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Bright, pink, and slightly citrus, homemade hibiscus syrup is a fun way to add a unique citrus flavor and gorgeous color to your cocktails and mocktails.
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Dried hibiscus flowers can be found online or in specialty food stores. These edible flowers impart a citrus flavor and pink color to anything they’re added to, making them a popular choice for herbal teas.
While teas are often a blend of ingredients, using 100% dried hibiscus flowers for syrup gives you better control of the flavor in your cocktails and mocktails. It’s easier to mix a drink when you know how the various ingredients will taste together and aren’t trying to work around an unexpected flavor.
Hibiscus simple syrup pairs extremely well with orange, lime, lemon, and grapefruit flavors, given the citrus notes of the dried flowers. Ideas for drinks include combining it with fresh orange juice, lime sparkling water, or citrus vodka. It’s also delicious in my hibiscus margaritas.
What's in Hibiscus Syrup
- Water - Use filtered water for the best flavor.
- Sugar - Either cane sugar or beet sugar work well in this recipe.
- Dried hibiscus flowers - Choose 100% hibiscus flowers - not a tea blend.
How to Make Hibiscus Simple Syrup
Heat the water to a simmer. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat.
Add dried hibiscus flowers.
Stir and let the mixture infuse until the syrup has cooled to room temperature.
Strain the syrup through a fine mesh to remove all of the hibiscus flowers.
Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Hibiscus syrup will keep for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.
Ways to Use Hibiscus Syrup
Hibiscus simple syrup is a unique ingredient that can lend sweetness and a bit of tart citrus to your drinks. Try these ideas for using your syrup:
- Combine 4 ounces of club soda with 2 ounces of hibiscus syrup and ice cubes for a delicious homemade hibiscus soda.
- Use it to sweeten ice tea or add some to your lemonade.
- Shake up a batch of my Hibiscus Margaritas!
FAQs and Recipe Tips
Maybe. Check the ingredients list on your tea. You want hibiscus flowers to be the number one ingredient. There also needs to be no actual tea - black, green or red - in your hibiscus tea.
Hibiscus flowers are naturally a little tart. To prevent their tartness from overtaking your syrup, be sure you’re not putting your hibiscus flowers in until after the syrup has heated. You want to infuse the syrup, not cook the flowers. Putting the dried flowers in at the beginning with the sugar will result in a more bitter syrup as the dried hibiscus will be exposed to too high of heat.
This recipe calls for 1-2 tablespoons of dried hibiscus flowers. The more you add, the darker your syrup will be. Using 2 full tablespoons will give you a dark magenta syrup like the one pictured on this page.
Substituting honey for the white sugar in this recipe will give you a delicious syrup that enhances the floral flavors of the hibiscus.
If kept refrigerated, this syrup will last 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator. Discard the syrup when it starts to look cloudy or changes scent in any way.
Some specialty food stores will carry hibiscus syrup or hibiscus cordial in their cocktail section as mixer options. It’s much easier in my area to find dried hibiscus flowers (usually in the tea section) to make this syrup.
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Hibiscus Syrup for Cocktails and Mocktails
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon dried hibiscus flowers
Instructions
- Heat the water to a simmer.1 cup water
- Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.1 cup sugar
- Remove from heat.
- Add dried hibiscus flowers.1-2 tablespoon dried hibiscus flowers
- Stir and let the mixture infuse until the syrup has cooled to room temperature. (About 30-45 minutes.)
- Strain the syrup through a fine mesh to remove all of the hibiscus flowers.
- Store in an airtight glass jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.
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