Starlite FCE enjoys tea party while studying tea, reading food labels

Submitted to

The Tribune

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The Starlite Family, Community, and Education Unit members and 14 guests met March 11, at the Highrise Center on Scott Avenue for an afternoon "tea party."

The event began with President Joan Isaac leading in the flag salute. Betty Johnson then presented information concerning tea. China, India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka are the chief exporters of tea while England and the United States lead in the importation of tea.

Tea comes in a variety of classes ranging from Black Tea, Red Tea, Green Tea, and White Tea. Herbal teas include other plants besides the Camellia Sinensis plant.

The maturity of the tea leaves and the processing method determines the type of tea produced. A good rule of thumb is to use one teaspoon of loose tea leaves per cup of hot water plus one teaspoon for the teapot when steeping tea in a pot.

The amount of time for steeping depends on the variety of tea used, but it averages three to four minutes for most teas. More than six minutes of steeping time can cause the tea to become bitter.

Following the lesson on tea, hot tea and cookies were enjoyed by the ladies. Bourbon County agent Ann Ludlum then presented a lesson on checking food labels for healthy nutrients.

Many package fronts are misleading, so one needs to check the list of nutrients. Ingredients are listed from the most to least in any product. If a label on the front of the package includes the name of a grain, look at the list of ingredients on the back or side of the package to see if that grain is listed first or later in the list. That will give you an idea about the percentage of that grain used in the product. It could be that very little of that grain is used in the product. In that case, the information on the front of the package may be misleading.

Another thing to check on labels is the amount of servings per container and the size of the servings. Then note the amounts of fats, cholesterol, and sodium in each serving. If the serving sizes are small, a person may be eating two or three servings at a time so we would need to double or triple the amount of fats, sodium, etc. when considering the nutritional value of the product. This applies to all nutrients. For example, the average adult needs up to 48 grams of fiber per day; therefore, eating multiple servings may help a person reach this objective. Likewise, a person should not consume more than 2300 mg of sodium per day. Checking labels enables one to shop for healthier products.

Following the lesson on food labels. President Joan Isaac led the club in the Club Collect.

Roll call was taken, correspondence was read, and the reports by the secretary and treasurer were given and approved. A total of 47 hours of volunteer service, were reported. The bulk of these hours were spent baking cookies for the Red Cross blood drive and for the tea party.

Announcements were given and the meeting adjourned

-- Submitted by

Betty Johnson