Locally made drinks and beverages should occupy a special place in your home in this year’s Christmas and new year celebration menu.
This season , like no other, is coming with high expectations from family members, friends and visitors – who would be visiting, to share the wonderful moment of the season with you. So no excuse, be prepared with something affordable everyone will enjoy.
One home-made drink that stands out and can add a great experience to the list on your menu is the Zobo drink
The Zobo drink is produced from dried roselle or sorrel leaves (Hibiscus Sabdariffa). This bright red drink serves the taste of everyone who has ever drank it – in parties, at home or on a normal ordinary day to quench taste and for refreshment purposes. This drink has many advantages: available, affordable, tasty, refreshing and have a lot healthy benefits.
The drink is not only refreshing but can also be used to reduce cholesterol, strengthen blood vessels and reduce pressure, calm the nerves, reduce stress, for weight loss, and to improve sex drive.
Recipe
Here is the best way to make an African Zobo drink that will wowed anyone who visits:
The concentration and taste of the Zobo drink you want to make will be determined by the amount of water concentration, quantity of the sorrel leaves, artificial flavours and sweetener.
Ingredients
- 2 (De Rica) cups of dry zobo leaves
- 2 tablespoons of cloves (konafuru)
- 2 stumps fresh ginger
- Water
- 1 big ripe pineappl
- Slices of citrus fruits of your choice: orange, lemon, lime – to garnish
Before you make
- Rinse out the dust from the zobo leaves with cold water.
- Grind the cloves into a powder.
- Wash and peel the skin of the ginger and blend roughly.
- Wash, peel and cut the pineapple into thin slices.
How to make Zobo drink
- Put the washed zobo leaves in a pot and pour enough water to cover it totally, then cover the pot.
- On a medium heat the leave is cooked for a few minutes for the ingredient in the leaves to be extracted.
- You may add the ginger and the garlic – which is optional , add more water and keep boiling for at least 30 minutes. This is the time it will take for the zobo leaves to be completely soft.
- Turn off the heat and set aside to cool down completely.
- Blend your pineapples while your zobo cools.
- When cool, sieve out the zobo leaves. Then pour the juice through a chiffon cloth to remove tiny particles and leave only a smooth juice.
- Add the pineapple juice. You can sieve it through the chiffon cloth again to make sure there are no particles left.
- Add any artificial flavours of your choice at this time and stir.
- You can can it or pour into bottles and refrigerate or served to visitors with ice and sliced fruits with a couple of snacks.
- It is not advisable for pregnant women in their first trimester to drink zobo, because it induces menstruation and may lead to a miscarriage.
