I keep promising myself that one day I will get around to making that fantastic salad I saw in the June 1998 issue of this magazine or those mouth-watering ribs that I saw in the 2003 August issue of that magazine.

One day.

Well I’m glad to say that I’ve finally made good on that promise to myself. Or at least I’ve taken a first step. From the May 2005 issue of Saveur magazine, I give you the best strawberry jam I have ever tasted!

My fascination with this issue of Saveur rests on the fact that it features an article about the magic of cream tea in England. Cream tea is the traditional afternoon tea where one enjoys scones, clotted cream and jam. Traditionally, the jam served is strawberry and it being strawberry season, I couldn’t imagine a better time to finally check this recipe off of my must-try list. The jam can then be used to create the most incredible tea cake which is essentially a sponge cake whose layers are sandwiched together with clotted or Devon cream (double cream) and the fantastic strawberry jam.

Now if only I could get to England in time for this afternoon’s tea!

Strawberry Jam
Makes 4 1/2 pints

2 lbs. fresh in-season strawberries, rinsed and hulled
5 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Put strawberries into a large heavy pot and gently crush with a potato masher. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir well with a wooden spoon. Bring to a vigorous boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Continue to boil, stirring often, until jam thickens and reaches its setting point (about 220 degrees on a candy thermometer), 10-15 minutes. Remove pot from heat and set aside to let jam cool for 25 minutes (this will keep the berries from rising to the tops when jarred). Skim any foam that has risen to the surface of the jams.

2. Meanwhile, submerge 5 half-pint canning jars, their lids and ring band, and a widemouthed funnel into a large pot of boiling water over medium-high heat and sterilize for 10 minutes. Remove from hot water and transfer to a clean dish towel. Using the funnel, fill each jar with hot jam to no more than 1/4″ from the top. Wipe jar rims with a clean dish towel, place lids on jars, then screw on ring bands.

3. Transfer filled jars to a canning rack, submerge into pot of gently boiling water (jars should be covered by at least 1″ of water), and process for 10 minutes. Carefully lift jars from water with jar tongs and place on a dish towel at least 1″ apart to let cool undisturbed for 24 hours. To test that jars have properly sealed, press on center of each lid. Remove your finger, if lid stays down, it’s sealed. Refrigerate any jam that hasn’t sealed and use within 4 weeks.

Victoria Sponge Cake
Makes one 8″ cake

3/4 lb. plus 1 tbsp. salted European-style high-fat butter, softened
3 cups plus 1 tbsp. self-rising cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups double Devon cream
3/4 cup strawberry jam
Confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees Farenheit. Grease two 2″-deep 8″ round cake pans with 1/2 tbsp. butter each. Dust each with 1/2 tbsp. flour; set aside.

2. Beat remaining butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Add granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Combine eggs and 6 tbsp. water in another bowl. Add half the egg mixture and half the flour to butter-sugar mixture. Beat well for 1-2 minutes. Add remaining egg mixture and flour; beat batter for 5 minutes.

3. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Invert cakes onto a rack, remove pans, and let cool completely.

4. Beat cream in a medium bowl until stiff. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, spread top with half of the jam, then cover jam with the cream. Spread top of remaining cake layer with remaining jam and place it, jam side down, on top of cream. Dust cake with confectioners’ sugar.

???So have you tried white tea???? an acquaintance asked me one day.

???White tea?! What???s white tea???? says I.

???You???ve never heard of white tea?!???

???Um ??? no,??? I respond rather weakly.

???Well! It???s a type of tea that???s high in antioxidants and really good for you, even more so than green tea!???

Argh!

As much as I love tea and my newly discovered love for tea, I often feel like I???m waging an uphill battle. There are so many teas out there that sometimes it feels like I???ll never get around to learning about all of them, or having the opportunity to try them.

Wanting to learn more about this mysterious white tea, I decided to head over to my local health food store which happens to carry a very large selection of fine tea. Sure enough, right there beside all the other teas that I???d painstakingly become familiar with was the aforementioned white tea.

I chose a box of white tea by one of my favorite local tea producers, Celebration Herbals, based in Ontario. Looking at the box I immediately noticed the words ???Premium Quality White Tea from China.???

The ingredients list stated that the tea was 100 percent Organic Chinese White Tea from the Camellia sinensis plant. I know that the Camelia sinensis plant is the plant from which other teas are harvested, such as green and black tea, but that still didn???t explain what white tea was.

