Henriette Kress wrote:
> Bob Gillespie wrote:
>
>
>>How do we make the tea? Bascially how many of the seed pods do we use
>>for a little tea?
>
>
> For tea, I do a teaspoon (dried - double the amount if you use fresh) to
> 2 dl (1/2 pint).
>
> For jelly, I'd do a couple handfuls (dried) to a liter or two; I'd want it
> strong. Bring to a boil, let boil for 5-10 minutes, strain, proceed with
> the jellymaking.
>
> Nice color, no?
>
> Henriette
>

I've got about 300 grams of the dried stuff. If I knew what it was, I
would have bought more. What's the best way to extract the maximum pectin
from the dried calyxes? I thought I'd simmer a couple of ounces in about 3
pints of water it for a few minutes and then turn it off and let it sit for
a few hours. Then pound it, and simmer it for a half hour. Squeeze
through a piece of cotton muslin. Do you think that would work? Also
might do a second extraction (decoction?), add it to the first, and boil it
back down to original volume to get a strong juice.

Do the fresh leaves and shoots make a nice red juice too? Roselle should
grow up here, but probably not bloom.

It'll be a couple of day before I get to play. It's almost 2:00 in the
morning here, and I *just* finished emptying the garage (in the freezing
drizzle) so the contractor can come tomorrow morning and tear it down. The
last few boxes of stuff just got crammed in the trunk of the cars cuz I was
tired of messing with it.

Bob