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Tea bags curdling my milk

post #1 of 12
6/1/10 at 2:19pm
Thread Starter 

i dont have a lot of experience with tea and their relationship with milk products. so i was making a panna cotta, steeping the milk/sugar/ tea bags. the next thing i know, the milk had curdled. im assuming that its the citric acid in the tea that is causing this, but how do i prevent it? ive done things with milk and earl grey, but maybe its this specific Passion Tazo Tea that is doing this. errrggh, its pretty frustrating!

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post #2 of 12
6/1/10 at 7:53pm

You may be over steeping? drawing too much tannic acid off of the tea? How long are you steeping for?

"In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. "
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post #3 of 12
6/2/10 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 

it really happens in the beginning, just as the flavors are being released into the milk.

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post #4 of 12
6/6/10 at 11:21am

It just may be very possible that you can't use that kind of tea to make your panna cotta. I wouldn't know how to prevent the milk curdling in the presence of an acidic ingredient.....

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post #5 of 12
6/6/10 at 11:38am

If it is the "acid" causing the problem, the only solution would be in the direction of making the milk more alkaline to offset the acidity. Might be tricky...

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post #6 of 12
6/6/10 at 10:12pm

The name of the tea sounds like one that might have some fairly acidic ingredients. I'm not sure if its true, or something I've conjured up in my head, but I think that milk is slightly less likely to curdle when its colder. You might try steeping it cold over a day or so.

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post #7 of 12
6/16/10 at 7:20pm

Use manufacturing cream it wont seperate

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post #8 of 12
6/16/10 at 8:59pm

How about a tea reduction added to scalded milk?

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post #9 of 12
6/17/10 at 5:52am

As the tea is a fruit tea and therefore quite acidic it will curdle, I drink it quite a lot of fruit teas,  but can never add any milk,   can you not use the earl grey or even better cardamon pods?  that will taste wonderful!    failing that a good dark green bay leaf. hope this helps.

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post #10 of 12
6/28/10 at 8:25pm
Thread Starter 

thanks for the help guys!

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post #11 of 12
10/5/12 at 10:26pm

Try almond milk!  Taste great and wont curdle.

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post #12 of 12
10/6/12 at 9:34pm

Zombie thread. . . . must work for the Almond Milk people. . . 

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