Edible Hibiscus etc...

[ottawagardener]

Anyone bother to eat Hibiscus syriacus?

I also am growing Hibiscus moscheutos and Hibiscus laevis to test usefulness. They are certainly pretty.

Not hardy here but still on my experiment list are Abelmoschus manihot (is overwintering well inside and I have more started seeds) and Hibiscus acetosella though the latter has yet impressed me. As I do edible landscaping, I'm keeping at this one. I also grow okra on occasion with mixed success: Abelmoschus esculentus.

This is not to exclude the many other mallows I grow including the common ones and poppy mallow. 

Anyone else working on these? 

My goals for these plants are: Showy, perennial, heat tolerant leaf-green plant. 

[papabearjay]

I recently found out that certain Hibiscus seed pods are used for fermentation and produce a slightly alcoholic beverage. I don't remember what species, but I will do some digging. This species also has some interesting characteristics, at least from the specimen I observed.

[darrenabbey]

This sounds like Roselle/Jamaica (Hibiscus sabdariffa), though I hadn't heard of its use in fermentation.

[papabearjay]

Unless there is a closely related Hibiscus sp. that looks precisely like that one, that's it.

[toad]

I eat a little Hibiscus syriacus.
Flowerbuds,and young leaves.
Tried to ferment the flowerbuds. The petals were nice, the sepals were tough. As taste was intense, I think of is as a ferment to nipple. I will do it again, but only eat it occasionally. Its a contrast to the mild raw taste. Both fermented and raw there is the slime of malva-plants. OK with me, but disgusting for some.

[papabearjay]

Nov 30, 2014 12:23:19 GMT -5 darrenabbey said:

This sounds like Roselle/Jamaica (Hibiscus sabdariffa), though I hadn't heard of its use in fermentation.

If you're interested I can forward on some seed.

[darrenabbey]

I've got seed from a couple different sources already. One was ordered more-or-less direct from Thailand. The second was from a full seed pod I found in a batch of dried roselle sold for making tea.