Summer is almost here… it’s time for outdoor fun, it’s time for a refreshing Hibiscus Sangria with mango, mandarin, lime and Cava (sparkling wine), to make it fizzy!
I’ve seen a recipe not long ago of “agua de Jamaica”, a simple juice made by infusing hibiscus leaves and sugar, then cool it and voila! The picture looked so yummy, and I thought, those flower are so pretty… they must taste pretty good too. Well, I found some hibiscus leaves in the market, tried as a simple tea… without any sugar… wasn’t tasty like they looked… I was shocked by how unpleasant that infusion was… then I had little Stevia (0 calorie sugar) and cooled it overnight. Wow! the difference it makes with a bit of sugar sometimes… It went from 0 to 1000! Same goes for this Hibiscus Sangria!
Health benefits of hibiscus
Hibiscus leaves have many health benefits, it help control your blood pressure, by lowering the LDL and increase the HDL which means; it helps your heart stay strong. Also, it’s used in many diets because of its great properties of helping to keep the weight off, it’s a good inflammatory and diuretic, even help to increase libido, etc. End of story: it’ s a magic flower! We should all get to know better. So this is my number one, healthier factor in this Sangria and also, I add instead of red wine a “Cava” sparkling wine (Sparkling wine) which, also cuts the amount of calories.
Macerate over night
The sangria preparation isn’t one easy one, if you do it the right way… It takes a maceration time of your fruits first. Which means, you’ll have to plan to make it ahead. There is some express ways of doing Sangria, but maceration I believe make the difference! For this version, I’ macerate with the tea and Grand Marnier the fruit and add the wine last minute to keep it fuzzy.
Let’s summer start!
Hibiscus Sangria
Equipment
- a big pitcher
Ingredients
- 750 ml sparkling wine (cava)
- 600 ml hibiscus tea ((Add like 6 tbsp of leaves to make 600ml))
- 200 ml soda or sparkling water
- 4 tbsp Grand Marnier (or Cointreau )
- 3 tbsp sugar or plain sirup (or 1 tbsp of stevia for 0 calorie)
- 1 mango (cut into small cubes)
- 1 mandarin (sliced)
- 1 lime (sliced)
Instructions
- Infuse the hibiscus leaves with the sugar for 5 minutes in hot water, let it cool down.
- Wash and cut into slices all the fruits.
- Add the fruits to the hibiscus infusion and Grand Marnier, cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
- Add the cold Cava (sparkling wine), soda and the macerated fruits to a pitcher.
- Gently mix and serve with ice cubes.
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