Rosella (Roselle) Recipes

May 20, 2020

This is our second year growing rosellas, and they are definitely be a firm favourite around here. Not only are they stunning plants, they are prolific producers without a great deal of input from us. We actually didn't even plant any this year, they self sowed them selves. I relocated them to where I wanted them and they survived. After the abundance last year with 4 plants, the plan was to only do 2 this year, however we ended up with a dozen plants!

Growing them isn't the challenge, it's what to do with the crop! Here is my growing list of recipes of ways to use up a rosella harvest.

Jam

The traditional favourite, we aren’t huge jam eaters but we love them on jam drops.

Ingredients

Rosellas (however much you harvest)
Water
Juice of one Lemon
1 teaspoon of butter
Sugar (to match your pulp)

Method

Thoroughly wash your fruit.

Separate the red calyx from the seed pod and set the calyxes aside.

Pop the seed pods in a pot, cover with water and boil for half an hour.

Strain the seed pods and reserve the liquid in another saucepan. Discard the seed pods. Add your red calyxes to the reserved liquid and bring to the boil again. Simmer for another 20 minutes until a pulp has formed.

Before you proceed, you need to measure how many cups of liquid you have (to know how much sugar you'll need).

Add your butter and lemon juice.

Add the same amount of cups of sugar as your pulp to the mix and boil for a further 20 minutes or until the jam thickens (do the wooden spoon test) it will thicken more as it cools.

Add to sterilised jars and fill right to the top and pop the lid on to create the seal.

Tea

A good one to drink when you feel a cold coming as Rosellas are super high in vitamin C. I love this mixed with lemon balm. Nathan loves this as an iced tea.

Method

Thoroughly wash and dry your rosellas. Seperate the calyxes from the seeds and discard the seed pods.

Pop the calyxes in a dehydrator and dry until completely dry (around 4-6 hours depending on humidity). If you don’t have a dehydrator you can pop them in the oven at 40 degrees Celsius.

To serve steep 2-4 petals in hot water for 3-5 minutes.

Add some dried ginger and honey for a lovely winter warmer. Or Lemon balm for a refreshing lift.

Add some honey and chill it for a lovely iced tea.

Cordial

This is how we use rosellas the most. A beautiful red cordial without the nasties of your regular red cordials.

Ingredients

8 cups of rosellas
2.5 litres of water
5 cups of Sugar
Juice of 5 lemons
1 Tablespoon of citric acid

Method

Place your rosellas and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, seeds and all, simmer for around 40 minutes until the colour has come out of the seed pods. Strain the liquid off and add back to the pan (discard the seeds and flesh) .

Add sugar and put back onto the heat to dissolve sugar, bring to the boil for one minute.

Take off heat add lemon juice and citric acid.

Return to the heat bring to the boil again.

Pour into sterilised jars (I reuse Passata bottles), fill right to the top and put the lids on whilst hot to seal.

You could also add 2 Tablespoons of grated ginger at the same time you add the rosellas.

Salads

Thinly sliced Fresh rosellas make a great addition to salads. They have a tart almost lemony flavour with a crunchy texture. Pick the smaller pods for this.

Try topped on a salad of pomegranate, couscous and goats cheese with a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil. Yummo!

Jelly Cups

I make jelly 'sugar free' jelly cups for the kids. Super easy and the colour is amazing.

Ingredients

1 litre Apple Juice
1 Tablespoon of Gelatine
2 Cups of Rosellas (you could use 1 cup of dried calyxes)

Method

Add half the juice together with the rosellas into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the flesh on the rosella starts to disintegrate. Strain off the pods and put in the Gelatine and mix until dissolved add in the remaining cool apple juice. Place in jelly moulds and pop in the fridge to set.