How to Make Zobo Drink In No Time (Quick Recipe)

Thinking in her mind, she asked herself if what is being served is in anyway made by someone who knows how to make zobo drink.

She smiled as she placed the bottle and a clean cup on the table and dragged the chair that seemed heavy for her closer to the table. Sitting on the chair, she said grace for having someone who knew how to make zobo.

She has taken this drink before and had loved it. She had a specific brand she took and it was made by an expert, someone who actually knew how to make zobo drink, so she was not scared to have a taste of what was before her.

Feeling on top of the world as she tilted the bottle and the dark red liquid flowed out into the cup, you could see her white teeth.

She took a sip and you could see the joy on her face, she said “hmm…zobo wine” and placed the cup down like those classic ladies do on television…

The one behind the production of the drink, who knew all the steps, smiled at her daughter. She was happy that even if her daughter did not know how to go about it all, she knew the taste of zobo, one of the popular Nigerian drinks.

How to Make Zobo Drink In Nigeria

Zobo or zoborodo, a tasty drink that drags that spot with another of the popular Nigerian drinks we know – kunnu. It is a Nigerian beverage that is made from Roselle plant flower – a species of Hibiscus native ot West Africa.

During my childhood days, zobo was muah; mother knew how to make zobo drink, no arguments, yes, I’m giving her a 100% score and you know what, this drink goes well with any meal as suggested on our student and family Nigerian food time table.

The love for zobo drink is still ever-growing. There is no age limit on this drink that can or cannot be made completely with natural ingredients.

Just like zobo, another popular Nigerian drink is kunu; a drink that’s mostly prepared by the Hausas. Learn how to make kunu drink in this post.

Preparation of zobo drink involves sorting, rinsing, boiling, addition, draining/sieving, etc. It does not end there; there are tips for producing zobo drink.

Yes, have you ever wondered the zobo you made does not look like the picture you saw or the one you bought from mama zobo on your street?

Also, have you ever felt like you do not know how to make zobo drink? You’ll get every tips in this article.

Learn More About: 15 Amazing Health Benefits of Zobo Drink

Tips for Zobo Drink Production in Nigeria

There are some things to be done and they are called tips in this zobo guide.

• The proportion of water to your zobo leaves is very important. NOTE: For a dark red liquid colour, the number of zobo leaves must be greater than that of the water. For a lighter coloured liquid, the proportion of water is more than that of zobo leaves.
• Overnight soaking of clean zobo leaves in water and then boiling.
• Addition of any fruit of your choice at the last stage when preparing zobo drink gives the zobo drink a lasting flavour or taste of the fruit added.
• Blending of any fruit of choice before adding to zobo drink increases its surface area thereby releasing more goodness from the fruit.
• Leaving ginger roots in zobo drink even after sieving leaves a lasting impact of ginger.
• Do not overheat the zobo drink after adding fruit or date palms, we do not want to damage the extra nutrients introduced in to the drink.
• Garnish with slices of any fruit of your choice.
• Use the right measurements to get best results.
• Serve zobo drink chilled.

List of Ingredients For Nigerian Zobo Drink Preparation

From amateur to experts; they all know how to make zobo drink just at varying levels of sophistication.

However, the basic ingredients for zobo drink remain the same while the advanced ingredients for zobo drink are different depending on the zobo recipe.

Below are the ingredients, to be used in desired varying proportions, for zobo drink.

• Zobo leaves.
• Fresh/dried Ginger.
• Garlic.
• Pineapple
• Sugar (optional).
• Dates (optional).
• Apple or any other fruit of choice (optional)
• Water

Also Read: How to prepare coffee

How to Prepare Zobo Drinks – Directions for Making Zobo

Follow these steps below to make a tasty zobo drink:

