We are calling this the Sorrel Rider. There are a few bourbon drinks out there using the name red rider. That's what I wanted.
This drink is a variant on the classic Jamaican Christmas drink. You can find the original recipe at
Epicurious.
What got this drink started was our visit to Agrifest on the West End of St Thomas. A few of the vendors were selling whole sorrel flowers. I also make plenty of sun tea with sorrel tea packets. Finding the whole flowers was really fun.
The recipe in the link I provided is basically what we did. We threw in 2 liters of water, part of a ginger root and a whole pound of sorrel. I brought it all to a boil and then let simmer for 30 minutes. From there it went into the fridge to cool. 24 hours later I out it all through a strainer leaving just the sorrel tea.
Now that one has the tea one can do a few things with it. Add a cinnamon stick, add a whole bunch of sugar or simple syrup or just drink it as is. We left it sit till the weekend and then proceeded to make a refreshing drink out of it.
Our ingredients to put with the brewed tea:
- Lemon
- Lime
- Orange
- White rum
- Flavored rum (we used black cherry in one drink and mango in another)
- Sugar
Now you can use raw sugar, white sugar or even simple syrup. It all depends on how sweet you want it. Your simple syrup will be the sweetest while the raw sugar will be the least as it doesn't dissolve quickly.
As far as measurements are concerned it was a slice of each fruit, 1 shot of white rum and 1 shot of flavored rum for each glass. We made it with two teaspoons of raw sugar in each glass. Add some ice and you are set!
I would also like to mention that you don't have to use fresh sorrel flowers. That could be hard to come by outside your sub tropical or tropical areas. Brewing some tea and letting it cool will work as well. I use a Carlo Rossi 1.5 liter jar, 2 packets of sorrel tea and a slice of orange. I just leave it sit outside for a few hours and then refrigerate it when I'm done.
I hope others find this as refreshing as we do.
