Making Sorrel with Fresh Hibiscus
Sorrel or rum punch (sorrel spiked with rum) is a popular, refreshing drink in the Caribbean, especially during the holiday season.
Knowing this, I was particularly excited to get to the market and get my hands on some fresh sorrel so that I could find out how the drink compares when the flower calyces are fresh rather than dried.
In my minds eye I imagined market tables piled high with bright red blooms. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. Instead the fresh flowers seem to be sold in bagged portions. It’s only day one as I am writing this (you will read this a few days later) so I’m holding out hope that there is a market stand somewhere on the island where the blooms are beautifully display instead of bagged.
The good news is that the flower calyces I bought were still fresh and crisp inside the bag. I paid about $2 EC (roughly $.80 US) for about 5-6 cups of flowers.
Turns out they make the most incredibly colourful, intense, and tangy drink. It’s so much more vibrantly red than the drink I make with dried flowers at home.
And look at the colour of the calyces when they are removed from the liquid!
It might be difficult to go back to dried next summer.
Here’s my standard recipe and the one I made today, but with so many tropical fruits and fresh spices available here I’m thinking of experimenting with some flavour combinations.
Do you have a favourite hibiscus/sorrel/rum punch/agua de jamaica recipe? Please share it.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Gayla, how beautiful. I wish we could taste how the fresh stuff differs from the dried. I usually make a straight-up agua de jamaica (steeped and sweetened) but your ginger addition sounds delicious. I wonder if a little vanilla would be a good counter point?
December 16th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Gayla, Guess what? These were on sale ( un-bagged and fresh) on Queen Street yesterday!
December 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Blake: I like ginger. I tried orange peel the other day but I either left it too long or the peels weren’t great because it was too bitter. I haven’t seen any vanilla for sale here yet.
Barry: NO WAY!
December 17th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Awesome! This is one of my favorite tropical drinks. I definitely love it punched up with some ginger. I’ll be attending a “Caribbean Christmas” dinner this weekend and sorrel is on the menu. I’ll be sure to repost with the recipe! Looking forward to more posts on tropical edibles!
December 18th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Feel so special to have grown it in my yard this summer :-)
December 19th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Beautiful! I always feel like the dried hibiscus has a smoky taste, does it taste that way fresh? I was really thrown off by it being referred to as sorrel!
December 28th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Yep, my mom is from the Caribbean so I know all about Sorrel.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Yep, my mom is from the Caribbean so I know all about Sorrel.
December 29th, 2009 at 11:44 am
In Aruba this sorrel is Cucuy
Salute.
December 29th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
So delicious!
January 6th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
That looks amazing. You wouldn’t want to get any on your clothes though.. it looks like it’d stain like crazy.