Rosella Tea

I thought using rosellas for cordial and jam, and the leaves for salad, was all I could do with it. It turns out though, that this amazing little plant has a few more uses.
One evening I was wandering around on the internet, and I stumbled across a mention of being able to dry the petals for tea! I had to learn more, so I went straight to Green Harvest and found out that not only do the petals make a yummy tea, it's also high in vitamin C. Knowing the rosella bushes were laden with fruit again, the next morning I took a bucket into the garden and came back with it brimming with rosellas. To tell you the truth, I nearly turned the fruit into jam, thinking that perhaps the tea wouldn't be that good and that I would really like some more jam. But then it got hot and sticky and the last thing I felt like doing was standing in the kitchen stirring jam, so I put the petals onto the trays of my food dehydrator and set them to drying.

They took four or five hours to dry and I didn't get around to collecting them from the dehydrator until the next day. I put the kettle on to boil and popped the crispy petals into a jar, and a spoonful into a tea strainer to brew.
Steeped for five to ten minutes and sweetened with a little honey this tea is soothing and lemony, with a strong colour and delicate flavour that, like most herbal teas, improves on cooling. I've been meaning to try it garnished with mint and I also think it would make a nice iced tea. It would look so pretty in a glass anyway.

If you'd like to make rosella tea, all you have to do is peel the petals off the green pods and put them into your food dehydrator for four to five hours or until dry and crispy. I had the temperature somewhere between 40-50'C and it seemed to work just fine.

Have you been trying any new teas lately?
Discovering new ways to use things from your garden maybe?

We're in the second month of 2016 now - can it be true? I'm afraid so. I usually prefer February to January so I'm quite looking forward to this month with it's extra day.

Have a lovely day!
Sarah x


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