Yesterday, I shared information on how to make Kunun drink, today it is the turn of Zobo. Zobo drink or Zoborodo is a Nigerian beverage made from dried calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa (from Roselle plant flowers). It is usually served chilled in places where they are consumed in Nigeria. Many people drink zobo only for its refreshing taste but do not know that it has some health benefits too.
Health Benefits of Zobo Drink
Not long ago, we talked about the need to remove toxic products from our body and made mention of foods that help detoxify the body. Zobo drink has been established to be a rich source of nutrients that activate detoxification. For example, it helps resolve metabolic syndrome in that it promotes the excretion of uric acid from the body. This is only of its benefits and I may consider writing its full health benefits as another post later but before then, let’s talk about how to make this drink.
Ingredients for Making Zobo Drink
People like their Zobo different ways, therefore, the ingredients might be slightly different from one processor to another. The differences in ingredients have effects on taste and flavour of the end product. However, there are still some ingredients you must use, irrespective of the flavour that you want in your Zobo drink.
These ingredients include;
2 cups of dry Zobo leaves
1 big piece of ginger
Potable water
Other Zobo ingredients – depending on the flavour you want
Zobo juice or extract as it is has a kind of sour taste, and that is why we add sugar to it t have a sweet taste. People these days tend to avoid sugars because they are watching their weight or wary of diabetes. If you do not want sugar, you can add sweeteners such as Nutri-C or foster Clark’s pineapple flavour.
It is important to know that if you use the foster Clark’s pineapple flavour, you should not use sugar again. I know of people that don’t like using artificial sweeteners and ingredients in their entirety. If you fall into this category, you can use very ripe Pineapple – it will only add more to the cost of production of the Zobo. If you are not selling it, why not use that?
Some people also add garlic. I don’t really like the taste and smell, so sometimes, I leave it out of my own Zobo. If you decide to use it to make your Zobo drink, add 1 glove of garlic to the ingredients listed above.
How to Prepare The Zobo Drink
Buy clean calyx of Zobo Hibiscus and wash with water – you may want to ask for “zobo leaf” in the market rather than hibiscus calyx. Even if they appear clean, you still should was with water because they are usually displayed in the market in containers with no lid, so you can expect to have dust particles on the surfaces. It may appear you have washed all the colour off but it has a lot more in store. So, don’t worry.
- If you are using Pineapple, peel and slice it. Peel and slice the ginger (and garlic if you are using it) too into small pieces. Clean them with some water.
- Put all the Zobo calyx you want to use and the sliced Pineapple into a clean pot and pour water into the pot until it covers them all.
- Boil for 5 minutes and add your ginger, and garlic if you are using it.
- Add more water to the pot and leave all the ingredients to boil for 30 minutes.
After this period, you can now remove heat and allow the pot and its content to cool. When cool, wring out the juice from the pineapples and Zobo leaves, leaving only the Zobo juice in the pot. Sieve this juice, first through a sieve to remove the large particles and then through a fine mesh or Muslin cloth to remove this finer particles.
You can now refrigerate your zobo drink and serve when chilled. Some people add lemon and some other stuffs as additional flavour and I will find time to share information on this in the future. Enjoy your zobo drink.