NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF ZOBO/SORREL DRINK

zobo/sorrel was a must have during family gatherings. As children, we loved drinking it, not only because of how nice it tasted, but also because it coloured our lips and tongues red. Zobo (Nigerian) or Sorrel (Jamaican) is a red coloured drink made from a flower called Hibiscus sabdariffa. 

The sorrel plant contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, calcium, niacin, riboflavin and a group of compounds called flavonoids. Flavanoids not only gives the sorrel plant its deep red colour, but, are also rich in antioxidants which rids the body of toxins. The sorrel plant also contains nutraceleuticals, which are said to be helpful to the health. Nutraceleuticals can help prevent and treat several diseases including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer.

Here is a quick recipe on how to prepare a drink from the plant. This can be served at occasions, or for your personal daily enjoyment. 

Ingredients

• 6 handfuls of sorrel/zobo plant
• 3 ginger roots (optional)
• Granulated sugar (optional)
• 5 fresh limes (optional)
• Water

Preparation

• Rinse off the zobo plant to get off the sand.
• Rinse off the ginger roots and chop them into smaller pieces.
• Pour 5-8 litres of water into a cooking pot. Put the water to boil.
• At boiling point, put in your zobo leaves and the chopped ginger roots into the pot. Leave for about 5-10 minutes, then switch off the gas.

You can begin the next steps once the mix has cooled, or you could leave the mix overnight for more concentration, or if prepared in the morning, you could let it sit until evening.

• Using a sieve, filter the liquid from the leaves. Be sure to use a sieve with tiny holes as there is usually a lot of sand in the mix. Squeeze the plant with your hands to get out all the liquid.
• Add sugar as desired. The zobo plant is quite bitter so it would take a lot of sugar to sweeten your mix. 
• Squeeze your limes into the mix, using the sieve to filter the fibre and seeds. 
• Stir the mix thoroughly with a spoon. Pour out into jug(s) and refrigerate.
• Once cool, pour into a glass and enjoy.

Note: The above are guidelines, you could substitute any of the ingredients, you could also add more or less of any of the ingredients. It all depends on the taste desired by you.