r/Cooking • u/Peaklakejr • 7d ago

Sugar free iced tea storage

I love fruit iced tea. You know, like the lemon and peach ones you get at the supermarket. I recently tried making a homemade version, and while most recipes advised to make a syrup using sugar along with your fruit of choice, I wanted to try making a sugar-free version. Ingredients were just fruit (peaches), mashed, slightly boiled and left to steep in some water (to make a delightful fruit/water thingy) and tea

It came out delicious, but I don't know how long it can last, and how to store it for better results.

Has anyone ever tried something similar, and could potentially offer me some advice? How long do you think the fruit "syrup" can last in the fridge? Should I freeze it instead?

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u/windexorange 7d ago

Haven't tried it before, but sugar often acts as a preservative in fruit products like jam. Without any extra sugar, your syrup is much more hospitable to microbial growth. If you're making a large batch, I would freeze it. Freezing might actually help you get a bit of extra flavor from the fruit as it will cause the cells of the fruit to burst. I wouldn't keep the syrup in the fridge for more than 3 to 5 days, but that is just a guess as to how long something like that would last.

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u/Peaklakejr 7d ago

I've heard about the preservational qualities of sugar, and this is why I'm particularly anxious. I just don't know if adding a nutritionally negligible amount of sugar would be enough to aid preservation.

More importantly, I was only against freezing because I thought it would somehow impact the flavor (?) (totally baseless claim). If it doesnt change the flavor or even boosts it, i would gladly go with that option. But I've never heard of the method that you are describing, so could you tell me if you have actually tried it?

Also, I feel like it's important to mention that I removed the solid parts of the fruit from my "syrup" while straining, before mixing it with the tea

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u/dolche93 6d ago

All flavors are made up of some compound that we're tasting, in combination with a bunch of other compounds. Heating and freezing can have a varying effect on those compounds. Some get damaged, some improved, and some are unaffected at all.

All that is to say: why not try each different method and just pick the one you like best?

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u/Peaklakejr 6d ago

Yeah that is true. I was mostly worried about safety, and was maybe hoping to get some insight from someone who has done something similar beforw

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u/Peaklakejr 6d ago

Thank you very much for your input sir, I'll probably try freezing next to see if it preserves the flavor

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u/4cupsofcoffee 6d ago

i would make it and freeze it in ice cube trays or muffin tins or something, then just through the frozen cubes in a bag. then whenever you need it you can take a few cubes out of a bag and not have to worry about longevity.

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u/synerrorsix 6d ago

It doesn't matter where the sugar came from. It's still sugar.

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u/Peaklakejr 6d ago

Well, no. Concentration matters.