How'd that get on my plate?

Food Network Fan · 07-06-2008, 11:08 PM

What do you think of this one? It seems a lot like unwrapped to me. Sunny is doing a good job with it though.

BerryBaby · 07-06-2008, 11:37 PM

Haven't watched it. She is doing a great job, but not something I want to watch. Guess I'm not the so-called 'target audience'....give me Alton or Mark.

isilzha · 07-06-2008, 11:39 PM

I caught the end of it, it looked interesting.

I saw part of her other show this morning, Cooking for Real. I irritated everyone in the house by shouting 'Sunny is on TV! Her name is like my name'.

FoodFan · 07-06-2008, 11:46 PM

It's The Secret Life of....Unwrapped. Nothing new there.
I was actually more impressed with the season premiere of Cooking For Real. I just like to watch and hear Sunny do the basic lessons. This one was fried chicken with an apple cider brine today. And I want to try the brew-in-your-fridge plum, orange, and lemon iced tea. Sounds tasty, and looks like virgin sangria.

ibcheft · 07-07-2008, 10:01 AM

Okay am I the only one who found this show really hard to follow ? When does candy end up on a plate ? and on cooking for real, Sunny mentioned something about sun tea being bad for you ? but never explained it. I heard of making tea in the ice box, but was told at the time it cut the caffeine out of it ? figured the guy knew what he was talking about since he was into the organic and health stuff at the time like in the mid 70s. I had not thought about that in years till she mentioned tea in the ice box. So I really was not impressed by the new show at all, seemed to be really scattered.

BerryBaby · 07-07-2008, 10:07 AM

Sun tea is bad for us? Hmm, it was quite the thing back in the 70's and 80's and it never bothered me. No ill effects from my experiences. I'd like to know more about why it is bad.

Food Network Fan · 07-07-2008, 10:46 AM

Whenever the temperatures reach 90 degrees around here, I can count on my neighbors to haul out their sun tea jugs. Using the heat of the sun to make this popular beverage is a great past time no matter where people live. It's easy and fun, and a rather nifty way of harnessing the sun's energy.

However, there's been some discussion that making sun tea is really not a healthy thing to do. Apparently, the warm 130 degree temperature of the water is the perfect medium for brewing a nice batch of bacteria, instead.

I grew up drinking sun tea by the gallon. Mom would set out her jars in the morning, and by sun down, we were sipping on it with our dinner. Mom did have some concerns, though. Being from Europe, she had been taught that people could get sick drinking tea that had not been made with boiling water, and allowed to steep for 5 minutes. None of us ever got sick however, and we eventually dismissed Mom's fears as an "old wives tale."

A breeding ground for bacteria

One afternoon, I had pulled a jug of sun tea out of my refrigerator and noticed some tendrils floating around. The tea had gotten cloudy, and there was some white stuff growing on the side of the jar. I thought it was only sediment, and poured myself a glass. It turned out to be some nasty tasting bacteria instead.

According the Center of Disease Control, brewing sun tea for long periods of time, actually encourages the growth of bacteria. Apparently there's a type of ropey bacteria called Alcaligenes viscolactis which is commonly found in tap water. Since water must be heated to 195 degrees for 3-5 minutes to kill bacteria, the relatively low temperatures of sun tea just isn't hot enough to kill anything, either in the water or the tea. Mom's folk wisdom wasn't that far off the mark after all.

Is there a safe way?

According to my local extension office, there are safer ways of making tea than letting it brew all day in the sun.

SOURCE