Hibiscus Drink

Courtesy:Wikipedia.org
The hibiscus flower with its beautiful red petals is found in most places in West Africa.

When I was growing up in Nigeria, I had access to the hibiscus flower whenever I go to the church, though at the time its only purpose to me was to beautify my hair. However, I have since learnt that the hibiscus flower can be very useful indeed.

courtesy: informationng.com
The dried hibiscus flower also known as Roselle has been said to have medicinal properties.

The dried leaves have been known to help with minor coughs, poor appetite and upset stomach.

In Nigeria, the hibiscus dried leaves are mostly cooked to make a drink known as the 'zobo drink'. Preparation is done differently by different people, some just put the leaves into water and cook until boil then drain. I recently made zobo drink and I added ginger, ripe pineapple (mostly the back, yes the back that is usually thrown out, and a bit of the main pineapple, you can actually use just the main pineapple) and a slice of unpeeled, sweet orange. Once boiled, it's drained to remove the leaves.

And this process gives us the lovely zobo drink which is sweetneed sometimes with sugar, honey or artificial sweeteners and as a plus, medical studies have found to reduce blood pressure and might lower cholesterol.

For me, I just drink a glass a chilled zobo because I love it. Try it out 😚