If you all remember, I'm a big fan of hibiscus tea. So when I saw a tutorial for making my own hibiscus syrup (from Sprinkle Bakes), I jumped at it. But the beauty of this recipe, is that it could be used for potentially any herb or flower you would want to make into a syrup.
Ingredients:
4 cups water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup dried hibiscus flowers (or your herb/flower of choice)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 vanilla bean (I honestly skipped the vanilla in my hibiscus syrup, but I did use some for a lavender syrup. In that case though, I used vanilla extract.
Directions:
Combine the water, sugar and herbs/flowers in a large saucepan. Bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the lemon juice and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is melted, then remove it from heat.
Let the mixture steep for about 30 minutes before straining it through a fine sieve. Then transfer it to the jars/bottles you're using to store it.
Let it stand at room temperature until cool (about 1 hour). Then transfer bottles to the refrigerator. Your syrup should keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
So far I've used my hibiscus syrup to make a Hibiscus Red Velvet Cheesecake, I've added it to cocktails, and most recently I used it to make Hibiscus Cinnamon Macaron with a Raspberry Filling! There's no telling where the possibilities will end! All I can say is that I don't know how I lived without my own homemade syrups!
