dining

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That time of the year
A special souse recipe

Late year indicator

This is a male saril flower, whose appearance indicates that the female buds are about to start ripening. This plant, a type of hibiscus whose female flowers are the main ingredient in Red Zinger herbal tea, came to Panama from the islands of the West Indies and is the basis of popular Christmas and New Year's drinks. The traditional Jamaican way of preparing this is to boil the mature red female flowers with some ginger, and then season it with lime juice and sugar to taste, then chill it. Some people then add rum. In the Interior plenty of folks boil saril flowers plain, then mix in seco for a New Year's intoxicant. There are many other recipes, including one to make jam from the flowers. Photo by Eric Jackson