rosellas

Rosella’s are one of the plants that has grown consistently well for us here on our little piece of paradise. They’re quite low maintenance and we haven’t had any problems with pests.

Rosella is a type of hibiscus that grows in tropical and subtropical regions. The rosella fruit is actually the protective calyx around the seed pod which is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. So far, we’ve made jams, cordials, teas and sauces with them. Apparently, you can even add the flowers to salads to eat, you can stir-fry the leaves, and roast and dry the seedpods to grind and make flour with. We haven’t tried those yet, but maybe next season.

We plant our rosella seedlings in September, or as soon as the risk of frost has passed, in well-draining and fertilized soil, topped with sugarcane mulch. Seedlings are spaced about 1 metre apart. We’ll water them regularly when they are young or if we are going through a dry spell, but once they get going, they don’t need much maintenance at all. Rosella’s grow abundantly around February to March, and it seems the more you pick the more they keep producing.

When the rosella’s turn deep red and look nice and plump, they’re ready to harvest. Just snip them off at the bottom of the calyx. (We’ll leave a few rosellas on the plant to mature into seed pods for next year’s planting.)

An apple corer deseeds the rosella beautifully, but if you don’t have one, just pick the calyx off around the seed pod. I like dehydrating them in one piece, that way I can put a couple of whole rosellas in my tea and they’re easy to just spoon out when ready.

Rosella and seedpod — Rosella and seed pod

Rosella in Excalibur — Rosella and seed pod

Rosella Jam

Rosella Jam is so easy to make. You only need 3 ingredients. Rosellas, sugar or honey, and water. The only measurement we go by is whatever the weight of the cooked rosellas are, use the same weight of sugar or honey. The seedpods contain pectin which thickens the jam. You don’t actually eat the seedpods, they are just used to thicken the jam.

Steps:

Separate the seedpods from the calyces and wash them separately.
Put the seedpods in a pot. Fill with just enough water to cover the seedpods. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes.
Once the seedpods have cooked, strain the juice into another pot and discard the seedpods. This is the juice you will make the jam with. It contains the pectin from the seeds which will thicken your jam.
Add the rosella calyces to the juice and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring regularly.
Once the rosellas are cooked, they can be blended if you want a smooth jam, or you can leave them if you like the texture. At this point pour the jam into a bowl and weigh the mixture and return to the pot.
Whatever weight your mixture is, add the same weight of sugar or honey to the mixture and cook for about another 20 minutes or until the mixture is the right consistency. (One way to test is to put a plate in the freezer beforehand. Drop a blob of jam onto the frozen plate. If the jam sets firm, and you can tip the plate sideways without the jam running off the plate, it’s good to go!)
While the jam is cooking it’s time to sterilize your jars. Wash them well with detergent and warm water, then place them in the oven at 120 degrees celcius for 10 minutes. Boil some water and sit the lids in the boiled water for 5 minutes, then drain.
Once your jam and jars are ready, pour the jam into the jars, let them cool a bit and put the lids on.

If you accidentally add too much water like I did the first time, no worries, you can make it into a cordial for drinks, or a syrup to add to desserts.

Here are some ways to eat your rosella jam!

Jam Drop Biscuits — Rosella Jam on Toast

With all the isolation time we’ve had over the last couple of months and the weather turning cooler, it’s been the perfect time to get out in the garden. We’ve been as busy as ever cleaning up, weeding, preparing garden beds and planting.

Here’s some of the goodies we managed to harvest this year despite the drought.

Corn is always a winner with the kids!

We’re just eating the last of our water melons now, but we also had rockmelons, honey dew and candy melons

Who knew peanuts grow underground? I watched a video of a lady harvesting peanuts so I thought we’d give it a try. I bought some raw peanuts from a health shop and we planted them. They came out just as peanuts should…we’ll definitely grow heaps more next year!

Our turmeric, ginger, lemon grass and arrowroot are all multiplying well. They will die down over winter but will bounce back when spring comes.

Karl’s well mulched pumpkin patch and cassava plants. You eat the roots of the cassava, so Karl’s just checking them to see if they’re ready or not. On the left is the start of our sugarcane plantation…it’s only 1 row at the moment.

When you don’t mulch your garden it ends up full of weeds. This was the watermelon patch that didn’t get mulched…but thats OK we bought in Sydney the goat to tidy this up for us. He’ll munch it down in no time! If we had put in that extra time mulching around the watermelon seedlings it would have saved the hassle of weeds later (lesson learnt!)

goat

Here’s a few more things we managed to keep alive over the drought period. Tomatoes, strawberries, eggplant, capsicum and chillies

I didn’t know anything about rosellas until Karl pointed out that they’re edible. They are packed full of nutrients and are usually made into jam, but we’ve been using them in a tea with lemongrass and ginger…this is our Covid immune booster tea!…and this is why:

Nutritional value: Rosella flowers contain 260-280 mg of vitamin C, vitamin D, B1 and B2 in each 100 grams. Rosella tea itself contains very high calcium, approximately 486 mg per 100 grams. It also contains Magnesium, Omega 3, Vitamin A, Iron, Potassium, Beta Carotene and Essential Acids. In traditional medicine, rosella is known to increase stamina and endurance, help with detoxification (neutralizing poison) as well as lowering blood pressure, blood sugar levels, uric acid and cholesterol in the body. Helps to treat a cough, sore throat and canker sores, yet can also soothe a migraine. https://organicmotion.com.au/rosella/

Our garlic went well this year and we have a new season of garlic all planted and happily growing.

These are our loofah plants. We’re just waiting for them to turn yellow so we can pick them. They will be our body scrubs…I’ll put up a post when they’re ready!

We’re getting our winter gardens ready now – peas, beans, lettuces, kale, cauliflower, broccoli etc. Yep we’re as busy as ever. This isolation time has actually been a lovely time for us. When we were going through the drought and fires we were wondering whether we made the right choice moving out here…but at times like this we are so glad we took this opportunity and are counting our many blessings! Keep safe and healthy everyone!!!