FOOD & DRINK
There's a flower in my Champagne flute
Hibiscus bloom adds festive note to beverage glasses
DAILY PRESS (NEWPORT NEWS, VA.)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Spike the bubbly with a little flower power and watch your holiday party turn into the talk of the neighborhood.
But, at first, everyone will be quiet, mesmerized by the flowers' slow-motion moves.
The magic starts when you slip wild hibiscus flowers into the bottoms of fluted champagne glasses. Add a sparkling wine and the flowers unfurl in just a few minutes.
The flowers — as many as 11 — are tightly packed in an 8-oz. jar filled with raspberry/rhubarb-flavored syrup ($12) and sold at Whole Foods Market locally, as well as Williams-Sonoma stores nationwide.
You also can purchase them online at www.wildhibiscus.com.
When we tried this in our photography studio, we found it was easier to gently pour the flowers and syrup into a large bowl. Then, you can scoop the flowers out without messing them up. Use a long-handled teaspoon to position the flowers in the bottom of each flute and slowly pour in your bubbly. Top with a little syrup for color and flavor.
The idea for using hibiscus flowers to dress up champagne glasses started at a dinner party in Australia in 1998, according to Alison Soltau, who does marketing for Australian products. Lee Etherington thought he would entertain guests with the stunt but his joke successfully backfired, launching him into a business that now supplies 16 countries and just recently the United States.
Etherington grows the hibiscus plants in northern tropical Australia. They are hand-picked and taken to a warehouse near Sidney where seeds are removed from the flowers and the blooms are cleaned, all by hand.
Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup ingredients are simple — flowers, cane sugar and water — making everything edible.
"Great care is even taken in how the flowers are packed," says Soltau.
"They are packed in certain positions so they make a safe journey."
Now, that's good party planning.
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