I continued reading the box and came across the following point, ???White tea is distinguished from other teas by the place it comes from and the way it is processed. This tea comes from the Fujian province of China. ??? White teas are not oxidized at all, but are simply left to dry naturally then roasted to seal in all the flavors.???

While that explanation helped, I still needed some more information. Some researching on the Internet yielded two excellent resources about tea in general, and anything you???d want to know about tea. The first is The Tea Association of the United States, Inc. This is an association that you can actually join, however, if you don???t wish to join, there???s an incredible amount of useful information including a fact sheet on yearly tea consumption available to general readers. (Did you know that in 2005 Americans consumed more than 50 billions servings of tea?!)

The web site www.whitetea.cc also has several interesting and informative articles about white tea and its benefits, the most significant of which are the high levels of antioxidants in white tea. Check out the site for more information.

The final part of my initiation to white tea was, of course, the taste test. I happily purchased the box of Celebration Herbals White Tea and brought it home to brew myself a cup. The box has a section on it called ???Tasting Notes??? which indicated that white tea is refreshing and low in caffeine with a mild flavor. I brewed a cup by bringing fresh water to a rolling boil (as the package recommended) and steeping the tea for no more than a minute and a half.

I was pleasantly surprised by my first taste of white tea. It was indeed mild, but it also had a very subtle leafy flavor. It was the first of many cups of white tea to come!

Growing up, the idea of using loose tea was foreign to me. Tea was something we drank when we were sick, and it always came in a little white bag from a box purchased at the grocery store. It wasn’t until my early 20s, when I attended my first formal tea party, that I became familiar with using loose tea, and of course using strainers and infusers. As I looked at my own small collection of strainers, my curiosity was piqued. I wanted to find out a bit more about strainers and how they are best used.

As always the Internet proved an incredible resource, in particular by bringing to my attention to www.coffeetea.about.com where the ins and outs of tea and tea devices, such as strainers, are explained at great length.

In case you???re wondering, a tea strainer is a device that usually rests on the lips of your teacup. The tea leaves are put into the basket and the water poured through. As you fill the cup, the leaves are suspended in the water, but held within the basket of the strainer. Once you???ve allowed the tea to steep according to directions, you remove the strainer and discard the tea leaves. Naturally tea strainers are not the only option. You can use tea balls and bamboo strainers, all of which are just as effective.

Interestingly, I came across an article by Sean Paajanen, called Loose Tea vs. Tea Bag. The article explains that one of the advantages of using loose tea is that you enjoy the flavour of larger tea leaves. Apparently, the tea leaves used in tea bags are generally smaller and therefore do not impart as much flavour into your cup of tea. Another great reason to begin exploring loose tea and all the lovely strainers available out there!

My own collection of tea devices includes two tea balls, a tea basket and a small strainer. As I drink more and more loose tea, I???ve become a fan of these little items and am trying to collect them. The advantage to this is that strainers and infusers are generally inexpensive. My most expensive strainer cost $10. When you consider that a strainer should last for years and years, that???s an excellent investment.

So if you???re still devoted to the tea bag, why not make a small investment and purchase a strainer? It???s for a good cause ??? a better cup of tea!

I am happy to say that in the past few years my tea-drinking horizons have broadened dramatically. Certainly the Internet has been an invaluable source of information about tea. But recently I discovered a print publication that is an excellent resource both for the serious tea drinker and for those of us who are relatively new to the tea world.

Tea, A Magazine, is a quarterly publication that celebrates one of the world’s most popular beverages. The magazine features a wealth of information about tea. Topics range from stories about tea retailers, accessories to go with the perfect cup of tea and issues of importance affecting the tea trade, as well as recipes and book reviews.

The 2006 Winter issue of Tea has a series of interesting features. The story that really caught my eye was a feature about growing tea in England. You read that correctly. Tea is being grown successfully in England, specifically in Cornwall. Not only is it being grown, it is being sold by the venerable British retailer, Fortnum & Mason.

While the idea of tea grown in England was a bit surprising, the article, written by Tea’s editor Pearl Dexter, deftly explains that a favourable climate and enough rain have resulted in the right setting for Camellia sinensis (the plant from which tea is made) to grow and thrive.

This is just one of the many interesting pieces in the Winter edition of Tea. Well-written and photographed, Tea offers something for everyone. I will be eagarly scanning the magazine rack for the Spring issue.

For more information about Tea, A Magazine, visit the website at TeaMag