Hibiscus Holiday Tea Recipes

hibiscus cold tea

The holidays are here and with that comes entertaining. Friends, family, lovers.......We are always looking for some yummy drink recipes. Here are some hibiscus recipes that will tempt the palette and have everyone coming back for more.

Before we get started, here is some history and benefits of hibiscus.
Hibiscus is a fragrant flower that can be made into tea. It is served hot and cold, and is popular in various parts of the world including Latin America, Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. Hibiscus tea has a tart berry flavor and contains vitamin C. Internal Medicine News has reported that hibiscus tea provides many other benefits, including lowering high blood pressure and reducing cholesterol levels.


Hibiscus Tea with Vodka & Citrus

  1  4 cup(s) water

      2 cup(s) (2 ounces) dried hibiscus flowers, dried rose petals and Red Zinger tea bags

   3  1/3 cup(s) sugar, or to taste

   4  2 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice

·   5  1 tablespoon(s) fresh lime juice

  6  1 cup(s) vodka

  7 1 cup(s) ice 

sorrel (hibiscus)

Sorrel (hibiscus) Caribbean style
Ingredients

. dried sorrel leaves (8-16oz bag, larger if making a large pot)--sold in a supermarket or fruit stand (popular in Brooklyn) that sells Caribbean products

. bay leaves

. cinnamon sticks

. brown sugar

. ginger

. strainer

. pot

  1  take a medium-large pan and fill it up with water, bring to a boil

   2 turn the stove off, add the sorrel-10-12 oz if using medium pan, bay leaves-10, cinnamon sticks-6

  3  allow it to simmer covered all day or overnight

  4  look into the pot, the water should look dark red--taking the color from the dried sorrel, strain the pots contents into another bowl or larger pot, squeeze the sorrel with your hands to make sure that you get all of its juice out, take out the bay leaves, the cinnamon sticks should look puffed up (that's good because it means that the flavor is now in the pot) 

  5  once the sorrel is in the other pot or bowl, add ginger--you can either use the juice from the ginger or chop the ginger and strain it to get the juice out, stir, than add sugar (dissolves better if warm)--taste it to make sure that you do not over sweeten it

 6  for a holiday zing, add rum

   7 sorrel can be served warm or cold

      

   Enjoy!! Have any holiday drink recipes? Post them. We would love to try them.