My wife and I are just getting into edible landscaping and we are
reading a several books on the subject. ONe of the books I'm reading
discussed a roselle and how it might be made into jelly, jams, etc. and
that it taste like a cranberry without the bitterness. When we bought
it last year, we thought it was called a false roselle but it appears as
the picture in the book. We live in north Florida and I replanted the
seed and have one very beautiful flower. After each flower fades, a
container forms about an inch long along the stem which is a deep red.
It is filled with seed. I plan to harvest some of the seeds and replant
next year. Long story but leading to how might we try to make jelly
from the plant or anything elso that might be useful. The beauty makes
it very useful but I would like to add edible. Can anyone help?


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Bob Gillespie wrote:
> My wife and I are just getting into edible landscaping and we are
> reading a several books on the subject. ONe of the books I'm reading
> discussed a roselle and how it might be made into jelly, jams, etc. and
> that it taste like a cranberry without the bitterness. When we bought
> it last year, we thought it was called a false roselle but it appears as
> the picture in the book. We live in north Florida and I replanted the
> seed and have one very beautiful flower. After each flower fades, a
> container forms about an inch long along the stem which is a deep red.
> It is filled with seed. I plan to harvest some of the seeds and replant
> next year. Long story but leading to how might we try to make jelly
> from the plant or anything elso that might be useful. The beauty makes
> it very useful but I would like to add edible. Can anyone help?
>


I had never heard of it until now; I found a link that might be
helpful: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html

I bought a bag of what I *thought* was dried hibiscus flowers at Fiesta
Market, and it turns out that it is roselle. There's a picture in the
article that shows a bag just like what I bought. The bag may have a
few seeds in it.

Best regards,
Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

> I had never heard of it until now; I found a link that might be
> helpful: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html
>
> I bought a bag of what I *thought* was dried hibiscus flowers at Fiesta
> Market, and it turns out that it is roselle. There's a picture in the
> article that shows a bag just like what I bought. The bag may have a
> few seeds in it.

It's hibiscus. Hibiscus sabdariffa, to be precise.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod

Bob Gillespie wrote:

> My wife and I are just getting into edible landscaping and we are
> reading a several books on the subject. ONe of the books I'm reading
> discussed a roselle and how it might be made into jelly, jams, etc. and
> that it taste like a cranberry without the bitterness.

It's just a very very sour mallow (well, hibiscus, but hibiscuses are in
the mallow family, too).
Make a tea and use that in jelly much like you'd use lemon juice.

Henriette

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod

This looks to be a very good link. Thanks.
Bob

>
>
> I had never heard of it until now; I found a link that might be
> helpful: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html
>
>



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"Henriette Kress" > wrote in message
newsan.2003.11.03.21.21.44.756374@hetta

> Henriette,
How do we make the tea? Bascially how many of the seed pods do we use
for a little tea?
Thanks for your help.
> Henriette




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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

--
Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland
Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed
Best of RHOD: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/rhod

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