Roselle bush near Nonzero Farm in Dulan Mountain. Ming discovered it on one of her foraging walks up the mountain.
It’s amazing how similar Taitung is to my home country Malaysia. All the familiar things in Malaysia can be found here, like coconut, rice, banana, custard apple, pandanus, 四角豆, and even roselle.
Roselle, a species of hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa), colloquilly called the ruby of Taitung here in Taiwan, has a deep red color fruit. Good for making jam or syrups for drinks. The best one I tried before was to blend the fruit with ice, making a kind of roselle sherbet. Perfect for a hot summer day!
It is the season now for roselle and pretty soon it will appear on our menu. While we are still perfecting the recipe for our roselle dish, I thought we could feast our eyes first by using it as floral decoration.
Ming preparing the freshly cut stems
Roselle red, isn’t this red beautiful?
More info on the plant can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant)
http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/9/10/26/n2701610.htm
洛神花由於色彩紅豔，滿山遍野的紅色花海田園，奪目耀眼，被當地農民賜於「紅寶石」雅詞。台灣最重要的洛神花產地，是台東金峰鄉及太麻里鄉兩個地方，其產量佔全國90％上下，種植面積約200公頃左右。每年深秋初冬，也就是10月下旬到年底是洛神花季盛產。
Even though roselle is found in Malaysia too, but it is not so commonly known. Here’s a picture of Malaysian roselle – much bigger and darker in color.
