It’s a bright summer flower, a large beautiful red–Moon Marvel Hibiscus–and it’s simply grand for brewing into a cold glass of iced tea. Kick back your feet in the afternoon shade and enjoy some good old-fashioned down-time with me. Watch out for the horse fly…
If you’re blessed having pesticide-free Hibiscus plants in your yard, capture their short-lived blossoms when they freshly fold up, closing their blooms. These are showy flowers but they’re also unique to cook and bake with. I’ve made them into BBQ sauce, and I’ve canned with them for Hibiscus butter. This remarkable flower can help in maintaining fluid balance and normal body temperature, plus, supports the heart and skin. It’s great for cholesterol and blood pressure. Bravo, push on.
Pluck them as soon as they’re closed to prevent mold on the spent petals, then unfold and lightly clean with a dry cloth or paper towel before cooking with them.
A 1.5 quart-size stainless sauce pan is what I use. I make my tea strong, then allow the ice cubes filled to the rim of a large pitcher to settle into the tea for the right strength of tea that I like. This way, the ice doesn’t dilute the tea as far as weakness goes.
Remove the inner part to discard, and snap off the white sections on the petals that hold the center in place. 
This kind of gold dust isn’t what you want! As I mentioned, clean the gold specks of flower dust off with a clean dry towel–a paper towel does alright.
The petals look like pleated skirts.
For a 1.5 quart pan, use all the petals of 2 blooms. Cover with a lid at a slant so the water doesn’t flow over, on low heat. 
Bring to a slow boil, and as soon as you do, turn out the heat. Cover with the lid completely and let the tea set for a few minutes.
Squeeze and discard the tea bags and petals. 
Freshly squeeze the juice of 1 lemon
and 1 orange. Stir into the tea, and add sugar to taste. 
Fill a pitcher all the way to the top with ice and pour the tea over; cover and let chill as the day goes by. 
flowered tea
Leave a Reply