Infusion from Cooked Amaranth

In Albums: tea

Sep 7th, 2011, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows the water left over after cooking red-veined amaranth leaves (xian cai).

The color of this infusion is a deep red color, almost tending towards purplish. It is similar in appearance to, but slightly lighter than hibiscus tea, the infusion made from hibiscus flowers, and much lighter than the juice from red chard.

I took this picture to highlight an interesting observation...when we cook vegetables in water, we often discard the water, viewing it as undesirable or waste. Yet in another context, herbal tea, we specifically drink the infusion of plants. The water left over after cooking vegetables contains vitamins, minerals, other nutrients, and other beneficial phytochemicals from the plants just cooked. I drank, rather than discarded this water.

I wrote about this whole experience on my tea blog, in the post herbal infusions and cooked vegetable broth.