Today I’d like to make tea from the leaves of this plant, cran-apple hibiscus, which is a kind of hibiscus. Yay!
I don’t really get the name. It sounds like cranberry and apple stuck together — maybe because it tastes a bit like cranberries or apples? That’s my mysterious theory.
Picking the leaves
Let’s pick some. Ah — it snapped! Did you see that? I barely touched it and it came off. So I’ll eat it. Delicious… it tastes like gummy candy.
The proper way to harvest, I’m told, is to find one branch and pull the leaves off upward from the bottom — but honestly, I was told you can be pretty casual about it. Why is this plant so lush and healthy? It makes it hard to pick! I was also told the taste doesn’t change whether you use new leaves or old ones. Really?
I’m planning to grow more of this, so I tried not to strip it too much… though I was pretty sloppy. Oh well. It grows back fast, so I don’t think it matters. Oops, I picked a new sprout too. Sloppiness: MAX. Harvest done! The red color is lovely, a bit like red shiso.
Brewing (and a few mistakes)
We don’t use pesticides, so the leaves are fine to eat as they are, but I washed them anyway, took off the stems, and put them in a container. Some strawberries had come out beautifully earlier, so I mashed a few to add as a little twist.
The hot water was ready, so in it went… and — big failure. Not nearly enough water. My pot is small, so off I went to boil more. It already smelled like tea, though. Then another silly mistake: nothing to stir with! I went to get disposable chopsticks, and ended up using kitchen scissors the wrong way. Please don’t do that. But look at that color — it’s not the leaves reflecting, the water itself is that red. So beautiful.
While the water boiled, I picked out some honey: a local, Hawaii-made ʻōhiʻa lehua honey. Of the honeys made from different flowers, ʻōhiʻa lehua is my personal favorite flavor. I added lots of it — at first it wasn’t very sweet, so I added more until it was nice and sweet. Then, on a sudden whim, I put in the strawberries too.
The taste test
Done! Poured into a glass, it’s an amazing pink — or red? Hot, hot! Once more… delicious! The leaves themselves taste sour, so the honey’s sweetness and the strawberry flavor balance them perfectly. Please try growing it at home!
Thank you for watching Chicken Paradise! See you in the next episode.