“Trying what I already know in a way I don’t know.”
Zeltzin Agramonte
We spoke with Zeltzin Agramonte, one of the first place winners in the “Cooking with Tea” contest organized by ESDAI* and EURO TE, about her experience of using tea as an ingredient for cooking and she shared her impressions on the matter.
This competition has been taking place for some years and was born after Tea Master Olivia Medina was invited to her Alma Mater, ESDAI, to give a class on Teas and Herbal Teas. Year after year, the delicious recipes that emerge from the creativity of the students are impressive. Inspired by the knowledge that Olivia transmits to them during the class, they draw on everything they have learned during their studies to design innovative dishes that include EURO TE Teas and Herbal Teas as an ingredient in the kitchen.
Although for many of them their first approach to the world of tea takes place in Olivia's class, this is not a limitation but on the contrary, it opens the doors to a world of possibilities to rediscover ingredients that they already knew but that they manage to transform using this new element in the kitchen.
In this edition of the contest, first place went to the main dish “Océano Latino”, a salmon fillet with curuba**, prepared with White Tea Peach Orchid and Black Tea Tropical Mango, created by Zeltzin Agramonte and Carmen Paola Ávila. According to the jury, it was impressive how the flavor notes of the different elements of the dish were perfectly distinguished.
Zeltzin told us that before Olivia's class she knew little about tea and knew nothing about herbal teas, much less saw them as an ingredient that could be used in cooking. While working with her partner on the creation of the recipe, her main motivation was to discover new flavors and try something new, so they chose the Peach Orchid White Tea because it paired very well with salmon, and the Tropical Mango Black Tea because it mixed well with curuba since both had defined flavors.
Tea Master Olivia Medina with Zeltzin Agramonte and Carmen Paola Ávila
As with any element that we do not know, their main challenge when preparing their recipe was to find the exact measurements that would produce the specific concentration of the tea infusion so that the dish would achieve a perfect balance, since they were worried about making a more concentrated infusion than necessary. However, through trial and error they found the way to achieve a balance of flavors.
Zeltzin describes her experience of cooking with Té as a new challenge in the kitchen that forced her to overcome her paradigms and think outside the box, summing it up in one phrase: “Trying what I already know in a way I don't know.”
At Euro Te we would like to congratulate once again all the participants in the “Cooking with Tea 2017” competition and thank them for their efforts in creating such innovative recipes using Euro Te Teas and Tisanes as inspiration. We would also like to especially thank ESDAI for promoting the use of new ingredients such as Tea that enrich our gastronomic culture and promote the consumption of healthy products.
Participants and Jury of the Cooking with Tea Contest (ESDAI-EUROTE) 2017
*ESDAI: Bachelor's Degree in Administration and Hospitality from the Universidad Panamericana
**Curuba: fruit that grows in cold areas; it has a firm, yellow or orange, fleshy pulp with small black seeds.
Olivia Medina
Tea Master, EURO TEA
