcher, then after the main water has brewed on the stove, we pour that over the syrup. As to sugar, now that does vary by family or tea maker here rofl. I usually use a cup and a half sugar to the gallon. But, I have had a coworker whose wife used a cup per half gallon! (still dont know how he kept his figure) lol Sometimes we do use the flavored teas here, alot of ppl love the peach tea flavor. I actually liked to use an orange flavored tea back in my younger days sometimes. All iced and sweet of course. However, now most iced drinks with sugar set my teeth on edge. I quit sodas over a decade ago, and anything too sweet in liquid form can drive me crazy now. (had gastric bypass about the time I quit the sodas, thus the change in drinking sweet stuff) I now use sugarless flavoring in my water bottle.
And as to that Nestea thing, I call is Nastea! Yuck and yuck. lol I learned real quick while at the parks to not drink their tea. lol But, I actually dont like any bottled teas or dry tea mixes. Though, my family does like Milos in the jug.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

No, not really. Not quite. Sweet tea is made in a distinct way.

Sweet tea is black tea where sugar is added while the tea is brewing and still hot. This is not the same as sweetened commercial iced tea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea

Sweet tea is a style of iced tea commonly consumed in the United States,[1][2] especially the Southern United States. Sweet tea is made by adding sugar to bags of black tea brewing in hot water while the mixture is still hot. The tea is traditionally served ice-cold with only sugar. It may sometimes be flavored, usually with raspberry, lemon,[1] or mint.[3] Sweet tea can also be made with a simple syrup[1][4] and is sometimes tempered with baking soda to reduce the drink's acidity.[3]

Although sweet tea may be brewed with a lower sugar and calorie content than most fruit juices and sugary sodas, it is not unusual to find sweet tea with a sugar level as high as 22 brix (percent weight sucrose in water), twice that ofCoca-Cola.[1][5][6][7][8]

 

[tvguy]

The only times I have ever used powered milk in my life were in college as cheap creamer and when making bread during the bread machine trend of the 90's - otherwise it would be off my radar, and I am WELL over 30. DD is 16 and she doesn't know that such a thing exists. If you are not a baker, you could easily not know about it.

I'm 58 and I grew up on powdered milk. Half because of the cost, and half because my mom worked full time (which still was not the norm in the early 1960's) and she didn't want to run out of milk. I keep a box under my desk at work today when I am dieting. If I get hungry between meals I can mix up a glass of non-fat milk in no time. Better than paying $1.50 from the vending machine, and they only stock 2% milk there.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I live in the part of Florida that's actually Southern (the Panhandle, where we more resemble our Alabama neighbors than the Yankee transplants in the rest of the state). We drink sweet tea - boil 2 qts of water, add a couple of Luzianne tea bags, and let it brew. In my family, we let it brew for a couple of hours, almost to room temp, then add the sugar (I use maybe 1 1/4 cups for a gallon of tea made with 2 family-size bags), then top off to the gallon. My momma is from Alabama and I've never seen her make a simple syrup.

That Nestea stuff is instant tea and is reviled by Southerners. If I'm in a restaurant on vacation I will ask, "is your tea brewed or does it come from the soda fountain?" If they tell me it's from the soda fountain, I order Coke.

 

[NotUrsula]

IDK what kind of yankee business that is, but that is not how my nannie (grandmother) used to make her tea, nor anyone I've ever met. You put the water and the teabags on to boil, and let it steep. Then you pour it in a pitcher, add sugar, and stir. When the sugar is dissolved, you add water to the tippy-top.

Nope, not Yankee business; that's restaurant business. If you are making tea in large quantities, you cannot add the sugar that way because it won't dissolve properly; a large quantity of liquid cools unevenly, and dumping in 3 cups of sugar makes it even worse. Making simple syrup to keep in a bottle to add to the tea makes it a lot easier to make it in bulk. If you have people in the house who like their tea with differing degrees of sweetness (or none at all) it's actually a lot less hassle to make a bottle of simple syrup first (it will keep for a month). Simple syrup can be added to cold tea and still dissolves properly, unlike sugar.

