Iced tea is just ... well ... iced tea. Tea that's chilled and served over ice.
Sweet tea is sweet iced tea. But it's not just tea with sugar in it. Sweet tea has to be sweetened with sugar while the tea is HOT so the sugar dissolves and becomes syrupy. Then the tea is cooled and poured over ice. Sweet tea made that way tastes VERY different from tea that has been chilled and then sweetened with sugar or sweetener. Sweet tea is very much a Southern thing.
IN some parts of the South if you ask for iced tea, you'll get sweet tea by default and you have to specify unsweet tea if you don't want it sweetened.
Oh and fried okra ... holy drool, Batman. I could really go for some of that right now.
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Hmmm. Interesting. You learn something new everyday.
I do remember like 8 years ago my friend went to Graceland with her Dad to Elvis's house or something, and when she came back I asked her how her trip was, and she said it was fun but they have discusting iced tea down there. Maybe she had "sweet tea"
My confession is that I'm a Southerner, but I HATE sweet tea. Can't stand it. But then I don't have much of a sweet tooth anyway. I like iced tea with lemon. So I have to be really careful to always order "unsweet tea" when I go out.
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Last edited by PhotoChick; 11-13-2008 at 08:02 PM.
Hmmm. Interesting. You learn something new everyday.
I do remember like 8 years ago my friend went to Graceland with her Dad to Elvis's house or something, and when she came back I asked her how her trip was, and she said it was fun but they have discusting iced tea down there. Maybe she had "sweet tea"
Sweet tea disgusting? What blasphemy!!!
And the poster that said that you have to sweeten the tea while it's still hot is right; cool, sweetened tea IS NOT the same thing.
I love lemonade iced tea also, where the tea is sweet and then you mix half of it with lemonade. MMMMMMMM...
And fried is the ONLY way that okra is to be served, unless it's in gumbo.
Last edited by grneyedmustang; 11-13-2008 at 08:31 PM.
I've lived in the south my entire life, and I STILL can't stand sweet tea!! Ughhh it makes me gag! But I LOVE unsweet. But man, I just can't acquire a taste for the stuff...
Speaking of Southern foods....I'm a huge fan of fried chicken, homemade mac n cheese, lemonade...mmMmmMmmmm... AND I CAN'T WAIT TILL CRAWFISH SEASON!!!!
Oh man, I'm a pariah in my family. I hate any sort of cold tea. Sweet or Unsweet. I'm glad I didn't either, because in our house growing up it was either drink tea or drink water; I pretty much only drink water and have my entire life.
But Southern, food, man. I'm in a sort of restaurant mecca in Mississippi right now. The local places definitely outnumber the chains and it's all incredibly delicious.
BillBlueEyes: When I was living in Europe with a wholebunch of other expats from many countries, I made fried pickles (or gherkins as there weren't any proper dills) as my appetizer contribution. Most everybody enjoyed it, but thought it was the weirdest thing ever.
mmm- I like my sweet tea when it is still warm, poured over a glass full of ice so it is warm and cold at the same time as you drink it.
If any of you non-southerners are wondering exactly how sweet it is- my mom uses a full cup of sugar in a 2 quart pitcher. Some places make it a lot sweeter but that's all I can take!
no one is talking about fried green tomatoes. - my favorite.
BTW, I didn't know this would be a food porn thread!
My dad has a "life list" of restaurants, culled from many episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Feasting on Asphalt, Bon Appetit Picks the Best, etc. I swear, there are more of them in the South than ANYWHERE else.
Slimy okra
