10.8 South Africa Culture: Food and Beverage: Wine And Rooibos Tea
Description
This article is from the South Africa FAQ, by Scott Hazelhurst scott@cs.wits.ac.za with numerous contributions by others.
10.8 South Africa Culture: Food and Beverage: Wine And Rooibos Tea
* Tell me about South African wine.
Have a look at the South African wine FAQ (can be found as:
http://www.cs.wits.ac.za/faq/wine/WineFAQ.html).
Please contact Ian Sanders (ian@cs.wits.ac.za) if you are
interested in working on this section.
* What is Rooibos tea?
From: ccfj@hippo.ru.ac.za (F. Jacot Guillarmod)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: Re: rooibos tea
Date: 16 Aug 1994 10:28:53 +0200
Organization: Rhodes University Computing Services
[...]
"Rooibos", Combretum apiculatum, is a tree which occurs in the
Transvaal and has timber which is borer and termite proof, making it
useful for fenceposts.
"Rooibostee" is a decoction made from the dried twigs and leaves of
the shrub Aspalathus linearis, which is found on the Olifantsrivier
and Cedarberg mountains of the Western Cape (north of Cape Town).
It's on sale commercially in South Africa and you can find it in any
supermarket under such trade names as "Eleven o'clock - the original
rooibosch tea". It's caffeine free and has a low tannin content -
despite that, it's delicious. The packet in our kitchen cupboard has
the address: B. Ginsberg (Pty) Ltd, 47 Morningside, N'Dabeni, Cape
Town, on the side of the box.
The botanical information above is from "Common Names of South
African Plants", by C.A. Smith, Dept of Agricultural Technical
Services, Botanical Survey Memoir No 35, 1966. Its 642 taxpayer
subsidised pages are jampacked with fascinating details on the names
and uses of indigenous plants. Another useful supplementary book is
"Food from the Veld - Edible wild plants of southern Africa", by
F.W. Fox &M.E. Norwood Young, Delta Books, Johannesburg, 1982, ISBN
0 908387 20 2, 400 pages. The retail and subjective information is
from observation and personal experience.
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