 

[firecracker725]

Nope, not Yankee business; that's restaurant business. If you are making tea in large quantities, you cannot add the sugar that way because it won't dissolve properly; a large quantity of liquid cools unevenly, and dumping in 3 cups of sugar makes it even worse. Making simple syrup to keep in a bottle to add to the tea makes it a lot easier to make it in bulk. If you have people in the house who like their tea with differing degrees of sweetness (or none at all) it's actually a lot less hassle to make a bottle of simple syrup first (it will keep for a month). Simple syrup can be added to cold tea and still dissolves properly, unlike sugar.

You know what...when I was a teenager I worked at a restaurant, and one of my duties was to make the tea. We added sugar to a pitcher and filled it with hot water from the coffee maker tap to make a syrup before pouring it into the giant pot of tea. I make it the old fashioned way at home, but you're totally right that simple syrup is the best (only?) way to go when making tea in a commercial brewer.

 

[goofyernmost]

Close enough! I will say, the last time I tried grits, it was at a Cracker Barrel in Massachusetts. On principle, I won't judge southern grits, based on that, and if I have an opportunity to try them again, I will.

We loved Dickey's smoked meats, but didn't care for the potato salad. My Dh liked the onion rings--he's more of a salt fiend than I am, and DS19 had good things to say about the cole slaw, which he refused to share. We would try them again, for sure, but maybe just for the entree versus a whole meal.

It also cracks us up that fried chicken is like a religion down here. Not that we're complaining--I don't think I could eat KFC again.

I do love the availability of tea down here. It was tough up north, everyone drinks coffee. There, Dunkin Donuts is the place of worship.

Not to far away from Raleigh there is a place called Pork City. It's a store that sells pork products. You can go in and buy any part of a pig for consumption. Why, you can go in and buy yourself a big ole supply of Pig Faces to cook up for that Sunday after church family get together.

Spoiler

I'm talking about actual full faces, ears, eyes, nose, chin... you name it. I don't know who would buy it, probably someone that is going to make "head cheese", but, I'll pass. As for Fried Chicken... the best Fried Chicken I have had down here is at, believe it or not, Golden Corral.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Not to far away from Raleigh there is a place called Pork City. It's a store that sells pork products. You can go in and buy any part of a pig for consumption. Why, you can go in and buy yourself a big ole supply of Pig Faces to cook up for that Sunday after church family get together.

Spoiler

I'm talking about actual full faces, ears, eyes, nose, chin... you name it. I don't know who would buy it, probably someone that is going to make "head cheese", but, I'll pass. As for Fried Chicken... the best Fried Chicken I have had down here is at, believe it or not, Golden Corral.

Yum.

That's interesting about Golden Corral. We eat there occasionally--it's my kids' favorite--but I don't typically get the fried chicken. I will be sure to try it on our next visit. Meanwhile, I'm forced to choose between Zaxby's and Smithfield's--we're big Smithfield's fans.

Back on topic, sort of, the big thing with getting sugar to dissolve in tea (or another drink) is heat. So, boiling water with tea bags in it works fine, or making a simple syrup separately, as I do for lemonade. I typically use Splenda, so no issues with dissolving, but it makes a world of difference in lemonade, to make the simple syrup. My family goes through lemonade by the gallon, so the couple minutes' investment in simple syrup is very worth it.

For my summertime drinking "needs", I go with Crystal Light decaf iced tea with lemon. I love the taste. If I drank all the caffeinated tea I would like, I would be a jittery mess.

 

[aprilchem]

Yea it's just iced tea with sugar. I'm not really sure why people think it's some great, magical drink you have to be in the South to get.

I think that's because you can only get it in the South. I live in Virginia, but used to live up north. If you order iced tea there you get unsweetened tea, not sweet tea. They didn't even have sweet tea in PA.

And Nestea isn't tea, is it?? I've tasted it a few times and I thought it was some sort of un-carbonated soda type drink. Like lemon-tea flavored water. I don't think it has any tea in it, does it?