Who Knew They Even Sold Tang Anymore?

I had no idea that Tang was still a thing. .I remember hearing a story about it coming out because of the astronauts and the space race. This is what they could take into space to drink. I wanted to make sure I was right about this before posting, so I looked it up. Tang was created by General Mills Foods in 1957 and experienced poor sales at first. In 1962 NASA gave Tang to John Glenn to take on his Gemini missions to space. Apparently they did food experiments in space, and Tang was one of the things they used. General Mills experienced a vast increase in sales because of this. So, while Tang was indeed not created for the space program, they did use it.

My husband said that his mother often used the space angle to get he and his sister to drink it when he was younger. I'm not sure I ever drank it as a child. But, alas, Tang is still in production and is still for sale.

Tang is the main ingredient for Calico Tea. Combined with the other ingredients, it provides a quite lovely orange spice tea. You really get a kick of cloves and cinnamon. Which honestly, does go well with the orange flavor.

I made this mix and put it into a half gallon sized Ball jar. It doesn't quite fill it, but it was a bit more mix than would fit into a quart jar.

I made the tea both hot and cold. Stirring the mix with boiling water for both. For the cold, I simply poured it over a glass filled with ice.

The hot tea feels warm and rich. It would sooth a sore throat on a cold winter evening. I did not feel the need to add sugar; it tastes sweet enough from the drink mixes.

The cold version was very refreshing. It tasted less sweet than the hot, probably because of the dilution of melting ice.

This tea seems to be a nice mix for all seasons.

CALICO TEA

2 Cups Tang Orange Breakfast Drink Mix

1 Cup Plain Unsweetened Instant Tea Mix

1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Ground Allspice

1 Teaspoon Ground Clove

Combine all ingredients. Pour into jar and cover tightly.

To serve mix 1 Tablespoon spiced tea mix and 1 cup boiling water. Stir until mix is dissolved.