Jamaican Sorrel Drink

The scarlet Christmas drink of hibiscus calyces steeped with ginger, pimento, and rum

Origin: Jamaica

From the journey of Allspice.

Nothing says Christmas in Jamaica like the smell of sorrel steeping, and the word means something quite different here from what it means in Europe. Jamaican sorrel is not the sour leaf of Rumex acetosa but the fleshy red calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa, the roselle, a West African plant carried to the Caribbean with the transatlantic slave trade. The calyces ripen conveniently in November and December, which is why the drink became fixed to Christmas: the crop and the season coincided. The method is a steep rather than a boil. Boiling water goes over the calyces with a great deal of bruised ginger, a handful of pimento berries, a strip of orange peel, and sometimes cinnamon and clove, and the whole is left for a day or two, then strained and sweetened. Boiling the calyces themselves is generally held to make the drink bitter and to dull the colour, which should be a clear and startling ruby. Pimento is what makes it Jamaican rather than simply hibiscus tea. The same plant is drunk across West Africa as bissap and zobo, and across Mexico as agua de jamaica, and neither carries the allspice. That warm, clove-like note against the sharp fruit acidity is the Jamaican signature, and it is the same berry that is smoking under the jerk in the yard. White overproof rum goes in at the end, in quantities the cook determines and does not usually announce.

Ingredients

Steep

  • 200 g dried sorrel (hibiscus/roselle calyces)
  • 2.5 litres boiling water
  • 150 g fresh ginger, unpeeled, bruised or roughly sliced
  • 3 tbsp allspice berries (pimento)
  • 1 whole orange, peel only, in wide strips
  • 2 whole cinnamon sticks
  • 8 whole cloves

To Finish

  • 250 g caster sugar, or to taste
  • 150 ml white overproof rum, or to taste
  • 2 tbsp lime juice

Method

  1. Rinse the dried sorrel quickly in cold water to remove dust, then drain.
  2. Put the sorrel, ginger, allspice berries, orange peel, cinnamon, and cloves in a large heatproof bowl or pan.
  3. Pour the boiling water over everything, stir once, cover, and leave to steep at room temperature for at least 24 hours and preferably 48.
  4. Strain through a fine sieve or muslin, pressing the solids gently to extract the liquid, then discard them.
  5. Stir in the sugar while the liquid is still at room temperature, tasting as you go. It should be tart rather than sweet.
  6. Add the lime juice and then the rum, tasting again.
  7. Bottle and refrigerate for at least a day before drinking.
  8. Serve very cold over ice, with a strip of orange peel.

Notes

Dried sorrel is sold by Caribbean and West African grocers, often labelled roselle, hibiscus, or flor de jamaica. Fresh calyces appear in Caribbean shops in December; use about 500 g if you find them. The drink is excellent without alcohol and is served that way to children throughout the season. Some households add a piece of pimento wood or a few bay leaves to the steep. Both are traditional. The strained calyces can be simmered with sugar into a jam rather than discarded. The same plant is bissap in Senegal, zobo in Nigeria, and agua de jamaica in Mexico. None of them takes allspice, which is what makes this version Jamaican.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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