New ways with chia fresca
Chia fresca, tradionally made with lemon or lime juice, sugar and water is very refreshing on a hot day. Its also excellent for rehydrating and energising after any sort of physical exertion.
These two chia fresca recipes are a new twist on the old recipe.
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Chia fresca tonic – a sophisticated and fun way to enjoy chia fresca
Ingredients
1 cup of red fruit juice, such as pomegranate, grape or cranberry juice
2 Tablespoons of white chia seeds
carbonated tonic water (as used for gin and tonic)
Method
Add the chia seeds to the fruit juice and leave for half an hour to make a thick gel.
Pour tonic water into a tall glass.
Drop a teaspoon of the gel into the glass of tonic water.
The red gel will sit in a ball at the bottom of the glass. Stir with a straw and watch the pink chia seeds rise and fall along with the bubbles in the tonic water. Its fun to watch, fun to drink and very refreshing.
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Chia apple mint iced green tea
Add the goodness of green tea to chia seeds for an invigorating summer drink
Ingredients
6 bags of green tea
6 cups of water
1 cup of apple juice
1 Tablespoon of chia seeds
1 dessert spoon of finely chopped mint
Method
Boil the water and pour over the tea bags in a large jug
Add the chia seeds and stir
Stir the mixture a few times to prevent the chia seeds clumping together
Add the apple juice and mint and stir again.
You can remove the tea bags at this stage if you want a mild green tea flavour or leave them until ready to serve if you want a stronger green tea flavor.
Chill until icy cold.
Stir again to disperse the seeds just before serving.
tried chia seeds for the first time last night … ate a spoonful plain, with just water to plump … then added to my mashed potatoes … then added to chocolate chip cookies … and am looking for other things to add it to!!
It’s easy if you are prepared to experiment a bit Lynn. 🙂
These sound great, but as I’ve never tried the chia seeds, I don’t know how much they yield. With the green tea recipe, how many servings does that yield?
I usually only add around a teaspoon of chia seeds to a cup of tea. You need to stir the tea between sips to keep the seeds from settling on the bottom. Any more than a teaspoon can turn your tea into a gel, which Is probably not what you are after. If you want to have a tablespoon of seeds per day, then you will need to have 4 teas per day to make that amount, or have the rest of your seeds another way. I find a teaspoon of chia seeds in green teas gives me a nice little “lift”.
What is the difference ethite and black chia seeds and can i use the blakc seeds when it says white?
There is very little nutritional difference between white and black chia seeds Alicia. Feel free to to use whichever color you like. I use white chia seeds when I want the seeds to blend into the color of the dish I am making (such as mashed potatoes), black if I want a contrast.