Red water, and a flower nobody can quite place

By Isla Quinn

Deep red. Tart. Cold in a tall glass, sold from big glass jars. Agua de jamaica is one of Mexico’s most common drinks, and the story of how it got there is a good deal messier than the color suggests.

What is in the glass

It is not made from petals. Wikipedia says the drink comes from the crimson or deep magenta calyces, the sepals, of the roselle plant, Hibiscus sabdariffa. Its article on hibiscus tea says the juice is sweetened and chilled and is technically an infusion, and that anthocyanins give the purple-red color. The article on roselle says the calyx grows to 3 to 3.5 centimeters and turns fleshy and deep crimson as the fruit matures, and that the fruit takes about six months to ripen.

A personal blog, in the Cal Poly student-housing pages, says the dried flowers are steeped in hot water until the liquid turns deep red and then sweetened to taste. It says the drink can be served hot or cold, often over ice, sometimes with lime or lemon or spiced with cinnamon, cloves or ginger.

An agua fresca

Wikipedia lists hibiscus among the flowers used for aguas frescas, the light, traditionally non-alcoholic drinks made by blending fruits, cereals, flowers or seeds with sugar and water and serving them cold. It says street vendors sell them, ladled from jars into glasses. Its roselle article says the Mexican version is typically made from fresh fruits, juices or extracts.

How the calyces are dried

The roselle article describes two methods. Either the fruits are picked fresh, the seed capsule removed with a hand-held gadget, and the calyces dried; or the fruits are left partly drying on the plant, picked, dried further if needed, and the calyces separated from the capsules.

Where it grows in Mexico

Mexico Desconocido, a Mexican culture and travel magazine, says Guerrero leads production, with 18,000 hectares planted by 6,000 farmers using a local criollo variety, and names Oaxaca, Michoacán and Nayarit as other states with fields. It says the crop is grown in the spring-summer agricultural cycle, that 60 drying yards were created in 2012 to dry the flower faster, and that about 70 percent of national production is sold in bulk, the rest being processed. Food and Pleasure, another Mexican magazine, gives Michoacán 884 tons and Oaxaca 507 tons, and a Guerrero figure of 5,810 tons that it mixes with an area share in one sentence. Neither article cites its figures, so we treat the numbers as the magazines’ claims.

Our reading: a spring-summer cycle and a six-month ripening would put the picking late in the year, which fits an autumn hook. No source here states a harvest month, so check a current grower’s calendar.

Two stories of arrival

The magazines say the flower came to Mexico on the Spanish galleons that crossed the Pacific from the Philippines from 1565, landing at Acapulco in Guerrero. Mexico Desconocido says this is its deduction and hedges the plant’s origin as tropical Africa, possibly Egypt, Sudan and Senegal, where it was grown mainly for fiber. Food and Pleasure states the galleon arrival as fact but cites nothing.

Wikipedia’s hibiscus tea article tells a different story: the drink was introduced to the Americas by enslaved Africans and was likely first cultivated in Brazil. Its roselle article says the plant is native to Africa, most likely West Africa, and spread to Asia and the West Indies in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These accounts do not match, and we do not choose.

Why “jamaica”?

Neither magazine explains the name. The Cal Poly blog offers two guesses, that the flower was named for the island or for its color, and cites nothing for either. The sources therefore leave the name unexplained.

One flower, many drinks

The roselle article lists karkadeh in Egypt, zobo in Nigeria, a Caribbean drink flavored with bay leaves, cloves and ginger, and a vitamin-rich calyx drink in Malaysia. The hibiscus tea article adds that in Jamaica the drink is a Christmas tradition, served with fruitcake or sweet potato pudding. Mexico Desconocido says the Mexican flower also goes into wines, concentrates, jams, sweets, preserves, sauces, soups and quesadillas.

Dates in order

1565: Pacific galleon crossings from the Philippines begin, according to Mexico Desconocido and Food and Pleasure.
16th and early 17th centuries: roselle spreads to Asia and the West Indies, according to Wikipedia.
2012: 60 drying yards created in Guerrero, according to Mexico Desconocido.

Side by side

Origin: tropical Africa including Egypt, Sudan and Senegal (Mexico Desconocido) against most likely West Africa (Wikipedia). Route to Mexico: the Pacific galleons (the magazines) against enslaved Africans, likely via Brazil (Wikipedia). Guerrero output: 18,000 hectares planted (one magazine) against 5,810 tons (the other); different units, no way to compare.

Questions a buyer would ask

Is it made from petals? No. Wikipedia says it is made from the calyces.
Is it always sweet? The Cal Poly blog says it can be sweetened or unsweetened, hot or cold.
Where in Mexico is it grown? Mexico Desconocido names Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Nayarit.

What kind of sources these are

Wikipedia (open encyclopedia, three articles); Mexico Desconocido (a Mexican culture and travel magazine); Food and Pleasure (a Mexican food magazine); a personal blog on a university housing site. None cites primary data for production or arrival.

What we left out

We left out health claims, import and price claims, brand names, recipes with quantities, and the stories of Egypt, Italy and Thailand, which belong to other countries’ pages.

Quick answers

What is agua de jamaica made from? According to Wikipedia, the dried calyces of the roselle plant, Hibiscus sabdariffa, sweetened and chilled.
Which Mexican state grows the most? Mexico Desconocido, a magazine, says Guerrero leads, with 18,000 hectares planted by 6,000 farmers.
Is it a Mexican invention? The sources say the plant is African in origin; Wikipedia says the drink reached the Americas through enslaved Africans.

Roam first. Shop later.

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