Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Hibiscus

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I love canned cranberry sauce. However, I truly enjoy homemade cranberry sauce, but I've always felt like the homemade version was missing something, so I came up with the idea to use some hibiscus. After all, one of the other names it goes by if Florida Cranberry because it has a tart, cranberry like flavor and color.

Hibiscus Sabdariffa is the variety of hibiscus that is used to make the delicious holiday drink, sorrel. I grew up enjoying sorrel throughout the year since it was always readily available in just about any Jamaican restaurant in the Bronx. Who knew that in years to come, I'd be growing my own hibiscus to make my own homemade sorrel and cranberry sauce.

Hibiscus is a tropical plant, but I push the limit in my 7b growing zone. For me, it's an annual plant that I have to start new every year. For others in higher zones, they can grow hibiscus and get a bigger harvest since their frost comes later than mine or not at all. It's a low maintenance plant that only blooms as the days get cooler. It produces flowers that range from white, pale yellow and pink. The calyxes begin to swell after the flowers fall off, and they are ready to harvest once they're nice and plump and slightly open at the tip. The leaves are edible and have a tart, lemony flavor that makes a great infusion when paired with lemon and ginger.

Before I get to the recipe, let me remind you that I rarely ever measure my ingredients. The measurements listed are not exact. So if you'd like to try this, you're definitely gonna have to tweak it to your liking. Ok, here goes...

What you'll need:

• 1/3 cup of hibiscus

• 1 bag of fresh cranberries

• 2 tbsp of raw honey

• 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice

• 1/2 cup of water

• 1/2 cup of sugar

• 1 tbsp of agar agar powder (This is optional IF you have access to the hibiscus seed pods. They contain the pectin that will thicken your sauce)

• 3 cinnamon sticks or 2 tsp of cinnamon

• Soup bag or cheesecloth

Fill the soup bag with dried hibiscus calyxes and cinnamon sticks. Add water, pomegranate juice and cranberries to a pot. Allow it to boil until you hear the cranberries begin to pop, then turn the heat down to let it simmer and place the bag of cinnamon and hibiscus into the pot.

Let simmer until the sauce is reduced to about half, then add honey, sugar and agar agar and stir until dissolved. Remove the soup bag and strain out the cranberry skins, then chill until firm. I personally don't mind a few pieces of cranberry skin in mine because it gives it texture.

Enjoy! If you make this recipe, tag me on Instagram and let me know how you like it.