You say Rosellas, I say Roselles…
Revivals & Survivals: Flor de Jamaica
“Home made Rosella jam is
unbeatable, easy to make as well.”
--David
O’Bryan - Mansfield, QLD 18-Oct-2008,
Daleys
Fruit Tree Nursery, http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/
Every so often someone pops up with a great
new food discovery— Only on closer inspection, oops! It isn’t new, someone else
published it years ago. Or it’s only new to us, elsewhere in the world it’s
being consumed every day.
This is certainly the case with the “fruit”
or “flower” of Hibiscus sabdariffa,
the “roselle” or “jamaica” (“ha-MY-kah”). I came across references to it in a
very old American cookbook published in the early 20th century and was quite intrigued
when I realised I also had a reference to it from the Australian website, Daleys
Fruit Tree Nursery (http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/),
where it’s called the rosella,
described as:
“An attractive annual bushy shrub with flowers and fruit used to
give colour and flavour to jams, fruit punches, sauces and desserts. A relative
of the hibiscus family, best grown in rich soil in a sunny position.”
The picture supplied (above) isn’t very
clear. Small red buds?? The early recipes varied between “flowers” and “fruit”.
Many varieties of hibiscus are grown in New Zealand and Australia as decorative
plants and I knew them as garden flowers, so I assumed that the bright red
colour must be from the crimson flowers with which I was familiar. Wrong…
Let’s look at the recipes: you’ll see
why I was confused. The Khaki Kook Book:
a collection of a hundred cheap and practical recipes mostly from Hindustan, by
Mary Kennedy Core, Bareilly, India, was published in 1917 by an
American missionary and contains mostly Anglo-Indian recipes which she gathered
during her time in India in the 19th century. Many of them are typical of the
food eaten by the British Raj, and the book is fascinating reading. However,
there are some, like the ones for roselles, which definitely have an American
origin.
Mary Kennedy Core writes:
“Roselles are a fruit belonging to the
sorrel family. ... Long before the season is over the bushes are vivid with
wine-red flowers. From the waxen petals of these flowers very delicious sauces,
jams, chutneys, and jellies are made. ...
“The fruit is very rich in pectin, and not only gives a beautiful color
when combined with any other fruit, but also adds much to the flavor. Combined
with peaches or strawberries, cherries or guavas, or any other fruit that is
deficient in pectin, the roselle has very satisfactory results. When used by
themselves a fine jelly is made which is far superior to currant jelly.”
Roselle
Jelly.
Remove the petals of the flower from the seed; then
mince finely by running through the meat grinder. To every cup of minced petals
add three cups of water. Boil quickly as the color is much better if it does
not stand around. After boiling about five minutes it will be ready to strain.
Strain and make as any other jelly. In flavor and appearance this jelly can not
be surpassed.
Recipe no. 83.
Roselle
Sauce.
Remove petals from the seed, and for every cup of
petals take two cups of water. Stew gently for a few minutes, then add a cup of
sugar for every cup of fruit. These two things must be remembered if one wishes
to get the best results from the fruit. It must be well diluted and it must be
cooked quickly, as it is apt to lose its bright color if it stands around.
Recipe no. 84.
Can you see why I was confused? She
calls them both “fruit” and “petals”. They can’t be both!
Well, at this stage I just assumed that
“roselles” or “rosellas” were the flowers and that the Daleys website users
like David O’Bryan were an interesting example of the first “Survivals and Revivals”
syndrome above: great new food discovery, except someone else published it
years ago. –Incidentally, in Australia rosellas are small native psittacine birds,
so don’t ask why the word got used for the flowering plant!
More Confusion…
The perils of watching foodie
programmes on the idiot box. I was following an SBS series and looked up “Egyptian
Cuisine” on their website—more fool me, what did
I want the stuff for, I already owned Claudia Roden’s classic, A Book of Middle Eastern Food. In
addition to a revolting recipe for a mess of greens, this is what I got:
“Karkade. The
delicious refreshing red tea called karkade made with dried hibiscus flowers ...
This Hibiscus tea is sought after for its medicinal properties. Drunk hot or
cold, it is said to reduce high blood pressure and cool you down on a hot day
in the desert.”
Hibiscus
flowers eh? Hmm, intriguing, as Data would say, didn’t know that hibiscuses
grew in— Hang on! Isn’t this the same as— Ooh, yes, hibiscus flowers are also
roselles! Um, rosellas in Australia, pardon.
It was Agony, Ivy
I should
have left it at that, but it kept nagging at me. Were they flowers or fruit?
