Growing Roselle, The Super Plant

 

Roselle, (Hibiscus sabdariffa), is a shrub that you would love to cultivate  for its awesome usage and benefits.

It is also called rosella, Jamaican sorrel, Red Sorrel ,Rosella, or java jute, plant of the hibiscus or mallow, family (Malvaceae) and its fibre is one of the bast fibre group. 

Roselle is probably native to West Africa and includes Hibiscus sabdariffa, variety altissima, grown for fibre, and H. sabdariffa,

Variety sabdariffa, cultivated for the edible external portion of its mature flower (calyx).

Mature calyx

The plant known in the West Indies early in the 16th century, was growing in Asia by the 17th century. However, its extensive cultivation in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) began in the 1920s under a government subsidized program established to obtain fibre for sugar-sack manufacture.

Roselle is usually grown as an annual and propagated from seed. It grows best in loamy well-drained soil, mainly in tropical climates, and requires rainfall averaging about 25 cm (10 inches) each month throughout the growing season.

 The plant is very sensitive to frost. It prefers full sun as it is not shade tolerant. It does best in a well-drained, friable sandy loam soil rich in humus but is adaptable on many soils types— from sandy to clayey soils and can tolerate short periods of flooding.

so we can sow the seeds in spring and the shrub will begin to give flowers after 2 or 3 months and we can harvest them the next 2 months.

Stalks and leaves range from dark green to reddish; flowers are creamy white or pale yellow. For fibre crops, seeds are sown close together, producing plants 3 to 5 metres (10 to 16 feet) high, with little branching. The stalks, cut when buds appear, are subjected to a retting process, then stripped of bark or beaten, freeing the fibre. In some areas, retting time is reduced by treating only the bark and its adhering fibre. Plants for food crops, more widely spaced, are shorter and many-branched, and their calyxes are picked when plump and fleshy.

flower of Roselle

The fibre strands, 1 to 1.5 metres (3 to 5 feet) long, are composed of individual fibre cells. Roselle fibre is lustrous, ranges in colour from creamy to silvery white, and is moderately strong. It is used, often combined with jute, for bagging fabrics and twines. India, Java, and the Philippines are major producers.

In many tropical areas, the red, somewhat acid calyxes of H. sabdariffa, variety altissima, are used locally for beverages, sauces, jellies, preserves, and chutneys. They can also be eaten fresh and are similar in flavour to cranberries. 

The leaves and stalks are consumed as salads or cooked vegetables and are used to season curries. In tropical Africa the oil-containing seeds are eaten. Many parts of the plant are used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments.

Apart from their delightful taste, Roselle is a good source of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Consuming 57 gram of roselle offers 123 mg of Calcium, 0.84 mg of Iron, 6.8 mg of Vitamin C, 29 mg of Magnesium, 6.45 g of Carbohydrate, 21 mg of Phosphorus, 119 mg of Potassium, 0.016 mg of Vitamin B2 and 8 µg of Vitamin A.

let's explore the awesomeness of Roselle.

1. Maintains Healthy Teeth and Gums

Calcium contents in Roselle protects teeth by keeping the jaw bone strong and sturdy throughout your life, which in turn ensures tight fitting teeth where bacteria cannot thrive. 

2. Healthy Pregnancy

Iron rich food like roselle is quite beneficial for pregnant women as they require around 27 mg daily and this is often covered in a pre-natal multi-vitamin.  Also, pregnant women should consider consuming more healthy fat and folate rich foods during pregnancy.

3. Treatment of the Common Cold

For its content of Vitamin C, Roselle helps to enhance the immune system of our body, which protects us from colds and coughs. Vitamin C itself facilitates the absorption of iron and thus strengthens the body’s resistance to infection. It also fights against viruses.

4. Prevents constipation

Magnesium present in Roselle provides quick relief from constipation, and a high dose of water-soluble magnesium supplements is known to bring sound relief for even the most severe constipated state. 

The laxative property of this vitamin helps to relaxes the intestinal muscles, thus helping to establish a smoother rhythm while passing bowels. It also has another property of attracting water, which in turn softens the stool and helps it to pass easily. Roselle consists of 29 mg of magnesium which is actually 6.90% of the daily recommended value.

5. Weakness

Phosphorous in Roselle has the ability to remove minor health problems like muscle weakness, numbness, fatigue and other similar ailments. Normal levels of phosphorous in the body (around 1200 mg for adults, according to experts and from suggestions of various health practitioners) are a great way to remain fit and active.

How to Consume

• Fleshy flower calyces are rich in citric acid, pectin, anthocyanin pigments and vitamins and are used fresh in salad and for making roselle wine, syrup, gelatin, refreshing beverages, puddings, chutneys, pickles, cakes, herbal teas, jellies, marmalades, ices, ice cream, sherbets, butter, pies, sauces, tarts and other desserts and even used as source of pectin and used for food coloring in America, Asia and Europe.
• Refreshing and very popular beverage can be made by boiling the calyx, sweetening it with sugar and adding ginger.
• Calyx infusion, called ‘Sudan tea’, is taken to relieve coughs in East Africa.
• Roselle calyces are commonly used to make a sugary herbal tea that is commonly sold on the street in Africa especially Sahel.
• Calyces are used to make cold, sweet drinks popular in social events, often mixed with mint leaves, dissolved menthol candy, and or various fruit flavors in Mali and Senegal.
• Leaves and calyces are acidic, eaten as cooked vegetable, good with fermented fish and pork in Assam.
• Tender young leaves and stems are consumed raw or cooked in salads; as a potherb and as a seasoning in curries; they have acid, rhubarb– like flavor.
• Calyx is rich in citric acid and pectin and so is beneficial for making jams, jellies, etc.
• Using marinades of roselle calyx extract for fried beef patties was found to reduce the formation of carcinogenic heterocyclic aromatic amines.
• Calyces are gathered for sale either fresh or dried; they are whole in preparing melon soup together with other soup ingredients and in the production of roselle jams in Nigeria.
• Australians are fond of their roselle jams too.
• A pleasantly flavored beverage produced as an infusion from the calyx has been widely cherished in Nigeria and is used for refreshment and entertainment in home and public gatherings and also sold as a local drink.
• Calyx has been chewed to alleviate thirst on long desert tracks of Moslems.
• I myself loves drinking roselle tea. it's refreshing and easy to make, just boil water and add two or four of fresh or dried calyx and add some honey for some sweetness. you ll love it too.

Knowing these great benefits of Roselle, i m doing this growing project for my kitchen garden. Won't You?

References

https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/roselle/

https//www.britannica.com/plant/roselle/