Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

photo cred: @sielburt

photo cred: @sielburt

tacos-de-jamaica

Dear friends & family, what better way to celebrate our Mexican spirit for our team’s enthusiastic performance in this soccer FIFA World Cup (yes I am talking about the Mexican team!). Señores y Señoritas… I present to you a TACO DE JAMAICA recipe! Who in their right mind would not love Mexican tacos??!! This is a special taco recipe because it is made with edible flowers– Hibiscus or Jamaica (in Spanish). Jamaica is a very popular chilled tea that is drank through out Mexico as an Agua Fresca, a natural chilled beverage. It is very easy to find hibiscus dried flowers in any Mexican grocery store, and in this recipe you get tacos and an agua fresca of Jamaica!

hibiscus-tacos

 

There is something very exotic about eating beautiful flowers, and somehow this lovely concept of edible flowers invokes a feeling of delicacy and romance to a plate. The hibiscus flower has a natural tartness property, so I combine it with the creaminess of avocados and sweetness of caramelized onions to create this ambrosial and tropical taco!  I really hope you enjoy this taco. Yay for the TACOS!!! (P.S. keep rooting for the Mexican soccer team!)

Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

Serves 4

1 tbsp coconut oil (or your favorite oil)
1 cup Dried Mexican Flores de Jamaica (hibiscus flowers)
5 cups water
4 onions, julienned
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 orange, cut in wedge
1/2 Agave or Sugar
8 corn tortillas
1 tsp salt or to your taste
toppings of your choice: Cashew Cream, Salsa, Guacamole

  1. Heat water in a medium saucepan, when water is boiling add flowers, boil for 5 minutes, and turn off. Cover for another 2 minutes to steep. This will help bring out the concentrate flavor of the hibiscus flowers. You can make awesome tea or Agua de Jamaica which is a popular sweet iced tea in Mexico. Place a colander over a pitcher and drain your tea. You can add sugar and water to your taste for a nice hibiscus cooler. I like my tea strong so I add about 1 cup of water to the concentrate, but you can add up to 3-4 cups of extra water to your pitcher, depending on your liking.
  2. Okay so now that we have our leftover flowers, rinse them under running water very well as they tend to trap a lot of soil. I usually taste one just to make sure its not grainy.
  3. Heat up your oil in a frying pan at medium high. Add onions and stir occasionally until they have a golden brown color and have shrunk in size add the rinsed hibiscus flowers and cook them for 8 minutes. Stir occasionally to avoid the sugars burning in the bottom
  4. When they are cooked according to your liking in texture, add the sugar or agave, squeeze the orange juice in the flowers, add cilantro and season with salt.
  5. Cook your corn tortillas in a pan or directly on the stove fire is cool too and fill with your hibiscus flowers and favorite toppings.
  6. You can serve it with my Salsa Roja made from Guajillo Chiles, sliced cabbage and def a cashew cream topped with guacamole. Enjoy!

Optional for these tacos are also mixing them with beans, nopales (Mexican cactus), mushrooms, roasted chopped pecans, lettuce and cabbage etc. I hope you guys like this recipe and please let me know if you have any questions.

instagram photo cred: @foodfitforkids

instagram photo cred: @foodfitforkids

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hibiscus-jamaica

Pictures I took of Hibiscus in our Puerto Rico trip to the El Yunque Rainforest.

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3 thoughts on “Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

  1. Pingback: Tacos of the world – Ming Liu

  2. Rebecca

    You guys were the best booth at the fest! Chef Luis Alfredo was killing it with the hibiscus tacos!

    Check out
    CELLAR MAKER
    CITY BEER
    THE DELIVERY BOARD

    Reply

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