TEA DRINKING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20077, 6 April 1935, Page 14

TEA DRINKING

DECLINE IN QUANTITY A visitor to New Zealand who is interested in the tea business says we are not drinking so much tea as we used to do, and he is much concerned because sales are falling off. It seems that Britain holds the record, with a consumption of 9Hb per head per annum, and Ireland and New Zealand are next, at about 81b—the quantity which we used to drink per head in the Commonwealth up to a few years ago, states Mary Pancourt in the “Australian Women’s Weekly.” Now we have fallen to fourth place, with just over 6fib. Has the price gone up? Has the quality gone down? Are we drinking more milk and icecream sodas? As our interested visitor has mentioned that the main producing countries have entered into a joint campaign to increase the consumption of tea, have limited their exports, and are no longer competing against each other, the tea economists may be able to work it out for themselves. And just one more thought: Where there is no competition there is less advertising. Medicine Before Beverage Do you know that tea began as a medicine before it grew into a beverage? When it was first introduced into England about the middle of the seventeenth century it cost 15s a lb, and was called “that excellent and by all physicians approved China drink, known by the Chineans teha and by other nations tay, alias tee.” So that it would not conflict with golf (perhaps a compromise was effected and it came to be spelt “tea.” Even in those days there was a “storm in the teacup,” for hardly had King James issued his famous “Counterblaste to Tobacco” than one Henry Saville denounced tea-drinking as a filthy custom, and another, Jonas Hanway, said “men seemed to lose their stature and

comeliness, women their beauty, through the use of tea.” However, as the tea got cheaper the people drank more of it. The habit spread all over the world; and the people of colonial America, you remember, got so angry over the heavy duties put on their tea (for even the taxgatherers had succumbed to its charm) that they rose up in their independence and said they would die rather than have their teadrinking interfered with. Over in China and Japan they speak of the man “with no tea” in him as one in whose life there is no purity and harmony and no adoration of the beautiful!

King James and Tobacco It is as hard to get out of bad habits as it is to get into good ones, and so we have become a world of tea-drink-ers and tobacco-smokers. Just consider what King James said about the “stinking suffumigation” of tobacco! Of course, in those days the manufacturers had not learnt to put the fragrant weed on the market in the pleasant way they do now, and the dainty cigarette in its artistic little packet was unknown to the young men and women of the period. Imagine a King to-day broadcasting these words: “Moreover, which is a great iniquity, and against all humanity, the husband shall not be ashamed to reduce thereby his delicate, wholesome, and cleancomplexioned wife to that extremity that either she must also corrupt her sweet breath therewith, or else resolve to live in a perpetual stinking torment. ... A custom loathsome to the ye, hateful, to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof nearest resembling that horrible stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.”

SHINY CRYSTAL The secret of the beautiful shine on crystal is methylated spirits. Add a few drops to the water ( either warm or cold) in which you rinse your j crystal, and polish with a soft cloth that has no lint. You will find that the surface will have that clear polish that is so attractive and shows up this type of glassware to such perfection. REMOVING STAINS Ink stains are a perpetual trouble, however careful one may be. Have you ever tried, on any white material such as linen, for example, covering the mark with mixed mustard and leaving it to soak in? Afterwards wash or boil the garment or cloth in the usual way. Potato-water, surprisingly perhaps, has a variety of such uses. It will remove tea or coffee stains from table cloths; and with a little onion juice added to it it will clean gilt picture frames. Handkerchiefs that are washed at home sometimes tend to lose their crisp whiteness, to grow a little yellow even. Put a tablespoonful of peroxide of hydrogen into a big bowl of rinsingwater and see how freshly they emerge from it! If you are pressing garments with a hot iron and a damp cloth, run the cloth first through slightly soapy water. You will find that the iron moves more quickly and smoothly, and the whole process of pressing is made easy.

SOME USEFUL HINTS Keeping Brooms Fit Frequent usage of a broom will not wear it out as quickly as careless treatment. To keep a broom fit and in good condition, wash it occasionally in a pail of hot soapsuds by dipping the broom end in and out quickly, so as not to soak the bristles. Shake off as much of the moisture as you can, and hang it up in the open air until it is dry. Cleaning Silver One of the easiest ways to keep silver clean when it is in constant use is to take an aluminium basin or saucepan, fill it with very hot water

to which a little soap powder has been added. Immerse the spoons, forks, entree dishes, etc., in this for a few minutes, then dry with a soft cloth. —W. H., Featherston. Ironing Collars When ironing soft collars take an old serviette, starch well, and dry thoroughly. Place this on the ironing blanket and iron all the collars on it. This gives them quite a new appearance, and the collars will not crease quickly or soil easily. When You Cook When making scones add a tablespoonful of cornflour and they will be much finer and lighter. If jam is warmed before spreading on a sponge roll it will not soak through. Beat thickening for gravy with an egg-beater, and it will not need straining. A Polishing Cloth Take a piece of flannelette of a suitable size for a duster, turn over, and stitch the cut edges to prevent fraying. Put a pint of fresh milk to J which is added an ounce of the carI bonate of ammonia into an empty fruit or salmon tin, and bring to the boil. When the ammonia has dissolved put in the duster, and boil for about five minutes. Take out and, without wringing, place it in a basin of cold water. Squeeze gently and dry before a fire. This cloth will polish any sil-ver-plated article, and will last well. Potted Cheese A good recipe for potted cheese:— Finely grate lilb stale cheese, work it well in a basin with 51b butter till thoroughly mixed, moisten with half a teacupful sweet wine, and add a pinch each of ground mace and pepper. Mix for a few minutes, press firmly into jars, cover with clarified butter, and seal. Keep in a cool, dry place.

Raisin Pie.—Raisin pie is a delicious pie, besides which such excellent food value is in the raisins. Rich in wholesome sugar, they supply the heat and energy so necessary in foods. Take two cups of raisins, one and a half cups of water, half a cup of sugar, two tablespoons of cornflour, one teaspoon of cinnamon. Boil raisins, water, and sugar for five minutes. Dissolve cornflour in a little water and add. Remove from fire, add the cinnamon, and stir thoroughly. Bake between two crusts, sprinkling the top crust with sugar be* fore putting in the oven.