Rosella (Hibiscus sabdariffa) makes great jam and cordial, and here’s a way I have found to make both from the one batch. The cordial is refreshing and slightly astringent, which I find perfect for a rehydrating drink on a hot day. The jam is a little like plum jam, with an intense red colour.
I took our third picking of rosellas the other day, and thought I would try cordial again, but this time with a recipe suggestion from Hip Pressure Cooking. Her recipe is for blackberry essence, but it can be adapted for any fruit you’d like to try. After trying it and getting a nice, clear liquor, I tasted the residual pulp and not only did it have lots of flavour, but it looked the right consistency to make jam. With sugar and pectin the result was in fact a decent jam.
Rosella jam and cordial method
This method is quick and easy, but you do need a pressure cooker. First pick or get yourself a good bowl of rosellas. I suppose mine would have been over a kilo. Pick off the red calyces and discard the green fruit.
Wash the calyces and put into the steamer basket of your pressure cooker. Mine filled the cooker to the ‘max’ line. Add water to the base. I used 1.5 L, which just lapped the base of the steamer. Close, bring to pressure and cook on high for 15 min, then take off the heat and allow to cool and de-pressurize by the ‘natural release’ method.
Lift the steamer basket to drain it. I put a wooden spoon across the top of the pan to hold the strainer basket up by the rim. Don’t be tempted to squeeze the mash of rosellas, as this would probably cloud your cordial. When the basket stops dripping or you run out of patience, you will have cordial essence in the bottom and jam solids in the basket.
Pour the liquor into a saucepan, add some sugar and boil to dissolve it (this is pretty much to taste, but if you want to store it at room temperature you will need to use a recommended cordial proportion of sugar, i.e. 1 kg per litre, or weight for weight. We like it fairly low in sugar and store it in the fridge). Pour it into sterilised bottles.
For the rosella jam, weigh the pulp from the steamer basket and add an equal weight of sugar. Heat the mix gently until the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils. You need to stir as it will be thick and won’t mix well. Add pectin at the ratio recommended on the pack (I used a third of a pack for 500 g of pulp) and stir in to dissolve. Test for set, and pour into sterilised jars.
The jam really is as full of flavour as you would want. I was intending to throw the pulp to the chickens but realised it was too good to waste, and friends who got a jar say it’s great on croissants.