Eating and Drinking Jamaica (Hibiscus Flower)

Eating and Drinking Jamaica (Hibiscus Flower)

At Maxwell Street Market today, I bought some dried hibiscus flower.



I've had the beverage pronounced ha-mike-uh many times, but I've never made it myself. I checked a few online sources, and it seems like the preparation is basically heat water, add flowers and sugar, drain. There are variations (like adding ginger to boiling water), but essentially it's making tea. I'm interested, though, to see if anyone here has experimented with this flower both as a beverage and a food.

A nice Mexican lady told me that she uses the flowers to make tea and then puts them into quesadillas, which sounds intriguing (quesadillas by themselves are a little dull, at least to me).

I've made them into a sorbet with lime zest - not bad........they are a little to "floral" for me.
I also think it is funny how you say quesadillas are boring.......put more exciting stuff inside

I also think it is funny how you say quesadillas are boring.......put more exciting stuff inside

brilliant, my thought exactly! justjoan

justjoan wrote:

I also think it is funny how you say quesadillas are boring.......put more exciting stuff inside

brilliant, my thought exactly! justjoan

That was exactly my thinking behind adding the hibiscus flowers. Seems like we're all saying the same thing.

I did try adding the hibiscus flowers to quesadillas tonight and they contributed a little tartness and texture and a lot of color, though not a lot of taste. Still, better than standard issue quesadillas (which, as the name implies, is just cheese inside a tortilla).

Been researching flower consumption in Mexico, and came across this interesting diety, Xochipilli, who is the god of many things, including flowers, dance and homosexuality (happy Pride day). Graphics on his body indicate that he also was connected with hallucinogenic plants and 'shrooms (e.g., Psilocybe aztecorum). His posture indicates that he might be, you know, tripping.

While working in Portland a few yrs back I was struck by a kidney stone. A couple of wonderful Mexican women that worked for me politely suggested (then demanded) that I drink the tea they prepared me by the gallon, watching to make certain I did, refilling my glass as needed for a few days, like I was a child (I'm a terrible patient). They told me it was commonly used as a remedy for that. Like we use cranberry juice.

Jazzfood wrote:While working in Portland a few yrs back I was struck by a kidney stone. A couple of wonderful Mexican women that worked for me politely suggested (then demanded) that I drink the tea they prepared me by the gallon, watching to make certain I did, refilling my glass as needed for a few days, like I was a child (I'm a terrible patient). They told me it was commonly used as a remedy for that. Like we use cranberry juice.

I'm drinking a cold glass of hibiscus tea right now, and it not only looks like cranberry juice but is tart, as well. I actually thought maybe the people who vend jamaica juice at Maxwell Street Market added citrus, but the flower has some acidity all on its own.

I found a very similar product (eta: to clarify, definitely hibiscus, but somewhat smaller petals) pre-portioned into tea bags at a store in Chinatown awhile back. I brew it up into tea (sometimes with lemon zest) and then add sugar to make a nice simple syrup that works well with most tequilas and rums, as well as a certain gins and American whiskeys. It gets added to lemonade and pretty much anything else I'm drinking throughout the summer.

We had them in quesadillas in a place in Puerto Vallarta, which was excellent. I got the impression that they may have been re-hydrated in something more flavorful than water, but I couldn't put my finger on what.

David, How did you get through the '70s without Red Zinger?

We used to spike it with vodka, whiskey and all sorts of stuff, hot or cold. You can make a kind of sangria by steeping it in cheap red wine, mull it like cider, mix it with fruit juice, make it into jelly, gel it into Knox blox....

Here are a few things to do with Red Zinger or straight hibiscus tea.

Red Zinger lemonade

Applicious Red Zinger

Red Zinger rum punch

Sweet-and-sour cabbage

Red Zinger virgin punch

I couldn't find a recipe, but I remember a cake, as well.

And some people mixed it with henna for hair coloring.

LAZ, right, yeah, Red Zinger is the first taste memory that hit me when I drank the jamaica last night. Oddly, when I've had it at Maxwell Street Market, that distinctive flavor is not so intense (they may put other things in there). I tried some of the tea with simple syrup and Grey Goose last night and it was a refreshing summer drink that looked fantastic (thanks for the recipes -- I've got a lot of hibiscus tea to drink).

On a related note, we tried some betabel at the market yesterday, and it had a very subtle beet flavor (as advertised) but a close to overwhelming flavor of tamarind, which is used to sweeten the root juice.

David Hammond wrote:On a related note, we tried some betabel at the market yesterday, and it had a very subtle beet flavor (as advertised) but a close to overwhelming flavor of tamarind, which is used to sweeten the root juice.

David, I'm confused. Are you saying tamarind was used as a sweetener? It's as sour a thing as I know out there; how could it be used to sweeten? Or am I just confused (more than normal, that is)?

Gypsy Boy wrote:

David Hammond wrote:On a related note, we tried some betabel at the market yesterday, and it had a very subtle beet flavor (as advertised) but a close to overwhelming flavor of tamarind, which is used to sweeten the root juice.

