Notice Board - Steenbergs Review

A couple of weeks ago Emily from Steenbergs got in touch with me and asked if I'd heard of Steenbergs and asked if I would like to try some of their products.

Steenbergs is a small family run artisan spice company based in North Yorkshire. They specialise in the ethical sourcing and hand-blending of spices, teas and home baking ingredients with a focus on organic and fairtrade. Right up my street I thought! 

Emily told me they have a passion for provenance, aroma and taste. What was I waiting for, I couldn't wait to try out some of their products.

Before I knew it a parcel arrived and it was filled with lots of goodies! I couldn't wait to get started, but first a cup of tea, one small problem which do I choose first!

That was easy, I had been looking forward to trying their white tea with lemongrass and orange blossom with rose and cornflowers. The tea smelt wonderful as it was stewing and I wasn't disappointed when I tasted it, a perfect cuppa, it was absolutely delicious and I've been drinking it at least once a day ever since!

Regular readers will already know I'm a massive fan of tea and one of my kitchen cupboards is always stocked with different flavoured teas, I am spoilt for choice some days. Two teas I regularly drink are earl grey or more recently lady grey in the mornings and I always reach for a green tea with jasmine to calm me down. But the white tea with lemongrass and orange blossom is up there with the lady grey and jasmine teas and is now a firm favourite. 

Steenbergs have recently been interviewing tea lovers for their blog so pop on over and check out my interview "Time for Tea".

So, what other goodies did Steenbergs send me?

• Organic Green Jasmine Tea
• Organic Happy Hippy Tea
• Morning Brew Herbal Tea
• Organic Rose Water
• Organic Orange Blossom Water
• Organic Fairtrade Vanilla Extract
• Fairtrade Saffron

The Happy Hippy Tea was also delicious and I love the quirky name and the Morning Brew Herbal Tea was great as a morning cuppa. But my favourite has to be the White Tea, just look how pretty it is!

The rose water and orange blossom water intrigued me too and I couldn't wait to try out these products in my cooking. 

I was impatient though and I couldn't wait for a cake to bake or a Morrocan Stew, so I donned my thinking cap and came up with two super speedy recipes. A chocolate orange mousse and a rose and orange sparkler.

First, the sparkler, it was so refreshing and perfect to sip, relaxing outside on a gorgeous sunny day.

Ingredients - Serves 1 to 2 people

1 Orange, freshly squeezed
1 Tsp Rose water
½ Tsp Agave nectar
200ml Sparkling water

Method

Mix the first three ingredients together then slowly pour in the sparkling water. Give the sparkler a little stir before pouring into glasses. Enjoy!




And now for the chocolate orange mousse, delicious and light. Definitely a recipe to whip up time and time again.

Ingredients

1 Packet siliken tofu, drained
1 Tbsp cacao powder
2 Tbsp Orange water
1 Tbsp Agave nectar*
25g Coconut oil, melted

Too garnish:
Dark chocolate 
Orange slices

*If you like your chocolate sweeter add more agave nectar to taste



Method

Add the first 4 ingredients to a food processor and blend till you have a smooth mousse, you may need to scrape down the sides of your blender from time to time.

Add the melted coconut oil and blend again.

Pour the mixture into glasses or bowls and place in the fridge for an hour to firm up a little before eating, if you can wait that long! 

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You must go and check out their vast range of teas and personally I definitely think you should try the white tea with lemongrass and orange blossom, it is blissful.

I'll be posting more recipes using Steenberg goodies soon. What would you use the rose water and orange blossom water for?

Jasmine x