A Tea Time Quiz - Ten Tasty 'T's

Answer: Tangerine

A tangerine is a small orange citrus fruit named after the city of Tangiers in Morocco. A common sight in supermarkets, particularly over the winter period, these small fruits make a tasty, yet healthy, snack and make a good addition to a child's (or an adult's) lunch box. Keen cooks might also want them in order to turn them into marmalade or include them in a fruit salad. Generally speaking, tangerines can be identified from other small oranges by their sweet flavour, slightly irregular appearance and the large number of seeds you are likely to have to pick out of their segments!

Answer: Tagliatelle

Tagliatelle is a type of pasta that consists of long flat strips approximately 6 millimetres wide and 1 millimetre thick. It is traditionally made from fresh egg-based pasta and served with thick sauces such as Bolognese or carbonara. The Italian city of Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, which is located in the north of the country and stretches from the Adriatic coast in the east to its border with Liguria in the west. Marche is located to the south of Emilia-Romagna on Italy's eastern coastline.

Answer: Truffle

There are two types of common foodstuffs known as truffles - one is a type of chocolate confectionery and the other is a very expensive example of the genus Tuber. (I'll leave it to you to decide whether you think chocolate or fungus go better with afternoon tea.) The non-chocolate truffles are considered a delicacy in the cuisines of many European countries, including France, Spain and Italy as well as various Balkan countries.

They grow underground, often around the roots of oak trees, and can be quite tricky to locate.

As a result people have been using pigs to hunt truffles since Roman times.

Answer: Taco

Tacos are a traditional Mexican dish, consisting of a tortilla wrapped around fillings such as meat, cheese, seafood or vegetables. A hard-shell taco is a variant of the dish that became popular in the US and Canada in the early 20th century and can now be found in fast food restaurants across the continent.

It is called 'hard-shell' because the tortilla is folded into a U-shape and deep fried to make it crispy. A 'soft-shell' taco is similar but is usually grilled or steamed so that the cooked tortilla remains softer. If you're serving up either type of taco then you might want to add some traditional taco garnishes to the plate - things like salsa and guacamole work well.

Answer: Tempura

Tempura is a Japanese dish that originated in the late 16th century from a combination of traditional Japanese fried cuisine and a Portuguese method of frying food in batter. It is prepared by taking thin strips of a variety of seafood (both fish and species such as prawns, crabs or squid) or vegetables (popular options include bamboo shoots, onion, carrot or potato); dipping them in a batter mixture made from flour, eggs and water; and then deep frying them for 3 to 4 minutes, although the exact timings will depend on the specific ingredients used.

Answer: Tofu

Tofu is produced from soy beans that have been first turned into soy milk and then curdled (a process otherwise known as coagulation) - as a result it is also known as bean curd. It is relatively low in calories but is high in protein and therefore provides a good alternative to meat for vegetarians. Tofu is believed to have been invented in China several thousand years ago, but its use has since spread across East Asia - probably alongside the spread of Buddhism given the vegetarian diet followed by members of that religion.

Answer: Tiramisu

A tiramisu is a cold Italian coffee-flavoured dessert with relatively modern roots as the earliest recipes for it appeared in the 1960s. Presentation of the dessert varies, with some tiramisus resembling a cake, while others are served in a glass bowl or sundae dish.

It is prepared by soaking the sponge fingers in coffee and placing them in layers separated by a cocoa-flavoured mixture of the eggs, mascarpone cheese and sugar. Many variants of the dessert have been developed that also include chocolate, alcohol or fruit in addition to the traditional ingredients, while some others leave out the coffee altogether.

Answer: Turtle sundae

The most important thing to note about turtle sundae is that no actual turtles are involved in its recipe. This scrumptious dessert is in fact made from vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce, caramel and pecans. The 'turtle' connection is its similarity to Turtles candies - chocolate and caramel-coated pecans - that were originally produced by Johnson's Candy Company (who became DeMet's Candy Company) in the US in the early 20th century.

The term 'sundae' is a generic one for any ice cream dish that contains added ingredients such as fruit, nuts or sauce and is thought to derive from the word 'Sunday'.

However, if you did want to eat a turtle sundae as part of an afternoon tea, you are free to do so on any day of the week...

Answer: Tavuk göðsü

Although tavuk göðsü is a traditional Turkish dessert, it is (as the name suggests if you are fluent in Turkish) made from chicken meat. The chicken is boiled so that it is of a soft enough consistency to be separated into very thin strips. These are then combined with rice flour, sugar and milk to a form a white semi-solid pudding that can be moulded into various shapes for presentation purposes.

Although modern blancmanges use cornflour or gelatine as their thickener, medieval blancmanges were also prepared using chicken meat.

Answer: Tabbouleh

Mezze (also meze, mazze or mazzeh) is essentially a collection of small dishes often served as appetisers or for the starter course of meals in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and parts of central Asia. In some countries, a mezze might be more substantial and be provided as a meal in its own right. Tabbouleh is just one of dozens of dishes that pop up in mezze dishes in various countries and is a salad made from bulgur, tomato, onion, mint and parsley with a lemon and olive oil dressing.

Other mezze dishes also include meat, fish, seafood and dairy products - some 'T' examples are tzatziki (a cucumber yoghurt dip), tashi (a tahini dip) and tarama (fish roe).