Hibiscus Martini

This month I am hosting my book club and wanted to serve martinis.  I will be serving a pear, cardamom, clove, and orange peel martini as well as this red beauty.  This hibiscus martini is perfectly balanced with alcohol, sweet, and sour (fresh lime juice).  The hardest part of this drink is making the hibiscus syrup but once it's made you'll have syrupy goodness for a while.

Hibiscus Martini (a Casa Clark original recipe)

2 oz hibiscus syrup (recipe follows)
2 oz vodka
1 oz fresh lime juice ( read this article and it'll illustrate what I mean by fresh juice; thanks E for sharing this)
hibiscus flower in syrup for garnish (optional)

Place all your ingredients except for garnish into a shaker and shake until the outside of shaker is cold.  Place your garnish at the bottom of the martini glass and pour cold drink over the garnish.  Enjoy.


Hibiscus Syrup
I actually found this recipe online.  It calls for fresh hibiscus flowers but I used dried Jamaican flowers that I purchased at the Latin market (RN) for about $3.  If you have seen this syrup at Amazon be prepared to pay $11 for a bottle of 8.8 oz.  You not only save money but have enough ingredients to make it over and over again.  The flowers are super pretty  in flutes topped with champagne (I'll post a pic once the girls come over on Saturday).

20 dried whole hibiscus flowers
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
2 c water
2 c sugar

Place your flowers and lemon juice in a microwave proof bowl and nuke for 2 min. on high.

Add the water, sugar, and hibiscus flowers in lemon juice to a pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture has reduced by 1/3.  Allow the syrup to come to room temperature.  Use a slotted wooden spoon to retrieve the flowers or strain flowers from syrup into a clean bowl.

Gently place the flowers into a clean mason jar and top with the syrup so that they are completely covered ( I prefer to use a wide mouth version because it's easier to get the flowers out when you want to use them).  Add the surplus syrup into a clean mason jar and cover both jars.  Place in refrigerator and store for up to one year.  You can also make hibiscus vodka with it.