24 April 2008

Red Little Jewels

It is amazing how mother nature works. It can create so many beautiful things just on its own. Remember the little seed I bought? It has since grown into a "big little plant" and is quickly finding its home around my window grills!



Today Pauline gave me some "red little jewels", another amazing product of mother nature.


They are actually Hibiscus Sabdariffa Linn or Roselle (洛神花). Roselle is rich in protein, organic acids, amino acids and Vitamin C. It's natural bright red color makes it a good choice to be made into jam, juice, wine, etc.



This little jewel tastes sour in nature. But when preserved, it makes a wonderful snack! Pauline let me tried some of the preserved Roselle she had bought and I'm immediately sold. So "sold" that I had to search for the recipe once I got back. And I was lucky enough to find it here.

Preserved Roselle (洛神花萼蜜餞)

Ingredients
Slightly more than 1000g fresh Roselle
60g salt
*800g sugar (divided into 300g, 150g, 150g and 200g)

Method
1. Remove the receptacle from the Roselle. Wash and air the Roselle flowers dry. You should have about 1000g of flowers left.
2. Season the flowers with salt for 24 hrs to soften the flowers. Remember to give the flowers a few tosses in between the 24 hrs.
3. Squeeze out the salt water the next day. You can use the salt water to preserve raddish or young ginger.
4. Season the soft flowers with 300g of sugar. Leave in the fridge for 4 days. Remove from the fridge after 4 days and season with another 150g of sugar. Leave in the fridge for another 2 days. Then season with another 150g of sugar and leave in the fridge for another two days. Finally season with the last 200g of sugar. When the sugar has all melted (about two days later), the preserved Roselles are ready for consumption.

Note:
- Remember to toss the Roselles frequently during preservation to ensure the sugar is evenly spread out.
- Adding sugar in a few rounds help to retain the crunchiness of the preserved fruits.
- Keeping the fruits in the fridge helps to preserve the natural bright red color.
- I've added 200g more sugar (than the original recipe) on the 8th day as the Roselle still taste a little too sour.




I've got a packet of washed and cut Roselle from Pauline (how sweet of her!). It weighs about 110g. I have seasoned it with about 7g of salt at a start followed by 30g, 15g, 15g and 20g of sugar in 4 batches. See the end results here.



Mood:

17 comments:

Yuri said...

wow wf, i bought a bottle of dried rosella and don't know what to do with it. probably cannot make preserved rosella right?

KWF said...

Hmmm...don't think can preserve dry ones. But I heard people use it to drink with water. Where did you get yours from? Maybe can soak in tea to create Roselle Tea?

Edith said...

my son love this. I usually buy a packet from the medical hall and boil them in water and add some honey to it. Rich in Vit C.

KWF said...

Edith, is it very expensive to get from medical hall? are they fresh ones or dried ones? I know fresh ones can boil water to drink, taste like ribena, right?

Yuri said...

hi wf and edith, i bot a bottle from Bee's Brand (either TP or Chinatown). instructions on bottle is to make drinks, was wondering if can use it to bake like aunty yochana, guess not...

Anonymous said...

hey kwf, where to get the fresh one? from market eh?

Anonymous said...

hey,

where can i buy in sg? coz i bought in thailand.. i am hooked to it! its very good to drink the juice.. i am growing the plant now... haha its abt 6mths now.

wombat

KWF said...

hi "anonymous" & wombat, I do not know where the fresh ones can be bought from in SG, coz these were home grown by a friend and given to me. I intend to grow them too since they're rich in Vit C, good for the kids. I heard the drink taste like ribena...yum yum...

wombat, is it very difficult to grow the plant? I don't have green fingers, so a bit worried. Do you need a big pot to grow it?

Anonymous said...

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/chef_cakes/Others/DSC02703.jpg

hihi this is my plant... :)

first flower!! i so happy! hee

is not easy to grow because takes long time and birds come n eat ahha
wombat

Anonymous said...

the link cant send over.. i will pm u at kc :)

KWF said...

thanks wombat, saw the plant liao. *envy envy*

Gina Choong said...

ai yay, sorry WF, wanted to edit the text..but ended up deleting it. This is the text I wrote:
There used to be a veggie farm in Lim Chu Kang that plants this and sell it online..then the company decided not to sell online or retail. They sell only to wet markets. I used to get it fresh from them..they would deliver it to me. Ages ago in KC, I already posted the recipe to cook it fresh with water, add honey to taste. For the Dried ones, go to ZTP medical shop at Hougang Central..they sell. Cannot remember how much per packet. very big packet.

KWF said...

gina, I boil the fresh ones with water the other day. Really taste a little like ribena. I've got some preserved in the fridge, should be ready these two days. :) I hope I can grow this plant successfully.

Unknown said...

Hi Kwf, I am selling roselle products supplier and I have a farm in KL. if you need fresh, dried, jam, concentrate, powder or juice you can contact me. My email address is jazzelee@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi kwf,

im so interested in making these after looking at ur post.. but there is some parts which i am unsure of n hope you can help me out.
how do i handle this flowers and what is the receptacle ,is it the center part of the flower so i only preserved the petals?
hope to get ur reply soon
thanks so much

regards,
elis

Anonymous said...

I bought fresh Roselle flowers from NTUC Fairprice and boil them according to the instructions on the packet. Makes a nice drink on hot days when chilled.

KWF said...

elis, sorry, this reply came very late. Yes, you're right, you only use the petal. The center round portion is discarded.