I wanted a nice refreshing drink and I haven’t had zobo in ages. It is healthy, natural,delicious and something that your body needs. It even has vitamin p and biolavanoids.

The Mexicans and other spanish speaking groups calls it Jamaica. No not the Island nation that got its freedom form Great Britan. The  j is prounounced like ha  so the spanish  translation of hibiscus is Jamaica is pronounced like  (ha-May-ka).  That c can be pronounced like  a k or an s and it is depending on how it is pronounced.  The Egyptians  call it karkady Which is drunk during Ramadan at the start of Iftar  and in West african countries it is called zobo.

One taste and you are hooked completely.  I have learned how to make this drink from the African food bloggers on their sites and I am throwing lemon and lime juice in there to put a stamp on this recipe.

I got a big pot out and I made enough zobo for 2 pitchers which is 1/2 gallon or 2 liters each, I put 4 handfuls of hibiscus or zobo flowers in to the water with 1 small slice of ginger, 2 lemon peels,  the pineapple bark and core that I cut from the pineapple, 1 drop of vanilla essence, 4 cloves, 3 dashes of cinnamon powder, 1 handful of frozen orange rind and bring to a boil for 3 minutes then shut off the stove cover the pot and let it cool.

At this stage I took out two pitchers that holds 2 liters each. I added 1/4 of a cup to both of them making it to be a total of 1/2 cup of honey, I added 1/4 cup each of lemon and lime juce to each pitcher and added my coold off zobo from the stove in to a strainer over my pitcher to catch everything from fruit peels and zobo flowers.

I tasted it and it was really delicous.  Please leave me a comment to let me know how you like this?????

Oh the other sweatener of choice is agave nectar. This is free from white sugar.