National Iced Tea Month

June is national iced tea month. We can thank an Englishman from Calcutta named Richard Blechynden for introducing the beverage in America in 1904 at the World's Fair in St. Louis. Sales of hot tea at his booth were very slow, probably due to the balmy weather. He came up with the idea of pouring the tea over ice and served it in tall glasses. The rest is history.

In this Southern Living magazine recipe, it calls iced tea the house wine of the South. I thought that their recipe for blueberry-lemon iced tea sounded delicious and I was right. It's very simple to prepare.

Bring a 16 oz. package of frozen blueberries and 1/2 cup lemon juice to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, using back of spoon to squeeze out juice. Discard solids. Wipe saucepan clean.

Bring 4 cups water to a boil in same saucepan; add 3 family-size tea bags and let stand 5 minutes. Remove and discard teabags. Stir in 3/4 cup sugar and blueberry juice mixture. Pour into a pitcher; cover and chill 1 hour. Serve over ice.

This has a gorgeous color and a refreshing fruity tang. Yummy.