Well, yeah, I might have left it, but guess
what I came across when looking for something else entirely on Epicurious.com?
“Agua de Jamaica. A
non-alcoholic drink from Mexico made with jamaica flowers. Recipe from Rick
Bayless ‘Authentic Mexican’.” This tells you to use “jamaica
flowers (dried hibiscus flowers)” which you boil in water with sugar,
steep and strain, “pressing on the flower solids to extract as much liquid as possible.”
Well,
that sounds clear, eh? Definitely flowers. Wrong. I conscientiously checked on
GourmetSleuth.com and found:
“Jamaica. Other names: Hibiscus flowers, roselle, Jamaica
sorrel. Spanish name: jamaica.
Although referred to as ‘jamaica flowers’ these are actually hibiscus calyxes
(the cover over the blossoms before they open). The flowers are used in Mexico
for a tangy deep red ‘cooler’ called Agua
de Jamaica. Other names for the ‘jamaica flowers’ include ‘hibiscus flowers’,
‘roselle’ and ‘Jamaica sorrel’. In Mexican grocery stores the common terms are
either ‘jamaica’ or ‘flor de jamaica’. The plant is native from India to
Malaysia and is now widely grown throughout the tropics and subtropics.”
WHAT?
Do they really mean calyxes? (If you already know, you’ll know that this is
correct, but by now I was totally confused.)
So
I just thought I’d clarify it, on reading over what I’d collected so far—I mean,
finding out the stuff was used in Egypt was extra-fascinating: meant it was a “Survival
and Revival” of both types! I then found some very confusing sets of instructions
online. None of the recipe sites explained what the “flowers” are, and one very
modern health-food website talked at me, ugh!
Searching for Jamaica
I’ll
spare you the agony. I finally got the dinkum oil from Wikipedia, though it
took quite a lot of searching before I struck the right article. Do NOT search
under “jamaica”, it’ll take you straight to the country and you’ll be stuck.
Look up “Hibiscus tea” or “Roselle (plant)”. The initial definition was not
that encouraging: “Hibiscus tea is a
herbal tea made as an infusion from crimson or deep magenta-coloured calyces
(sepals) of the roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) flower. It is consumed both hot
and cold.”
Um, yeah. Well, my Concise Oxford Dictionary defines “calyx” as “Whorl of leaves (SEPAL)
forming outer case of bud”, and none of my sources talked about buds, but then
I had a good look at the excellent photos both Wikipedia sites provide and remembered
what I’d read on that talking website:
“After the petals fall from the flower,
the remaining deep red calyces (cup-like structures formed by the sepals) grow
into seed-containing pods that resemble flower buds. It’s these red calyces
that are used to make hibiscus tea.” http://products.mercola.com/hibiscus-tea/
Oops,
yes, it had the dinkum oil after all! I’m not recommending it as a website, but
this description is definitely the clearest and best. You have to remove the
actual seed pod before using the calyces/calyxes (the Concise Oxford accepts both spellings). This can be done with a little
implement, as in the entrancing picture below from Wikipedia, or you can wait until
the roselles dry out a bit and then peel the sepals off.
Poke
the seed pod out with your little implement. What is left is the Mexican “flor de jamaica,” the American “roselle”
or “jamaica”, the Australian “rosella”, or the “hibiscus flower.” It is used in
many other parts of the world under many other names, too.
What’s it taste like? Very tart, is the
word, rather like cranberry juice: it needs sweetening.
Wikipedia
also supplies a picture which includes both the flower (very insignificant) and
the calyces:
“Roselle
plant at Wave Hill, Bronx, New York, 2014,
showing
leaf, flower, bud and dark red calyces”
by
Invertzoo - own work. (Wikipedia)
In Conclusion, Let Me Say Just This…
It didn’t help, interesting and
informative though Daleys is, that one of their correspondents had described
the plant as H. sabdarifa (one F)
instead of Hibiscus sabdariffa. To
sort that one out without any possibility of mistake I had to consult the USDA.
Ya never heard of them? No, well, at one stage in my inglorious career I worked
in an agricultural research library. That’s the United States Department of
Agriculture, folks, and if they’re wrong on botany the whole world is wrong.
Hibiscus sabdariffa
L. roselle
Kingdom Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass Dilleniidae
Order Malvales
Family Malvaceae – Mallow family
Genus
Hibiscus L. – rosemallow
Species
Hibiscus sabdariffa L. – roselle
Obsessive? You betcha. It’s from both
sides of the family, too.
Glass of iced roselle tea
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