Hibiscus flowers have a mildly sweet and slightly tangy sour flavor and lend a beautiful crimson color to hot or cold beverages and adds a boost of vitamin C to foods and beverages.

Tea made from the flowers is a popular beverage throughout the Caribbean and Mediterranean, and is often combined with rum or other spirits. In Egypt, it is traditional to toast the bride and groom with a drink made from hibiscus flowers at weddings.

The vibrantly colored flowers add color to teas, soft drinks and other beverages. For example, in Africa the dried calyx is made into Sudan Tea, and in the Caribbean sorrel tea is combined with beer to produce a popular beverage called Shandy Sorrel.

The dried flowers are also used in cooking. In Australia, Burma, Nigeria and Trinidad, the whole buds are made into jam or jelly. In the Philippines, hibiscus is an ingredient in Polynesian Chicken Stew. In India, hibiscus is used to flavor soups and chicken and fish.