It’s always better when you recognize your own limitations. I, for example, am not a professional cook, much less a caterer. I don’t even have a big family I could cook a full Christmas dinner for.
But it’s Christmas week, and a Christmas recipe is what you’d expect from any recipe column. So we have a Christmas recipe, but something quite out of the ordinary for the Brazilian family table: a Jamaican drink based on hibiscus and rum.
With a lot of ginger, which results in an acidic and refreshing drink for a tropical Christmas.
The name of the drink is sorrel. This is also the name, in Jamaica, of the fruit of the hibiscus-vinegar tree (also known in Brazil as caruru-azedo).
Jamaicans drink sorrel with Caribbean rum, always at Christmas time. You can prepare a non-alcoholic version, which even children will like (at least those who appreciate strong spice flavors).
Or else mix another distillate, such as cachaça or vodka.
The berry of the sorrel is not easy to find for shopping, so I made the Jamaican sorrel with the common hibiscus, from which you make pink tea or gin and tonic. It extracts a phenomenal garnet color and also a lot of tannin, which binds a little in the mouth.
Preparing the sorrel takes at least 12 hours. First you boil the hibiscus with ginger and allspice.
Some recipes also mention cloves and cinnamon. Make yourself at home, just be careful not to turn the Jamaican Christmas drink into a June party hottie.
After a very quick boil, about ten minutes, you turn off the heat and let the ginger and hibiscus infuse for many hours. Then you strain the drink, sweeten it to taste, and mix it with the brandy of your choice.
Sorrel
Yield: 4 servings
Difficulty: easy
INGREDIENTS
1 liter of water
20 g of dried hibiscus
6 allspice berries
30 g sliced ginger
200 ml of white rum
sugar to taste
PREPARATION
- Boil the water with the hibiscus, ginger and allspice for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it infuse for 12 hours.
- Strain the infusion and store it in the fridge until it’s time to prepare the drink.
- Divide the drink into 4 glasses. Sweeten to taste, stir in the rum and serve with ice.
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