Hello Sabine!
Maybe I was dreaming, but didn't you say this on Saturday May 17 1997
 SB> Erm ... I've got only a small kitchen, not a bottling plant ;-)
Then why not make a small quantity of Tea every other day.
 SB> Have you ever picked the pieces of a glass bottle out of your face and
 SB> hands after its explosion? :-)
Yup. Well, not my face, but my hands. But this was not caused by sterilising.
 SB> most glass bottles are unable to face cooking water without
 SB> exploding.
Oh no, that's not true any more. Most modern glass bottles are properly 
tempered and won't explode if used for sterilising. In the old days, it's 
true that ordinary glass bottles were fragile, but that hasn't been true for 
30 years or more.
 SB> I don't want to take this risk, I need my hands and my face ;-)
When I first saw your post, I found it pretty incomprehensible that you 
should want to try to keep TEA a long time. Make enough for a couple of days 
and that way you won't have problems.
Greg's idea isn't bad, mainly because when sterilising, it's done in a water 
bath, and even if the bottle did burst, you would be protected by the water 
and the pan.
 SB> In German echoes and newsgroups they told me to put some ascorbin acid
Ascorbic acid is Vitamin C and is available as a powder, this would change 
the taste of the tea slightly less than using lemon juice. While I agree that 
the tea wouldn't taste musty, it would certainly be significantly changed.
But as I said, I think it's something of a nonsense to try to keep Tea for 
several days when it's so quick and easy to make.
If you want iced teas, make them strong, (5 mins work) and pour them over ice 
cubes, which will get it ice cold in about 2 minutes. The tea will taste 
nicer if freshly made, no matter how you preserve it.
All the Best
Ian
--- GoldED 2.50+
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