Learn how to harvest and dry roselle or jamaican sorrel for making tea!

Hello friends of Hive! I hope you are feeling great and that you have had a happy holiday season. In this opportunity I will explain how to harvest and process the Roselle or Jamaican sorrel for the preparation of hot or cold infusions.

First of all, the most important thing is to harvest the calyxes when they have matured sufficiently. This will be 1 to 2 weeks after the flower opens, it should be a deep red color and be firm, if it is too soft you have to wait a little longer.

To collect them you will only need a strong gardening scissors, because the stems of the calyxes are hard. When you have all, or the desired amount, proceed to separate the red part of the seed capsule, which is inside.

When calyxes look like this, they are ready to harvest

Cut them with scissors

They must be this intense colour

We will remove as much as we can and the rest we will discard. Although if you want to save some seeds just choose the capsules with the best size and the ones with a less green tone and let them dry completely.

Calyxes and seed pods

Dry seed pod with seeds ready to sow!

When you have removed all the seed capsules from the calyxes, place them in a tray well spread out and leave them in a cool, ventilated place for a few days, until they are completely dry. After that you can store them in a glass jar in your pantry or cupboard.

Preparation of infusions

When you want to prepare Roselle drinks, you have 2 methods. The first one is to heat a cup or the amount of water you want, when it is boiling, add the flowers and turn off the stove. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

The second method is simply to soak the flowers a few hours before (it can be the night before) with cold water, it would be the same process of hot water but slower. The amount of flowers to use will depend on how concentrated you want your drink, but try not to use too much, remember that even if it is something natural, a very high concentration could be counterproductive.

And with this you can prepare whenever you want a warm or refreshing infusion of hibiscus flower! You can combine it with other things like lemon, and it will give it a delicious touch. It should be noted that in either of the 2 ways you prepare it you can take it hot or cold, it all depends on how you want to take it.

I hope you liked this post and that you dare to prepare this delicious drink, and if you grow it yourself, even better!