Food 23 -- Hibiscus petals

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I bought some Hibiscus (known as Jamaica here, remember that the J sounds like an H) petals to make agua de Jamaica. I really like this drink. Basically, I boil a lot of water in a pot, once it's boiling, I throw a lot of Jamaica petals in, let them steep for a long time, add some sugar (while the water is still hot so that it melts quickly), then drain the petals from the drink. Voila -- a delicious and beautiful bright burgundy juice! The taste is something like a sweet, tart (almost raspberry) tea. It is kind of hard to describe if you've never had it. Here are some pictures of the little bag of Hibiscus petals (50 g) and some dried petals:


I will try to remember to take some pictures of the actual agua de Jamaica when we make it.