Roselle crop (forum)

Tom starts with ...
In May I ordered Roselle seeds from Australian Seed www.australianseed.com). It was listed as a species I hadn't heard of before, Hibiscus subdantta; and I thought it might just be the same species which we grow up here along the Gulf of Mexico, H. sabdariffa, which we call Florida Cranberry or Karkad
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Time: 15th October 2011 11:33pm

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Original Post was last edited: 16th October 2011 12:21am

About the Author Tom
Orlando, Florida
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Phil@Tyalgum says...
Yes I've never heard of it either - and I've done a lot of searching for improved varieties online. One cultivar I'd be keen to get hold of is "Arab", much larger and darker than the ones we generally grow here, seems to be SE Asian in origin. The Davidsonia jelly you will be making is almost identical in color and flavor to what you make with rosella calyxes, just a touch sharper but very pleasant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mbo4.jpg

Time: 17th October 2011 6:23pm

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About the Author TyalgumPhil
Murwillumbah
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Tom says...
Thanks for the info, Phil. If I run across the "Arab" cultivar you're looking for, I'll let you know. I used to travel often to Cairo (it's where I got turned on to Hibiscus tea); and the brew there from the calyxes was substantially darker red than what I've been able to squeeze out of the ones we grow now. It was so deep red that it was nearly black; and it was sweet and lemony without anything added. I wonder if that was the "Arab" variety you're after?

By the way, since this is the first year that we've been able to compare H. subdantta to H. sabdariffa, I'm now beginning to accept, even a week after picking the subdantta, that they really are different species and not just two names for the same thing. There is a slight difference in color of the calyx which I hadn't noticed before, though the flowers look the same (just a bit different in size); and the tea from sabdariffa is darker to match the darker calyx. They taste the same.

Time: 18th October 2011 3:14am

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Original Post was last edited: 18th October 2011 3:41am

About the Author Tom
Orlando, Florida
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Pauline says...
I have travelled to Egypt a lot too. The stuff there does look different, but it definatly needs sugar adding. The egyptions add sugar when it is hot so that the cold stuff already has it added. If you get it hot you add your own. It is all I drink when I go there and I have never had a hot one already sweet enough to drink.

Time: 18th October 2011 3:39pm

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About the Author Pauline
Adelaide
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Tom says...
Hi Pauline,
Do you still make the trip? Wish I still traveled there; but our work is done, and it's not likely we'll be back any time soon especially under the changing political circumstances.

We were always served hot tea, and I didn

Time: 18th October 2011 9:30pm

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Original Post was last edited: 18th October 2011 9:40pm

About the Author Tom
Orlando, Florida
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Pauline says...
I haven't been for four years now. I come from the uk, so it was cheap as chips to pop over from there. And the uk having very lax quarantine, we could bring carrier bags full of the hibiscus home. I did prefer the proper tea bags you can get out there though. Unfortunately they don't seem to do them here anywhere.
I am having a go at growing my own for the first time this year. People told me not to bother here in Adelaide, but my supervisors neighbour had a field of the stuff, so worth a go.

Ice-cream sounds great. Hopefully I will have enough to try it. :-)

Time: 21st October 2011 9:48pm

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About the Author Pauline
Adelaide
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