Gelée de Bissap (Hibiscus Jelly) is a traditional Senegalese recipe for a classic jelly or set jam made from red hibiscus flower (bissap) juice cooked with sugar until the mixture sets. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Senegalese version of: Hibiscus Jelly (Gelée de Bissap).
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Hibiscus is a Senegalese native and both the leaves and the flowers are eaten. The flowers are also used to make bissap, Senegal's national drink. You get white and red hibiscus flowers sold in the markets. The red flowers are the ones needed here and the best quality are the intensely red ones.
Ingredients:
150g dried red bissap (hibiscus) flowers
1.5l water
500g sugar per 500ml hibiscus liquid
Method:
Rinse the hibiscus flowers with plenty of water to remove any traces of sand.
Pour the water into a large pan and stir in the hibiscus flowers. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook the mixture for 15 minutes.
Filter the juice through a fine-meshed sieve lined with muslin. Measure out the volume of liquid and for every 500ml hibiscus liquid add 500g sugar.
Turn the mixture into a pan, bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes to thicken.
Ladle the jelly into washed, sterilized and boiled jam jars. Fill to within 1cm of the top, secure the lids on top then set aside to cool, label and store.
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