David, I'm confused. Are you saying tamarind was used as a sweetener? It's as sour a thing as I know out there; how could it be used to sweeten? Or am I just confused (more than normal, that is)?

My understanding is that tamarind is sour when young, but it gets sweeter with age (just like all of us).

I can't say whether the sweet tamarind in the beet juice was due to the natural sweetness of the tamarind or whether sugar was added or both. What I can say is that the flavor of the beet juice was distinctly tamarind (it even had the brown cast of the seed pod rather than the red of beets). Nonetheless, there was definitely earthy beet flavor in there. It's kind of an odd drink.

Well, I'll be, uh, darned. I've never heard that. Not saying you're wrong in the least, just that I've never heard that tamarind sweetens with age. (BTW, while there is no doubt that you are also doing so, I think I'm the exception that proves the rule--getting sourer with every passing year )

PS Does getting sweeter with age mean (a) getting actually sweet, even if only mildly so or (b) getting less sour? (referring to the tamarind now).

PPS Though it doesn't seem to have the answer to our question, I must confess to being troubled by at least one statement from the Purdue website regarding tamarind: "The pulp, mixed with sea water, cleans silver, copper and brass." Yikes!

Dave, more sweet seems to be the flip side of more sour, and I'm no tamarind expert, but I think it's also possible that different varieties of tamarind are maybe more sweet or more sour, regardless of their age.

At MSM, they sell the older pods (I'm assuming Mexican rather than, say, Thai varieties), and the paste in the pods can be eaten as is; it's a balance of sweet-sour.

David Hammond wrote:LAZ, right, yeah, Red Zinger is the first taste memory that hit me when I drank the jamaica last night. Oddly, when I've had it at Maxwell Street Market, that distinctive flavor is not so intense (they may put other things in there).

Red Zinger is mostly a blend of two kinds of hibiscus, though it has other herbs and flavors as well. On the other hand, I have seen Mexican Kool-Aid-like drink mixes in jamaica flavor, so that may be what's being served sometimes instead of brewed tea.

And of course the intensity varies depending on how much water you use.

It ought, of course, to be the official drink of Roselle, Ill.

I have been on a jamaica kick this last month following a trip to Mexico. For a beverage I infuse the flowers with water from the tap with some sugar and let it sit for a few hours. I've also infused vodka. I also let some of the flowers sit in some lime juice & agave as a dressing for jicama- I used slices of the jicama as a palate cleanser for a recent dinner.

I had jamaica quesadillas at two restaurants in Oaxaca.. in both places the flowers were caramelized and they were tasty. I plan to try that soon.

smunderground wrote:I have been on a jamaica kick this last month following a trip to Mexico. For a beverage I infuse the flowers with water from the tap with some sugar and let it sit for a few hours. I've also infused vodka. I also let some of the flowers sit in some lime juice & agave as a dressing for jicama- I used slices of the jicama as a palate cleanser for a recent dinner.

I had jamaica quesadillas at two restaurants in Oaxaca.. in both places the flowers were caramelized and they were tasty. I plan to try that soon.

Caramelizing the flowers is a fine idea. I've got a lot of rehydrated flowers in my refrigerator, and the next time I use them in quesadillas, they'll get a bath in hot butter first.

FWIW, Harold McGee offers his recipe for Agua Fresca de Jamaica in the NYT (free registration may be required). Taken from his article on cold-brewed coffee and tea.

For those too lazy or NYT-impaired:

2 oz (about a cup) of flor de jamaica (the dried calyxes) (calices?) rinsed in cold water and drained
Cover with four cups of cold water, to which you may choose to add 10 cracked allspice berries.
Soak anywhere from 4-12 hours.
Strain with a fine sieve, pressing the juicy goodness out of the pulp (which you thereupon discard).
Add four more cups of cold water and sweeten to taste with sugar (or, presumably the preferred option, agave syrup.
Imbibe (you'll have about two quarts).

Gypsy Boy wrote:FWIW, Harold McGee offers his recipe for Agua Fresca de Jamaica in the NYT (free registration may be required). Taken from his article on cold-brewed coffee and tea.

For those too lazy or NYT-impaired:

2 oz (about a cup) of flor de jamaica (the dried calyxes) (calices?) rinsed in cold water and drained
Cover with four cups of cold water, to which you may choose to add 10 cracked allspice berries.
Soak anywhere from 4-12 hours.
Strain with a fine sieve, pressing the juicy goodness out of the pulp (which you thereupon discard).
Add four more cups of cold water and sweeten to taste with sugar (or, presumably the preferred option, agave syrup.
Imbibe (you'll have about two quarts).

The allspice berries are an intriguing touch. Thx Dave.

On Steve Albini's blog, he's been experimenting with hibiscus infusion as a cooking liquid for sushi rice with some interesting results:

http://mariobatalivoice.blogspot.com/20 ... pride.html

http://mariobatalivoice.blogspot.com/20 ... items.html

I may try this sometime soon.