Rosella Jam | Small Batch
Rosella Jam is a treat well-known to Australians. Sadly though, it’s not something that’s easy to come by. Generally, if you’d like rosella you grow your own, and that’s exactly what I did this year!
The plant is quite hardy and will produce an abundance of fruit as well as beautiful flowers. The trick is to ensure you keep harvesting them as they ripen to encourage more growth.
This season I largely dehydrated the leaves to keep aside for rosella tea. I also infused some in honey, which has been delicious. As the season came to a close though I had two small handfuls left on the rosella bush. So, rosella jam it was, albeit a tiny batch.
Do make sure you keep some seedpods aside so you have seeds to grow next year too.
In This Article
A Bit About Rosella
Rosella, also known as wild hibiscus, is ruby red with a deliciously tart flavour. It is known as an Australian bush tucker food but it’s not actually a native, and was imported from Africa. I’ve read also that others believe it was imported from Indonesia however, most sources agree on Africa. I believe it was in fact the Egyptians who first made it into a tea too.
It’s traditionally considered a wild grown food but it’s also popping up in many backyards. I was introduced to it by a friend and found it in my community garden, which is where I fell in love with it.
Additionally, rosella is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants so is a wonderful food to include in your diet.
How To Make Rosella Jam
The great thing about making rosella jam is that the same recipe works with any quantity of fruit.
All you need do is remove the calyxes (red leaves) from the seedpods for the volume of fruit you have. It was 14 for me today, which was loosely – one cup.
You then wash the calyxes and the seedpods separately because you’ll be using both parts.
The seedpods are useful as they contain the pectin that helps the jam set. I like to slightly pierce the seedpod too.
You then add the volume of pierced seedpods you have to a saucepan and just cover them with water. Boil for 20-30 minutes or until soft.
Once that’s done, strain off and keep the liquid and put the seedpods in the compost.
Return the liquid to the same saucepan and add in the washed calyxes. Bring those to a boil and cook for another 20 minutes or until the liquid has thickened.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and measure the volume of cooked pulp. Return it to the saucepan and now add in the same volume of sugar along with the squeeze of lemon juice. Bring to the boil and cook for 10-20 minutes or until the jam has thickened then transfer to a jar and keep in the fridge.
See how easy it is? And why you don’t need to rely on a set recipe but rather – the volume you have on hand? That’s what I love most about this jam.
More Jams To Try
If you try this recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment, rate it, and remember to tag @wholenaturalkitchen in your pics or reels on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok!
Rosella jam – small batch
Equipment
- Small saucepan
Ingredients
- Ripe rosella fruit
- Raw sugar
- Filtered water
- Lemon juice, just a squeeze
Instructions
- Remove the calyxes (red leaves) from the seed pods then wash and drain them separately
- Slightly break open the seed pods and add them to a small saucepan. Pour in filtered water until the pods are just covered. Do make sure they're submerged
- Bring to the boil and cook, covered for 20 minutes or until the pods are soft
- Strain and keep the liquid and put the seedpods in the compost
- Pour the reserved liquid back into your small saucepan and add in the washed calyxes. If the calyxes are not submerged in water add a tiny touch more filtered water
- Boil down for another 20 minutes allowing the mixture to thicken
- Remove from the heat and measure the volume of cooked pulp. Return this to the saucepan and add the same volume of sugar along with the squeeze of lemon juice
- Bring to the boil and cook for 10-20 minutes or until the jam has thickened
- Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge
Notes
Nutrition
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Gabby Campbell
Gabby is a degree qualified Naturopath/Nutritionist (BHSc Nat) with a love of all whole foods. She started her Naturopathic career in clinical practice before making the move to recipe development and online education – a result of wanting to combat the misinformation that abounds on the internet about food and health. Whole Natural Kitchen aims to transform the way you think about healthy eating by helping you embrace an abundance of nutritious foods while leaving the health fads behind. MORE ABOUT GABBY
Making my rosella jam , I have separated the calyxes from the seeds, and have 2x 4 litre icecream buckets of calyxesxready to cook to a pulp.
