Homemade herb tea

I'm always on the lookout for a lovely cuppa.

This one is great served alongside a spicy or

fruit teacake.

You will need:

4 slices of ginger

2 star aniseed

8 Chinese tea roses

1 lemon, slicecinnamon bark

Infuse a pot of rooibos tea with ginger, star aniseed, Chinese tea roses, lemon slices and cinnamon bark. Leave to draw for 5 minutes before serving. 

7 Steps to tasting whisky

So how does one taste whisky? Apparently its more about the nose than the tongue since you can only taste four things - sweet, salty, bitter and sour. The nose, on the other hand, can detect about 35 000 different smells and is so sensitive that it can detect those aromas when diluted to one part per million.  Therefore, when determining the quality of any whisky, the nose provides you with most of the needed information.

Any glass can be used for whiskey tasting, but the best are tulip-shaped wine glasses.

Now you have the glass lets begin....

1. Note the label details: brand, distillery, age and strength.
   
2. Eye the whisky: describe the colour, texture and clarity.
3. Smell the whisky neat (unmixed): note the intensity (1 to 5), nose-feel and cardinal aromas.
   
4. Smell the whisky diluted: not the primary and secondary aromas and development (flowers, spices, peat, fruit, smoke and chocolate are common scents to up on the nose).
   
5. Taste the whisky: describe the mouth-feel, primary taste, overall flavour and finish on the palate.
   
6. Note any thought.
   
7. Rate the whisky on a scale from 1 to 10.
   

Now you know how to taste your whisky and have chosen a couple that you like, what now?
It is not uncommon to pair an entire meal with scotch or bourbon, but it appears very expensive whiskies are best not paired with any food and some whiskies are best served with a snack.

Whisky and Nuts:

Roasted salted cashew nuts pair well with the traces of spice in Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight bourbon.








Whisky and Chocolate:
Hints of chocolate, apple and vanilla found in Ballantine's Scotch whisky make it the perfect partner to 70% dark chocolate.








Whisky and Salmon:
Compass Box Peat Monster is elegantly Sweet, smokey and picks up the delicate flavour of smoked salmon.






Whisky and Sushi:
Jameson Gold Special Preserve is delicately balanced and gentle and the perfect match for sushi.

There's nothing that tastes quite as healthy as figs, in my books anyway.

I recently discovered a great recipe that incorporates my much loved figs. I wasn't quite certain I'd enjoy it, but after a friend swore her mother had been making the dessert for ages and that the taste was 'so divine' i couldn't resist.

So with her guidance, read she doing, me waiting to eat, we managed to make the easy dessert.

This is what she did:

peel and halve the figs lengthwise and cut a cross into the flesh. Drizzle a teaspoon of honey mixed with cinnamon onto each half and refrigerate to infuse. And once ready, serve with, my all time fave, vanilla ice cream. 

Verdict: the taste was absolutely 'divine'!!