Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Edible Hibiscus Flowers: The Signature Drink I Wish We'd Had

Now that we discussed how to pee in your wedding dress, lets talk about a minor regret I have about our wedding: we didn't do a signature drink. We just couldn't think of a really special drink, and it got pushed to the wayside for more important projects. But oh, if only we had found out about this sooner in the planning process!

One of my bridesmaids gifted me something amazing a couple of days before our wedding--edible hibiscus flowers from Australia.



These little flowers taste amazing, sort of like candied raspberry rhubarb, and look so cool in the bottom of a drink! Even better, if you put one of the flowers in champagne, along with a little of the syrup, the bubbles in the champagne actually make the flower open up more, for the perfect, edible garnish!

If only I would have found out about these sooner, I would have totally had Wild Hibiscus Champagne waiting on trays as soon as our ceremony ended. You can buy jars with 50 flowers for $35 online here.

The side of the jar also has a bunch of recipes for other cocktails featuring the flowers, which of course I had to try. Luckily I had everything needed for a Wild Hibiscus Daiquiri on hand.

The result? Serious yummage, and one of the most unique garnishes I've ever come across. It kind of reminds me of across between a jellyfish and Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors.
(all pictures in this post are personal photos)

The lime juice clouded the drink a little, so I think for presentation purposes the champagne cocktail was better. But at home I didn't care, this daiquiri was damn good! And I'll admit, I munched several more of the flowers while making it!

Have you come across anything post-wedding that you wish you could have incorporated into your big day? And please tell me someone is going to use these edible hibiscus flowers in your signature cocktail, I want to live vicariously through you!

6 comments:

  1. Wow, those are really cool! And I love the way the flower colors the drink :) Hibiscus is really popular in Egypt (called karkade), where it is used by the locals to make tea and other (non-alcoholic) drinks. I saw mounds of dried hibiscus while we were there, but never saw the flowers in syrup . . . I may have to order some!

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  2. That is so amazingly cool! I totally would have done this for our champage. I actually think I asked our caterer to put raspberries or strawberries in the glasses for the champagne at our reception. But since I don't have any photos of these details from our photog :( I don't know if I remembered to ask the caterer and/or if he actually did it! Dang! But this idea is fabulous.

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  3. Hibiscus "juice" is also popular in Mexico and the drink or tea is called Jamaica (ha-MY-kah). You can find it in some Latino grocery stores, or the large Chinese/Vietnamese supermarket near my home in Philadelphia carries it as well. Of course, sometimes it is just a powder or liquid and doesn't always have the beautiful flowers that you found... but it's cheap! We've served it at several weddings this summer (www.jeffreymillercatering.com).

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  4. WOW that looks YUMMY! We're not doing a signature drink b/c our friends like to drink too much and all have their poison of choice.

    However, that hibiscus flower looks beautiful! Enjoy it now! You don't need to have a wedding to have a signature drink - it could be your special drink for you and your man! :)

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  5. That sounds delicious and they are so pretty! I love the little hibiscus. Sort of creepy looking. Totally my style.

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  6. Mega YUM, It's 9:30 in the morning and I'm thinking this is the plan for tonight.....

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