Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa, var. sabdariffa) By Paula Szilard It’s truly amazing what interesting and delicious things humans have found to eat. Apart from the grosser things, like insects, all of the different plant parts we eat provide us with a varied diet, and if we are adventuresome eaters, a steady stream of interesting choices. We eat leaves in the form of spinach, lettuce and kale; swollen stems like onions and kohlrabi, unswollen stems like rhubarb, unopened flower buds in broccoli and cauliflower, opened flowers like daylilies and fruits like tomatoes, apples, cherries and oranges. In the summer months life often seems like one big salad! And we also consume the calyxes of at least one flower. The plant in question is Roselle or Hibiscus sabdariffa, a tall, often gangly tropical and subtropical hibiscus that has attractive yellow to pinkish yellow flowers with dark red centers, red stems, and swollen red calyxes. The leaves are dark green with three to five lobes. People often confuse roselle with red leaf hibiscus, Hibiscus acetosella, and although H.acetosella also has red calyxes, the leaves are red while the flowers are bright pink. Roselle has numerous aliases, among them: Jamaica sorrel, red sorrel, flor de Jamaica and Florida cranberry. H. sabdariffa is a perennial that is usually grown as an annual, even in warm climates. I grew it from seed a couple of years ago, but I didn’t get much of a harvest because the calyxes matured very late. It can be grown from cuttings also and supposedly such plants remain smaller and are harvestable earlier. This past spring I ordered a plant from Logee’s, also grown from seed. It is a much shorter variety and has larger calyxes than the one I started. There are two forms to be distinguished: the form we eat, H. sabdariffa var. sabdariffa and H sabdariffa var. altissima Wester, a taller more sparsely branched cultivar grown to produce fiber similar to jute. The edible one comes in 2 leaf colors, yellowish green and red. There is no agreement on where this plant originated. Some plant researchers point to Asia, others to Africa as its home. Slaves probably introduced it to tropical America and the Caribbean, most notably to Jamaica. Attempts were made to grow it commercially in Florida and Hawaii. In Florida crops were wiped out by a severe frost. It was brought to Hawaii to intercrop with rubber, but never really became established as a commercial crop. In both states, it is still grown in gardens. The succulent calyxes are acidic and taste somewhat like cranberries. They are used to make juices and other drinks, as well as jams and jellies. They are also eaten raw in salads. In parts of Africa the dried seeds are also consumed. Jamaicans make a famous drink of roselle juice, sugar, ginger and rum. Hibiscus tea made from dried calyxes is marketed as ‘red hibiscus tea.’ Dried calyxes are generally available in Hispanic markets. Aficionados say that for maximum flavor the tea should be boiled rather than steeped. The plant has many other uses. The young leaves can be eaten like spinach. It is known to lower blood pressure, probably by virtue of its diuretic effects. An old folk remedy, it is not only promotes diuresis, but is also a mild laxative, an antispasmodic and antibacterial. It has high levels of antioxidants and because of its high anthocyanin content (the purple-pink coloring in beets), it is used commercially as a food coloring. The roselle flower has three layers: the outer bracts on the bottom, the calyx within the bracts and the petals within the calyx. The calyxes are harvested about three to four weeks after the petals have wilted. They are swollen, juicy, but crisp and pull off with ease as the seedpod starts to separate. If the seedpod is allowed to become too mature, they must be cut off rather than pulled off. Vegetative growth takes place when days are longer, while flowering takes place late in the season when days get shorter. A day length of 12.5 to 13.5 hours with a dark period of at least 11.5 hours will trigger flowering. In cool or short summers calyxes may not ripen sufficiently. Plants prefer full sun and temperatures from the low fifties to the high eighties. They simply do not survive frost. They tolerate a wide range of soil pH levels anywhere from very acidic (like blueberries and cranberries) to quite alkaline, but the medium must be well drained. I have grown mine in containers with soil acidity levels near neutral in regular potting soil with a little added compost. Where they grow outdoors in the soil, they prefer a rich, moist loam, but can tolerate heavier soils. When fertilizing, do not feed with high nitrogen fertilizers. This can cause excessive vegetative growth at the expense of flowering. It is probably wise to stick to a balanced all purpose fertilizer that has more or less equal proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the N-P-K commonly found on fertilizer labels, preferably with the full complement of micronutrients. The plant I grew from seed was unattractive and gangly, with long internodes. The one I got from Logee’s was also started from seed, but it was a more densely branched variety, about half as high as the one I grew. It started producing calyxes earlier in the season and seemed to have a greater abundance of them. While it made an interesting addition to my collection of patio containers, it’s definitely not a soloist. It needs other attractive plants around it for support. Sources: Lyle, Susanna. Fruit & Nuts. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2006. Miller, Carey D. Fruits of Hawaii. 3rd ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1957. Morton, J. 1987. Roselle. P.281-286. In: Fruits of Warm Climates by J. Morton. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html. Naturland. Hibiscus. 2000. (Organic Farming in the Tropics and Subtropics, Exemplary Descriptions of 20 Crops). Cultural guidelines for roselle using organic methods. http://www.naturland.de/fileadmin/MDB/Publication/English/hibiscus.pdf .