I covered the seed pods with water, then boiled them for almost an hour ( as per the traditional recipe I had ) with the lid on virtually the whole time. However, when I drained them , only about 1 cup of the pink liquid has resulted. I’m wondering if I boiled tgem too long ,and if this amount will have suffient pectin/agent to set the 8 litres of flesh?
Should I reboil the seeds with another load of water to increase the amount, or would all of the setting agent already have been extracted, so no point, any suggestions??If the latter is the case, any suggestions?
Hi Laurel, I’ve only ever boiled the seeds quite briefly to get the required pectin. If doing that you could probably reboil them to extract more. I can’t say for certain, however, I imagine boiling them for an hour or so would mean most of the pectin has already leached out from the seeds. In this case, you might be better off using a specific jam setting sugar that contains added pectin to ensure your jam sets.
5 stars, couldn’t add more than 3 for some reason! Yum thankyou!
Hi Cathy, thank you so much! I’m not sure what happened with your rating but I have updated it for you. I’ll look into it though – and I’m so glad you enjoyed the jam. It’s such a unique flavour.
I love this rosella jam recipe -I’ve tried others but this is the best and it sets! This year I have efficiently made jam out of frozen rosella in my freezer. It thaws out quickly and is easier to separate the components. First time I have used the raw sugar (raw castor sugar) too.
So happy to hear it Inge. And that’s amazing re the frozen rosella! I’ve never grown enough to have an excess but hopefully one year I can try this out. Thanks for letting me know. Enjoy that delicious jam!
Very clear recipe, thanks. Roselle grows well here in Hong Kong and is just coming into season. A lovely jam! Would give 5 stars but I can’t get the rating buttons to go past 4.
Thanks so much Andrew! I had no idea this also grew in Hong Kong. You’d have the perfect climate for it there though I’m sure. Also -The rating is showing as 5 stars for me. Not sure what’s happened there.
Just harvested a kg of fruit and made this jam . Absolutely delish
That’s so great to hear Chris! I’m definitely looking forward to our Rosella season arriving in Sydney.
Very easy to make. Can’t wait to try it.
Yes, it’s super easy. I hope you love it when you do get to try it!
This is the easiest recipe I’ve ever used, amazing result!!
Thank you so much for sharing.
That is so wonderful to hear Leanne! I think it’s super easy too. Especially for a very small batch for those like me who maybe only have room for one shrub at a time.
Hello..tried the recipe today…delicious..thank you
That’s so great to hear Melanie. Thank you!
This is a really pleasing site. I made some jam and will be making more. The recipe worked well. I sometimes have difficulty getting jams to set as I always try to have a little less sugar. No problems here though.
That’s so great to hear Angela! It’s so nice to make something so delicious with the rosella fruit too.
I’ve made this recipe for many years Gabby. I’m now 75years old and my mother made it every year until she died. I used to help her until I married and then did my own. It is such a great fruit for Jam. However for the past few years the trees have simply died before the fruit could be harvested but my nephew grew them on his farm and has given me his fruit to make the Jam. For the past two years the Jam has not set and I’ve had to reheat, add Jamsetter and reboil for another 5 + minutes. Even then the jam is still not as firm as I would like and is over cooked and of a dark colour. Why has this happened?
What lovely memories you have with this jam, Rita. I love recalling my time in the kitchen with my Mother too. I still love using all her pots and pans that I have. As to the jam not setting though – that is a bit of a mystery. Especially so as you’ve even tried adding jamsetter! You have a lot of experience with this fruit and I dare say preserving in general so I don’t mean to be giving you over simplistic answers – but jam not setting generally means there isn’t enough pectin. As such, I’m wondering if the fruit may have been picked a little too early? A good indication it’s perfect to use is the seed pod having a decent tinge of green in it or being completely green. I like to pierce them too so that more pectin leaches out when they boil. If you only had, say, half fully rip and half not quite so ripe it’s likely not given you enough pectin, even with the jamsetter.
Love this recipe! It was so simple and the jam is delicious. I did use white sugar as I didn’t have enough raw but will try it with that next time. Thanks heaps
That’s so great to hear Kyra! White sugar is fine to use, I generally just have raw in the cupboard though so that’s what I use in most of my jams. Or sometimes honey.