Roselle /Jamaica a crop with great potential for gardeners
Feb 17, 2023 10:04:21 GMT -6
amyinowasso, hmoosek, and 2 more like this
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 17, 2023 10:04:21 GMT -6
Roselle is in the cotton, okra, and hibiscus family. I'd be guessing it probably does best if transplanted to its original soil line.
Roselle likes it good and hot and can't take any cold at all. I've never lost any of it to anything less than a frosty morning though, it's pretty tough stuff.
Since George first introduced me to that plant a few years back, I've been very well impressed with how resilient Roselle plants are. They are very easy to tend. I've even had Roselle fight its way through the weeds in the borders where I didn't know I had dropped a seed and it prospered well enough to flower out and put on fruit as if it had been well tended in the garden.
Roselle comes on late in the season when other garden vegetables are beginning to play out, so it's a really good gap-filler at the Farmer's Market when you don't have much else to take with you as a vendor, and people love the tea made from it once they know what it is.
I had a really hard time selling any Roselle calyces at the Farmers Market at first, because hardly anyone locally had heard of it, but once people figured out what the calyces were for, they went nuts over them!
In an attempt to introduce our Roselle to the population at large, I made 5 gallons of tea from the calyces to take along with me to market one Saturday morning and gave away free samples at the hospitality table. After they drank that, I had more customers than I could supply for the next several seasons.
Now, I sell freshly, processed roselle calyces $4.50 per quart size container in those little wooden berry baskets. At that price, people will stand in line until I run out every Saturday morning. In a good year, when drought, deer, and grasshoppers don't take my garden out, I average about $100 to $125 dollars per Saturday, just selling Roselle calyces. I try to give away free Roselle seeds with every purchase, in hopes of getting it better established in our area. I think it will catch on someday, if I give away enough seeds.
Roselle is easy to process too. I just cut a short length of 1/2" copper tubing, sharpening the tubing on the inside, using a rat-tail file, and use that to extract the seed pod from the back side. That method leaves the calyx petals intact, so that they make a really nice presentation. Once the seed pod is removed, it's ready to use for many things. It can be dried and stored away for winter, or boiled fresh to make a really rich flavored tea, or it can be used to make jelly. It can also be used as a base to make candies, or it can be added as an ingredient to such things as banana bread. Some people drop a fresh calyx into the bottom of a glass of Champagne and use it as a garnish. The leaves are edible too and can be used in stir-fry or used to season fish, or to make lemon chicken dishes. Roselle has a lot of good uses. For the life of me, I can't figure why more people don't grow it?
Roselle likes it good and hot and can't take any cold at all. I've never lost any of it to anything less than a frosty morning though, it's pretty tough stuff.
Since George first introduced me to that plant a few years back, I've been very well impressed with how resilient Roselle plants are. They are very easy to tend. I've even had Roselle fight its way through the weeds in the borders where I didn't know I had dropped a seed and it prospered well enough to flower out and put on fruit as if it had been well tended in the garden.
Roselle comes on late in the season when other garden vegetables are beginning to play out, so it's a really good gap-filler at the Farmer's Market when you don't have much else to take with you as a vendor, and people love the tea made from it once they know what it is.
I had a really hard time selling any Roselle calyces at the Farmers Market at first, because hardly anyone locally had heard of it, but once people figured out what the calyces were for, they went nuts over them!
In an attempt to introduce our Roselle to the population at large, I made 5 gallons of tea from the calyces to take along with me to market one Saturday morning and gave away free samples at the hospitality table. After they drank that, I had more customers than I could supply for the next several seasons.
Now, I sell freshly, processed roselle calyces $4.50 per quart size container in those little wooden berry baskets. At that price, people will stand in line until I run out every Saturday morning. In a good year, when drought, deer, and grasshoppers don't take my garden out, I average about $100 to $125 dollars per Saturday, just selling Roselle calyces. I try to give away free Roselle seeds with every purchase, in hopes of getting it better established in our area. I think it will catch on someday, if I give away enough seeds.
Roselle is easy to process too. I just cut a short length of 1/2" copper tubing, sharpening the tubing on the inside, using a rat-tail file, and use that to extract the seed pod from the back side. That method leaves the calyx petals intact, so that they make a really nice presentation. Once the seed pod is removed, it's ready to use for many things. It can be dried and stored away for winter, or boiled fresh to make a really rich flavored tea, or it can be used to make jelly. It can also be used as a base to make candies, or it can be added as an ingredient to such things as banana bread. Some people drop a fresh calyx into the bottom of a glass of Champagne and use it as a garnish. The leaves are edible too and can be used in stir-fry or used to season fish, or to make lemon chicken dishes. Roselle has a lot of good uses. For the life of me, I can't figure why more people don't grow it?