Hibiscus In My Garden and Hibiscus Tea

Hibiscus is a beautiful flowering plants in many colors. They are in red, pink, yellow and white. This plant is not only for decorative purposes at home and in my garden, it has also medicinal purposes. Hibiscus is also called Gumamela in the Philippines. Hibiscus is native to many countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, China and of course in my home country Philippines.

I was planting hibiscus again in my garden as I have found a vacant place to plant them. I have planted 4 different colors of hibiscus cuttings in a hole. Dark red, red, pink and a mixture of pink and peach color. I wonder how they will look like in a few months from now when they bear flowers.

There are 4 hibiscus plants in my front yard and two of them are getting huge that they almost reach the electric wire. They have plenty of flowers, too. I have heard about hibiscus tea. In fact, I have seen hibiscus tea in some supermarkets and drugstores in Germany.

My sundried Hibiscus/Gumamela.

Thinking about it and feeling thirsty, I decided to make my own hibiscus tea for the first time in my life. Well before I did it, I researched about this plant and its health benefits. I have found out that drinking hibiscus tea  is good in lowering blood pressure, strengthening the immune system, lowering cholesterol, helps aid menstrual pains, satiates thirst and other some health benefits.

Decided to make my own hibiscus tea, I harvested the red and pink hibiscus flowers. Some of those flowers were closing their petals already as they have bloomed for that day. I decided to harvest them as well before they landed on the ground and dried them under the heat of the sun.

Fresh harvested Hibiscus

Red Hibiscus in a pot.

Red Hibiscus poured with boiling water.

How I made the hibiscus tea:

1. I have washed 6 red hibiscus flowers to get off the dust.
2. Put them on a kettle.
3. I boiled 1 liter of water in the water cooker.
4. Then added the boiling water in the kettle with hibiscus flowers.
5. I let the mixture stayed for 5 minutes.
6. Then drink a glas  of this warm tea with a bit of sugar and calamansi juice. 
7. I have put the remaining hibiscus tea in a thermos.
8. Don't wonder when the hibiscus flowers becomes violet when poured with boiling water. It will still turn red when added with lemon or calamansi juice.

Hibiscus / Gumamela tea.

Tips:

• You can put more hibiscus in a liter of boiling water if you want a stronger taste.
• You can put the hibiscus tea in the fridge when you want to drink it cold but wait until the tea has cooled off.
• You can add lemon or lime instead of calamansi juice. For every glas, at least half a teaspoon of this juice I mentioned.
• If you want it sweet, you can add sugar or honey.
• Only red and pink Hibiscus are good for making tea.

How did I like the selfmade hibiscus tea? Yummy😀 It has a tangy refreshing taste. I am drinking it every day now but only 2 mugs a day to boost my immune system. 

NOTE: If you are taking any medicine, please check with your doctor if you are allowed to drink Hibiscus tea. Hibiscus tea is dangerous for pregnant women. It can cause abortion.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.
 

Copyright 2016, All Rights Reserved by Thelma Aberts

Mango Fruits From My Garden

Mangoes are one of the most delicious fruits in my home country Philippines. It´s mango season in my home country. Have you tried eating those Filipino  sweet and very fragrant mangoes? They are very different than the mangoes that are sold here in Germany, which come mostly from South Africa.

Last Sunday when I was skyping with my family in the Philippines, they showed me plenty of mangoes they have harvested from my front yard. My mouth watered upon seeing those mangoes. I was even mentally smelling the luscious fragrant of those fruits.

The mango tree in my garden is bearing fruits for the first time. I was not the one who planted this tree. It was my father if I was not mistaken. Two years ago when I was still having my long vacation in my hometown, the mango tree was still young when I kept on watering them. I was indeed surprised when my family told me where those mango fruits came from. 

These are the fresh harvested mangoes from my tropical garden. Some of them are not yet so ripe but in a few days, they would be.

I am already worried if I will be able to devour the fruits of my garden and so I told my cousin Jane to freeze the   ripe mango slices without skins in the freezer. I told her how to do it just like how I freezed my fresh harvested strawberries for winter season here in Germany. 

I have a lot of plans what to do with my mango fruits when I am there in my Philippines home. I will make mango cakes, cupcakes and other recipes I am going to bake or cook. Besides that, I can use the purreed mango fruits for my facials and body scrubs. I can´t wait to do that thinking how my skin feel smooth because of mango. 

Have you tried mango and papaya fruits for your homemade beauty skin care? I hope there are still mangoes when I arrive in my garden. I think that will be the second thing I would do. Harvesting my mango fruits. 


Here´s a link if you want to try. http://hubpages.com/style/My-Homemade-Papaya-and-Mango-Body-Scrubs-and-Facial-Masks

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a lovely day! Take care and God bless you.

Copyright 2016 © Thelma Alberts, All Rights Reserved