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa, var. sabdariffa)

Paula Szilard

It’s truly amazing what interesting and delicious things humans have found to eat. Apart from the grosser things, like insects, all of the different plant parts we eat provide us with a varied diet, and if we are adventuresome eaters, a steady stream of interesting choices.

We eat leaves in the form of spinach, lettuce and kale; swollen stems like onions and kohlrabi, unswollen stems like rhubarb, unopened flower buds in broccoli and cauliflower, opened flowers like daylilies and fruits like tomatoes, apples, cherries and oranges. In the summer months life often seems like one big salad!

And we also consume the calyxes of at least one flower. The plant in question is Roselle or Hibiscus sabdariffa, a tall, often gangly tropical and subtropical hibiscus that has attractive yellow to pinkish yellow flowers with dark red centers, red stems, and swollen red calyxes. The leaves are dark green with three to five lobes. People often confuse roselle with red leaf hibiscus, Hibiscus acetosella, and although H.acetosella also has red calyxes, the leaves are red while the flowers are bright pink. Roselle has numerous aliases, among them: Jamaica sorrel, red sorrel, flor de Jamaica and Florida cranberry.

H. sabdariffa is a perennial that is usually grown as an annual, even in warm climates. I grew it from seed a couple of years ago, but I didn’t get much of a harvest because the calyxes matured very late. It can be grown from cuttings also and supposedly such plants remain smaller and are harvestable earlier. This past spring I ordered a plant from Logee’s, also grown from seed. It is a much shorter variety and has larger calyxes than the one I started.

There are two forms to be distinguished: the form we eat, H. sabdariffa var. sabdariffa and H sabdariffa var. altissima Wester, a taller more sparsely branched cultivar grown to produce fiber similar to jute. The edible one comes in 2 leaf colors, yellowish green and red.

There is no agreement on where this plant originated. Some plant researchers point to Asia, others to Africa as its home. Slaves probably introduced it to tropical America and the Caribbean, most notably to Jamaica. Attempts were made to grow it commercially in Florida and Hawaii. In Florida crops were wiped out by a severe frost. It was brought to Hawaii to intercrop with rubber, but never really became established as a commercial crop. In both states, it is still grown in gardens.

The succulent calyxes are acidic and taste somewhat like cranberries. They are used to make juices and other drinks, as well as jams and jellies. They are also eaten raw in salads. In parts of Africa the dried seeds are also consumed. Jamaicans make a famous drink of roselle juice, sugar, ginger and rum. Hibiscus tea made from dried calyxes is marketed as ‘red hibiscus tea.’ Dried calyxes are generally available in Hispanic markets. Aficionados say that for maximum flavor the tea should be boiled rather than steeped.

The plant has many other uses. The young leaves can be eaten like spinach. It is known to lower blood pressure, probably by virtue of its diuretic effects. An old folk remedy, it is not only promotes diuresis, but is also a mild laxative, an antispasmodic and antibacterial. It has high levels of antioxidants and because of its high anthocyanin content (the purple-pink coloring in beets), it is used commercially as a food coloring.

The roselle flower has three layers: the outer bracts on the bottom, the calyx within the bracts and the petals within the calyx. The calyxes are harvested about three to four weeks after the petals have wilted. They are swollen, juicy, but crisp and pull off with ease as the seedpod starts to separate. If the seedpod is allowed to become too mature, they must be cut off rather than pulled off.

Vegetative growth takes place when days are longer, while flowering takes place late in the season when days get shorter. A day length of 12.5 to 13.5 hours with a dark period of at least 11.5 hours will trigger flowering. In cool or short summers calyxes may not ripen sufficiently.

Plants prefer full sun and temperatures from the low fifties to the high eighties. They simply do not survive frost. They tolerate a wide range of soil pH levels anywhere from very acidic (like blueberries and cranberries) to quite alkaline, but the medium must be well drained. I have grown mine in containers with soil acidity levels near neutral in regular potting soil with a little added compost. Where they grow outdoors in the soil, they prefer a rich, moist loam, but can tolerate heavier soils. When fertilizing, do not feed with high nitrogen fertilizers. This can cause excessive vegetative growth at the expense of flowering. It is probably wise to stick to a balanced all purpose fertilizer that has more or less equal proportions of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the N-P-K commonly found on fertilizer labels, preferably with the full complement of micronutrients.

The plant I grew from seed was unattractive and gangly, with long internodes. The one I got from Logee’s was also started from seed, but it was a more densely branched variety, about half as high as the one I grew. It started producing calyxes earlier in the season and seemed to have a greater abundance of them. While it made an interesting addition to my collection of patio containers, it’s definitely not a soloist. It needs other attractive plants around it for support.

Sources:

Lyle, Susanna. Fruit & Nuts. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2006.

Miller, Carey D. Fruits of Hawaii. 3rd ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1957.

Morton, J. 1987. Roselle. P.281-286. In: Fruits of Warm Climates by J. Morton. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/roselle.html.

Naturland. Hibiscus. 2000. (Organic Farming in the Tropics and Subtropics, Exemplary Descriptions of 20 Crops). Cultural guidelines for roselle using organic methods. http://www.naturland.de/fileadmin/MDB/Publication/English/hibiscus.pdf