We’ve all heard the word “superfood” thrown around, and it may be fruitless to assume that adding one ingredient to your diet can change your whole life, but managing a balanced, healthy diet and sprinkling it with these foods is a sure road to health; a prime example in the up and coming superfoods list being matcha.
Matcha is a form of green tea with a concentrated package of health benefits. Rather than boiling the leaves as with green tea, only extracting some goodness, matcha is ground to a fine powder and consumed whole when mixed with a liquid or added to a recipe. Matcha tea is shade grown which enhances the levels of amino acids and antioxidants present in the leaves and delivers more intense benefits on consumption.
Healthy elements
Green tea and matcha have many health benefits come from high concentrations of a catechin called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) which has been linked to helping against heart disease, type-2 diabetes and other conditions.. The high chlorophyll content assists with liver functioning and detoxifying the body while other properties of matcha encourage weight loss through a boosted metabolism. Matcha drinkers may also enjoy a heavenly peak of relaxed focus, as originally used by Chinese and Japanese monks of Zen Buddhism to fuel meditation sessions.
So, how to work this wonderful ingredient into your diet? Of course there is the traditional method of preparing the matcha with a bamboo whisk and a tea bowl and enjoying it as a delicious creamy drink. It can be drunk hot or cold and you can vary the strength to suit your tastes. Alternatively you use cooking grade matcha and infuse it into a range or recipes. We can look at a few of these examples right now, but the possibilities are truly endless, so be creative and come up with your own variations on these or even completely unique creations of your own. With the trend catching on it’s so easy to find a high quality supplier of matcha these days.
Smoothies
Matcha can add a wonderful flavour to smoothies and works really well with those green smoothies, the fat burners and the en edgy boosters!. A favourite of ours:
- 1 Frozen banana
- Half an avocado
- 2 Handfuls of spinach
- 2 tsps Matcha green tea
- 1/4 cup almond milk or alternative
Simply blend all the ingredients together and enjoy!
Baking
The cheekiest way to enjoy matcha is by sneaking it into your baking. While still indulging in sweet delights, you can also reap the benefits of this superfood. From cookies to granola bars to fresh banana bread and chia pudding, there are hundreds of ways to slip the delicious green goodness of matcha into your cooking. OUr favourite matcha mix up is by far this recipe by Dessert With Benefits
Healthy Matcha Green Tea Cookie Dough
Ingredients
- 1 15oz can Garbanzo Beans (drained, rinsed well)
- 1/3 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Mlik
- 64g (1/4 cup) Homemade Matcha Green Tea Nut Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3/4 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
- 120g (1 cup) Oat Flour
- 64g (⅔ cup) Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
- 2 tsp Matcha Powder
Method
- Combine the garbanzo beans, almond milk, and matcha nut butter in a food processor. Blend until completely smooth.
- Add the remaining ingredients and blend until the mixture is even throughout.
- Refrigerate overnight for an authentic finish, or indulge immediately!
Non Food And Drink Uses
Much like many other herbal and green teas Matcha is a really versatile plant that can have a huge variety of uses outwith drinking or using as a recipe ingredient, as these are a fairly obvious direction to go in, let’s look at some much more inventive uses and start thinking outside the box!
In Gardening And Horticulture
It’s common knowledge that composting all household food and drink waste can help produce fertilizer useful for both gardening and house plants alike. Using any type of green tea, including mathca, increases nutrient levels in soil and improves oxygenation, which helps roots thrive . This is a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of fertilizing your home plants which cuts down on the need for any artificial, chemical fertilizers.
Use In Home Made Beauty Products
Surprisingly it’s becoming a more and more common trend to make beauty products at home or even as a small cottage industry, I was talking to an old friend the other day and was surprised when she told me she was making her own soap and I’m finding she’s not the only one, it’s happening everywhere! There are literally hundreds of beauty recipes that are perfect for matcha or other green teas. Here we can see a great bunch of examples from soap to creams and face masks, bath bombs and much much more, the possibilities are really endless!
Use Tea With Textiles As A Dye
This may sound like a crazy idea, that’s what I thought when I first heard it, I mean there’s no way it could be used as a green fabric dye, it’s surely not strong enough? But I was completely missing the point, green tea won’t dye a fabric green, but it will make an impact on the material, this video tutorial sums it up perfectly when it shows you that the green tea actually makes a sort of champagne colour on the materials it’s been used on ad it looks absolutley wonderful, not at all what I was expecting actually but isn’t that often the best discovery, when it surprises you and gives a result that couldn’t have been anticipated!
So why not try some of the inventive and fantastic uses we’ve seen for matcha in this guide and I’m sure you can stun and impress your friends with this new found knowledge or go one step further and try out some new uses yourself as your imagination is the only limit here. Also if you’re really struggling for ideas let’s remember that it still also makes one hell of a hot drink, healthy and soothing!
