Roselle Lemonade
Photo: Carolina Ayala / Contributor
Given the long hot summers and now frequent freezes of Texas, it’s taken me years of living in Houston to understand how to garden here. Best to do raised beds, have good irrigation and plant natives has been my takeaway. So, when I was at the annual Herb Society plant sale a few months ago, I regarded the tiny 6-inch roselle plants an herbalist was proudly showing me with some suspicion. I knew they were native to Africa however she convinced me that they do very well in Houston. She also told me they’d be 6 feet tall in no time and that the leaves were edible and so were the pods. I knew roselle (called gongura in Hindi) is used in South Indian cooking, but I’d never encountered it in India. I purchased 3 plants and potted them in the back of my garden in a sunny spot. Sure enough, they grew to be almost 7 feet tall and bushy in no time with healthy stalks of roselle pods that morph into beautiful little hibiscus flowers. I’m slowly discovering the multiple uses of this plant.
Lemonade is just one way to use the pods, however you could use them in a reduction for a sauce, put the slightly tart leaves in a salad or sauté, or pickle them like the South Indians do.