The bissap juice is the drink of all the occasions in Senegal : it is tasted when one has guests, during the evenings of Ramadan, during the holidays, with family, etc. The red bissap leaves which are called hibiscus flowers are very cheap. Red hibiscus flowers (bissap) for a bottle of 1L juice costs about 100 FCFA in Senegal. You will find the same quantity in France for about 1€. So the bissap itself is not expensive, but the drink is very greedy in sugar. Indeed, when you do not put enough sugar, it might be acidic.
The recipe has only one difficulty : the cleaning of the red hibiscus flowers which may contain a little sand or impurities. We must take the time to wash them well and the other steps of the recipe can be done in 15 to 20 minutes maximum.
So we can start to prepare the bissap juice !
For 1.5L of Bissap juice :
Preparation time : 20min
Rest : a few hours for cooling
Cost : cheap
Difficulty : very easy
Ingredients :
50g of red bissap leaves (hibiscus leaves), sugar, 1 tablespoon of orange blossom, 4 sprigs of mint leaves, 2 sachets of vanilla sugar.
Preparation of the Bissap juice :
Put some water in a large bowl. Dip the bissap leaves and wash them very lightly.
Collect the leaves and place in another bowl. You will see that there is a small deposit at the bottom of the bowl of water. This is essential because the bissap leaves always contain some sand.
Put clean water in the bowl and repeat the same operation.
Heat 1L of water in a pan. Add the bissap leaves and the washed mint leaves. Let it boil for a few minutes (about 5 to 10), so that the red color breaks down.
Then remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.
Once the juice has cooled, filter it.
Add 0.5L of water to the bissap leaves. Mix and filter again. So you will have a total of 1.5L of juice.
Leave to settle for 5 minutes and decant it. This will guarantee you to have bissap juice with no deposit.
Then add sugar, according to your tastes. I put about 10 tablespoons of sugar.
Add the tablespoon of orange blossom, vanilla sugar. Mix well.
Then put the juice in a bottle and put in the fridge.
Serve well fresh with ice cubes.
Who will do better as a recipe ? I think everybody knows how to make bissap juice now 🙂
Enjoy !
