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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 16, 2017 18:08:00 GMT -6
In Fall, times are slower, so I can harvest Roselle more or less at my leisure. The temperatures are cooler too, so I can enjoy my time more in the garden. Roselle comes at a good time of the year to really savor the experience. Especially, if you like drinking the tea hot on a frosty night outdoors.
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Post by john on Oct 16, 2017 21:24:40 GMT -6
That is true Ron. You wouldn't want to be picking it in the Olahoma heat. Also you have inspired me, I look forward to having a hot cup of tea this winter. How do you like it prepared?
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Post by macmex on Oct 17, 2017 5:54:42 GMT -6
John, I believe Ron steeps the equivalent of 3 calyxes in a mug of hot water. I imagine one could use more or less, depending on how strong a tea is desired. To make two quarts, I use from 12 to 24 calyxes. It is important to get the water boiling and let the calyxes steep for some time, in order to draw out the flavor and color.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 17, 2017 7:42:37 GMT -6
John,
I use three and a half coffee cups of water with 15 peeled Roselle calyces. Or one and a half coffee cups with 5 calyces. I don't imagine a coffee cup is actually a measured cup of water though. The reason I add the extra half cup of water is that I boil it so long that I figure I lose quite a bit to evaporation.
I pour the water in a saucepan and set my gas stove burner to about 3/4 full open. I set a timer for 5 minutes and start peeling the calyces while the water is heating to a boil.
Once the calyces are all peeled, I place them in the boiling water and let it boil slowly for 10 more minutes. If you had a screen wire kitchen strainer you might be able to place the calyces inside one of those to boil them, but I just strain mine out as I pour it. (I eat the cooked calyces if any end up in my cup).
When I pour my tea hot, I add three cubes of sugar per cup and stir. Some people add 4 cubes because of the tartness. Some people add a little water to weaken the tea. If you prepare tea in the pot too weak, you can't fix it, but if you make it too strong, you just add water and stir.
Roselle makes a good hot drink in Fall. I imagine you could experiment with mulling spices as well and treat it similar to hot apple cider.
If you are not a big wine drinker, Roselle tea makes a good colorful substitute on the Thanksgiving table poured into wine glasses to add festivity to your meal without any alcohol. That way the kids can enjoy it as well as the adults. I served it that way with smoked turkey legs, corn on the cob from my Fall garden, sauteed asparagus that I saved back from my Spring harvest, arugula lettuce salad, turnip greens from my Fall garden, and brown gravy made from the turkey stock earlier this week. (It was my 25th wedding Anniversary dinner). My Wife was impressed.
Last year, we saved our last Roselle to drink as hot tea on Christmas morning, because of the beautiful red color. That might become a new tradition.
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Post by john on Oct 17, 2017 16:35:52 GMT -6
Ron, you are making me hungry. Your Thanksgiving dinner sounds awesome. Congratulations on your 25th wedding anniversary! I just celebrated my 20th a few days ago. Time sure does fly.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 20, 2017 6:56:03 GMT -6
It was kind of chilly at sunrise this morning. A good cup of Roselle tea was a great way to start off the day.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 22, 2017 16:35:38 GMT -6
I had a homegrown, smoked pork roast for lunch today with garden potatoes, fresh turnip greens, corn on the cob, and Roselle tea after dinner drinks. I'm loving my Roselle plants right now.
Thanks, George for getting us hooked on Roselle.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 25, 2017 7:44:56 GMT -6
Well, the weatherman lied to us again...
It was 26 degrees this morning. There was frost all the way to the top of our roof. Everything in the garden is white with the kind of frost that grows a quarter of an inch crystals from the fog that laid on the ground all night.
In about half an hour, it will look like God poured boiling water over all my Roselle plants, but right now, they sure are beautiful to look at.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 25, 2017 18:33:59 GMT -6
Not all of the Roselle was injured by the frost this morning. Even the ones that were, still look like they may survive to fight another day. I sure have a lot of calyces harvested. I'm not sure just what I'll do with them yet? So far, I've not found any mature seed pods that were not damaged by worms or some other pest. I hope I get some seeds before killing frost arrives. It sounds like this weekend is going to get down into the lower 20s.
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Post by macmex on Oct 26, 2017 13:05:34 GMT -6
We had a light frost yesterday morning, after I left for work. There wasn't any frost when I did chores, so I thought we had escaped. But it got my squash. I think everything else escaped. But this weekend will be it, I think. I may cut all my roselle plants and bring them in today. Then I can remove the rest of the calyxes at a more leisurely pace. I doubt we could have too much roselle. Just need TIME to do stuff with it!
George
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 26, 2017 14:04:39 GMT -6
George,
Do you think you'll dry any of your Roselle?
If so, I have a pretty big dehydrator that you're welcome to use in my Summer kitchen. I also have 3' foot by 12' foot drying rack that I use for drying mint, but that requires good, dry, warm weather.
I never thought of cutting the bushes down to harvest them. That would make harvesting a lot easier to do.
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Post by macmex on Oct 27, 2017 6:10:50 GMT -6
Thanks Ron. You are a true friend! We have a couple of dehydrators, and thankfully, my dear wife has had them running for a while, processing Roselle calyxes. Last night, however, I managed to get out to the main garden and saw that we had, indeed, had a pretty heavy frost, the other day. Our Roselle was toast. The leaves were all dead. The calyxes had been affected some. But they were still good. So, I cut all the plants and moved them indoors. This weekend I'll be cutting the calyxes off and we'll process them all by dehydrating them. Roselle did even better for us this year than last. We are SOLD on this plant.
Here's a picture of the plants, just before I cut them to harvest.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 27, 2017 23:04:01 GMT -6
George, That dead Roselle was one of the saddest gardening pictures I've ever seen I guess that means Summer is officially gone now... Oh well, time to dig sweet potatoes again!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 29, 2017 23:14:08 GMT -6
After that hard freeze last night, my Roselle is toast. It got so cold that it even burned some of the leaves off of my broccoli. A few of my turnips and radishes were killed to the ground as well. It must have gotten a lot colder at the low elevation than I realized... No wonder my apple trees never made any apples in the ten years they've been planted in that location.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Nov 7, 2017 9:02:43 GMT -6
After that hard freeze on October 29th, there's nothing to do in the garden except harvest okra seeds for next year. Well, except for harvesting a few turnips to stuff for Christmas dinner.
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