I was at a Chinese health food store and saw a bag of dried hibiscus flowers. I didn’t realize they were the same as my “Edible Hibiscus Flower” because it looked like regular dried maroon flowers.
These dried flowers are made into tea that’s high in vitamin C. I guess I never really seen hibiscus in this context before. It’s the same dried hibiscus used in Celestial Seasoning teas to give it that deep red color. And of course for it’s health benefits too.
A glass of cold “agua de jamaica” in a Cuernavaca restaurant.
Photo from Wikipedia. This glass reminds me of blueberry juice due to it’s deep purple color. It does look very good!
And last summer, I saw them sold in the produce section at a Mexican grocery. They labeled it as jamaica. I don’t remember the price, but I believe it’s much cheaper. The name “jamaica” is pronounced “ha-ma-ike-ah” in Spanish. It’s suppose to be really easy to make and a popular drink for the summertime.
A simple recipe would be to add a 1/2 cup of dried jamaica (hibiscus) into 4 cups of boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes with 1/2 cup of sugar (sweeten to your liking). Strain, then add ginger root, mint, and fresh lime juice too. Some people even add cinnamon sticks. And finally add 3 more cups of cold water. Chilled and served on a hot summer day!
Dried hibiscus flower.
Update 9/16/09: I finally got my hands on some dried hibiscus flowers at my local supermarket. They were in the Mexican food section and called “Jamaica”. It cost about $5 per pound. But just one flower can make a good cup of tea. It’s really easy to make a refreshing drink from them. You just boil a handful with 2 cups of water and add honey to sweeten it up. Some say it’s very tangy, but I love it and hope they never stop carrying it.
More information:
101cookbooks - Jamaica Flower Iced Tea Recipe
Australian Native Hibiscus Family- more ideas with hibiscus tea and photo gallery of the flower.
Image sources:
Dried Hibiscus and tea drink. - Wikipedia
10:22 pm on May 7th, 2009
I’ve seen the dried hibiscus flowers before when I was little, and saw it again at the temple in Laos, here is the photo, they were spread out to be dried.
http://nyenoona.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/driedhibiscus-flowers.jpg
I recalled drinking that, minus the cinnamon sticks, the teacher made it for us when we helped to harvest the hibiscus flowers, it was really good.
9:08 pm on May 10th, 2009
I like the pictures of those pretty hibiscus flowering being dried. I didn’t know Laos also farmed and harvested them.
I wonder if they were sent to Thailand to be packaged as “Product of Thailand”. Many countries do that… especially with olive oils being from different countries but packed in Italy.
1:09 am on May 13th, 2009
I think they do especially if they’ve a small farm. My cousin in Pakse has a small coffee farm near Paksong, and it’s right next to Dao Heuang Farm, so they sell their coffee crops to Dao Heuang and packaged as Dao Heuang coffee.
12:06 am on August 18th, 2009
[...] flowers usually remind me of tropical places such as Hawaii. They are popular ingredients in herbal tea as it gives off the nice red color. These interesting looking hibiscus flowers are not the [...]
1:51 pm on October 7th, 2009
[...] Dragonfruit is full of antioxidant, fiber and high in vitamin C. I’ve heard that the red flesh version is the best tasting one. It is also the ones I buy dried from Trader Joe’s (when it’s in season). Dried dragonfruit has much more vitamin C then the fresh one. I usually use it to make tea and it taste very much like hibiscus tea. [...]