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What is the best water temperature for making tea?

Richard Cornish
Richard Cornish

Pop the jug on. We're going to spill the tea on the best water temperature for the perfect cuppa.
Pop the jug on. We're going to spill the tea on the best water temperature for the perfect cuppa.iStock

What is the best temperature for water to make tea? P. Wallica

For black tea, warm the pot and pour freshly boiled water (100C) over the leaves or bags and allow the tea to "draw" for three minutes before pouring.

Green tea and herbal tisanes need to be infused in water about 80C, as the aroma compounds can be damaged by boiling water, resulting in bitter tea.

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Boil the water in a domestic kettle and wait about 3 minutes until it has cooled enough before pouring over the leaves. Allow to draw for 3 minutes, or less, according to taste.

Oolong tea should be brewed about 90C, so boil the kettle and wait 1-2 minutes before making the tea.

Swiss cheese – a hole lot of deliciousness.
Swiss cheese – a hole lot of deliciousness.iStock

What causes the holes in Swiss cheese? B. Gainge

Cheese is made from milk, salt and billions of living yeasts, moulds and bacteria. From managing the penicillium moulds that make the soft fuzz on camembert to introducing lactic acid bacteria to turn lactose into lactic acid that helps curdle the milk, cheesemaking is about being the ringmaster to an invisible cast of powerful bugs.

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When making Swiss cheese such as emmentaler, cheesemakers enlist a common bug called Propionibacterium freudenreichii. It breaks down fat into a short-chain fatty acid called propionic acid and carbon dioxide.

The carbon dioxide is trapped in the still-elastic curd to form "eyes". An interesting aside is that propionic acid is really good for gut health, and we have evolved to like the taste of it.

Another aside is that Propionibacterium used to be introduced via pieces of hay or grass in the milk.

Over the past 50 years, European cheesemakers have become scrupulously hygienic. Cheesemakers found their emmentaler was failing to produce eyes, resulting in what they termed a blind cheese, considered a fault.

These days the bugs are added to the milk in powdered form to create that propionic acid that cheese lovers crave.

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Mace has a bright, round, zesty aroma.
Mace has a bright, round, zesty aroma.iStock

What is mace and how do I use it? L. Enfield

Mace is a glorious spice, much used in Victorian and Edwardian times, that has fallen out of favour. It is the dried membrane that encloses nutmeg and resembles a small piece of dried red or brown sea plant.

It has a bright, round, zesty aroma that, while not quite as intense as nutmeg, is heady and aromatic. The essential oils in mace match back to the aromas in dark cherries and chocolate.

Add a blade of mace to pickles, custards and cheese souffles, or combine with a few bay leaves to make a slow-cooked meat dish even more enticing. Powdered mace is traditionally added to English pork sausages. You can buy mace from gewurzhaus.com.au.

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Letters

Recently we were talking about chicken skin. This inspired reader M. Loupis to write, "There is a fabulous little restaurant in Bangkok [called Err Urban Rustic Thai], which has a signature dish called 'Chicken Movie'. It is basically the skin of a whole chicken, carefully peeled off and deep-fried, served standing up like a hollow chicken, with a home-made sriracha sauce. You snap off bits, dip in the sauce and go to heaven!"

Send your culinary conundrums and ingredient suggestions to brainfood@richardcornish.com.au or Twitter and Insta @foodcornish

Richard CornishRichard Cornish writes about food, drinks and producers for Good Food.

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