Agua de Jamaica Guerrerense

Guerrero grows serious jamaica, especially around Tecoanapa on the Costa Chica, where the heat and soil give the dried calyces a deep red color and a sharp tartness that does not need decoration. This is not red fruit punch. This is agua de jamaica, and the flower does the work.

In the markets of Chilpancingo and Acapulco, the women selling jamaica will tell you to smell it before you buy it. It should smell tart, floral, almost like dried cranberry and tea together. If it smells dusty, it is old. If it looks brown instead of deep garnet, leave it there. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.

The technique is simple, but simple does not mean careless. You rinse the flowers quickly, steep them with Mexican canela and clavo de olor, then dilute and sweeten while the concentrate is still warm so the sugar dissolves cleanly. Do not boil it to death. Long boiling pulls bitterness from the flowers. Guerrero's jamaica should taste bright, tart, and clean, with the spice warming the edge, not shouting over it.

Serve it in a clay jarra or a glass pitcher sweating on the table, next to grilled meat, rice, beans, tortillas, whatever the family is eating outside. Cada estado, su propia cocina. In Guerrero, even the refresher has a place on the map.