Refresher.

Now that it is feeling a bit like summer here, after what I like to call a long ‘Juneuary’, I am feeling like a nice cool beer, a frosty Caprihana and a nice glass of chilled white wine. In reality, I still can have none of these. But, I came across a lovely refresher in a cool book that my mom gave me, one that was nominated for a James Beard award, very deservingly. It is called Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, and in it, she does what I have been striving to do lately; cooking more using whole grains. Not only is it a beautiful book, but it is quite informative too. She finds uses for the more obscure flours…mesquite chocolate chip cookies anyone? I have yet to try these using the mesquite flour, but I am intrigued.

In the book, she has a recipe for a drink called Aqua Jamaica. Sounds refreshing doesn’t it? It is made from Hibiscus Blossoms, which, randomly, I had in my tea cabinet, a little sugar and water. It was quite refreshing with a little sparkling water and lime.

If you have a hard time finding Hibiscus Blossoms, try Trader Joe’s Raspberry Infusion Tea. My second batch was made using this instead, and you will see that the tea actually contains hibiscus as well as raspberry..so, there you go!

To make:
Bring to boil 2 cups water and 3 Tablespoons sugar and pour over 4 tea bags. Let steep for 5 minutes. Then, add 2 more cups of cool water and chill. When ready, fill a glass with ice, pour tea to fill 2/3 and then top off with sparkling water and a couple lime wedges. Add sugar to taste.