Wednesday, October 08, 2008

It Must Be Fall

I've just mixed up the first batch of Russian Tea for the season. We'll drink it until spring.

But...grrrr...the folks who make Tang changed the formula! They took the regular sugar out and substituted fructose and sucralose. bleh.

Of course, their claim was that we could 'use less!'

I don't wanna use less...I want it to taste right. Grumble, grumble...

So, I had to do some math, since the classic Russian Tea recipe called for 2 cups of Old Tang and I had to figure out what the equivalent volume of New Tang would be. When they first switched, I did all the math, but I had the last Old Tang jar in front of me. Now I can't find where I wrote down the results. I just remember using measuring cups and a measuring spoon to get what I needed.

Not trusting my memory, I found the Wikipedia entry for Tang that stated that Old Tang needed 1 TBS per 8 oz serving (I thought it was 1 tsp/2 oz..or, 1 TBS plus 1 tsp for 8 oz. I *must* be wrong...). Anyway, doing the math with that proportion came out to needing 1 2/3 c. New Tang for the recipe. When I measured it out, the little jar only had about 2 tsp left in it, so I ended up just dumping the whole canister into the bowl.

Then I found I was out of Lemonade Kool-Aid (the recipe calls for 2 packets), so I substituted enough Country Time Lemonade to make a gallon.

So who knows if what I now have in my 'Russian Tea' Tupperware bowl (that's what we've put in that bowl for YEARS) will bear any resemblance to the comforting cold-weather beverage we all know and love.

Ah, well, it'll be warm...

BTW, that Wikipedia page also said that there was a household hint floating about that, due to the high citric acid content of Tang, it is useful for cleaning dishwashers. Um, wouldn't that be sticky?

The Tang people said that they only recommend Tang for drinking.

4 comments:

  1. You have been nominated for the Brillante Weblog award. Post the award on your blog and list 6 qualities or values that are most important to you and 6 negative things you condemn . Then pick other people that you think are worthy. (or not, if you don’t want to!) I appreciate you sharing your life stories. Mary

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  2. Oh, this brings back a lot of memories! My mother used to make the Russian Tea with Tang for the holidays. I never got the recipe, although I know it is in the old recipe box, which my dad undoubtedly has somewhere! That's too bad about the new Tang. I can't have it now, anyway, I have terrible reactions to sucralose (aka Splenda).

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  3. Why why why do food companies do that? Change formulas on things that have been around for years??

    It wouldn't be so bad if there was an option to get the Old Tang...so that folks who really were motivated by 'use less!' could do so.

    Me, I want my sugar and my Old Tang back....

    BTW, the Russian Tea made with New Tang is drinkable, but I'm not sure I've got the amount to put in a cup right. It was a little syrupy. I'll try again in a bit. ;)

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  4. BTW, Thanks to Mary for nominating me for the blog award! To see my thoughts on it and the blogs I nominated, look Here

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