1. STEP 1: Sort your zobo leaves from stones, sticks and other unwanted particles.
2. STEP 2: Rinse your zobo leaves properly in cold water to get rid of the dust and drain using a sieve.
3. STEP 3: Put the rinsed zobo leaves in a clean pot.
4. STEP 4: Add clean water to a level above the zobo leaves, making sure the water covers the leaves in the pot.
5. STEP 5: Place the pot on the stove and leave to boil for some minutes.
6. STEP 6: Add garlic and ginger in whatever form you want, either blended or diced fresh ginger or the dried ginger powder or both.
7. STEP 7: Add more water as by now the level of the water might have decreased.
8. STEP 8: Leave to boil until the liquid does not taste raw like it was soaked or until the leaves are soften and pale red.
9. STE 9: Bring down the pot from the stove and allow cooling.
10. STEP 10: Using a sieve, drain the leaves from the liquid and set aside.
11. STEP 11: Using a muslin cloth, sieve the liquid to remove tiny particles.
12. STEP 12: Zobo drink is ready. You can add sugar if you want but make sure you serve it chilled…I mean no be “agbo” na.

Flavoured Zobo Drink

Yes, there’s what I call flavoured Zobo drink. Follow the steps below for preparation:

1. Follow steps 1 to 8
2. Drain leaves from liquid.
3. Add your pineapple or any fruit of your choice, either blended or diced, to the zobo liquid. (Rinse your pineapple thoroughly if you are not peeling it before adding it to your zobo drink).
4. Allow to boil for the next 3 – 5 minutes.
5. Follow steps 9 to 11.
6. Refrigerate.
7. Zobo drink is ready to be taken with any of the top 51 popular Nigerian food of all time.

How to Make Zobo With Dates Palm Fruit

The dangers of sugar is preached in all heavens and earth and it is greatly advised to stick to natural sugars although at moderate amounts.

It comes as no surprise that the health-conscious ones would not abandon a drink they love because they do not want to use the refined sugar, but instead found the concept of how to make zobo drink with dates.

Date or date palm, dabino or debino whichever you choose to call it, (depending on where you come from) is a sweet fruit that can be eaten fresh or dried.

They are mini capsules of sweetness that give out their attribute to whatever they are added to. On how to make zobo with dates, follow the steps below:

• Rinse your date palm fruits properly.
• Remove the seed inside by dividing the date palm fruits into halves.
• Blend until smooth as this will improve release of its sweetness. Soak to soften, if you are using dried date palm, before blending.
• Follow the steps 1 to 8.
• Drain the boiled zobo leaves from the liquid.
• Add the blended date palm fruit and boil for few minutes.
• Add any fruit of choice and boil for few minutes.
• Follow steps 9 to 10.
• Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Tips on How to Make Zobo Without Sugar

Tips on how to make zobo drink without sugar include the above-listed. Other tips for preparing zobo without sugar include:

• Incorporating any fruit of choice into the zobo drink.
• Addition of date palm fruit…oops! No refined sugar or no sugar at all?
• Do not use ingredients excessively; you do not want your zobo drink to look like herbal concoction.

Now we move to preserve your zobo.

Tips on How To Preserve Zobo Drink

Even if we know our zobo drink do not last so long to be concerned about preservation…aspa say we for don drink am finish sef, I will still give some tips on how to preserve zobo drink including some tips I have found out.

We all use our refrigerator or freezer to store something so it will not go bad isn’t it? Thanks to the inventor of this machine.

You would not want to make a rich zobo drink using that excellent zobo recipe, gotten from mother or grandma or on any of the top 15 Nigerian food blogs, and see it go bad, hence, the need to preserve it.

• Pour in to a clean, sterilized, tightly closed container.
• Put in a refrigerator or freezer and you can be rest assured it would last for days without going bad.

Zobo drink is exempted from the list of alcoholic drinks in Nigeria but when zobo drink is going bad, you notice fermentation has set in, a step involved in the production of alcohol.

But still these will shock you a little:

• Irrespective of the level at making zobo drink, do not add sugar to your zobo drink except if you are planning to drink it up in the next few days.
• Addition of sugar to your zobo drink gives room for fermentation faster than when sugar is not added.

How to Make Zobo Drink (Final Notes)

From an expert, that’s everything you need on preparing zobo drink in this our Naija. More about its health benefits in coming articles.

Zobo drink is a cheap expensive drink packed with lot of health benefits; it is a drink I will pick any day over carbonated drinks especially when it is prepared under proper hygiene conditions.

It is actually not a bad idea if everyone knows how to make zobo drink; well this article is here whenever you need it.

You can also visit any of the top 15 Nigerian food blogs given in a link above for zobo recipe…winks.

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