Hibiscus tea is made from the dried calyces of a variety of hibiscus plant called Roselle.
The calyx is the tougher outermost part of the flower, that sits below the petals. When you soak it in water it produces a stunning crimson tea that is loaded with antioxidants.
You can find the whole ‘flower’ tea in many health food shops and online. It might seem quite expensive, but you only need a tiny quantity for a mug of tea, so a small pack will last ages.
It’s drunk hot or cold, and often with the addition of sugar, as it’s very tart. If you’re used to drinking fruit teas, however, you probably won’t feel the need to sweeten it – it’s no less palatable than something like cranberry or blackcurrant tea.
There are two extraordinary things about this tea, the first of which is that it is exceptionally high in antioxidants (higher than green teas, including matcha) and has an array of health benefits that include lowering blood pressure.
The second thing is its remarkable intense crimson colour, which makes it a wonderful way to colour foods with something that’s not only natural, but good for you.
Baking, because it usually involves alkaline raising agents, can destroy the colour (and at least some of the healthful anthocyanins, although I haven’t found a definitive explanation of the relationship between the colour and the antioxidant properties). There are things you can do to retain the colour, though, like contain the hibiscus tea in an acid environment (see Hibiscus Apple Turnovers for an example).
You can also use it to colour icings an array of red-pink rose shades – a few of which I’ve tried to capture above.
I’ve also used hibiscus tea to colour the frosting on these Raspberry Ripple Cupcakes.
To produce a strong food colouring, you will need to soak a dessert-spoonful of the dried flowers in around 30 ml of boiling water until it cools (soaking overnight is better).
