This easy, no-fail rosella jam is delightfully sweet and tart, made simply with fresh fruit and raw sugar. The recipe is brightly colored, naturally thickened, and doesn't require pectin or cooking. It makes the prettiest filling for Vegan Thumbprint Cookies at Christmas time.
🏆 Top tip
Remove the seed pods from rosella easily by slicing off the cap end. Then they'll pop right out.
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⭐ Why it works
- Rosella and strawberry combine for a perfect balance of sweet and tart.
- No cook recipe.
- No pectin is required.
- No-fail thickening with a dehydrator.
- Less sugar than standard recipes.
🌺 What is rosella?
Rosella is just one of many names for hibiscus sabdariffa, a tropical to sub-tropical plant also called roselle, hibiscus flower, and flor de Jamaica, to name a few.
It's known around the world for an array of ruby-red delicacies like Florida Cranberry Sauce and bissap, the national drink of Senegal.
Did you know that hibiscus fruit isn't really fruit or flowers but calyces? If you'd like to read more, my post about hibiscus sabdariffa explains its fascinating botany and more.
🥣 Equipment
- Blender or food processor - Any standard machine works fine to blend berries, rosella, and sugar.
- Dehydrator - If you're shopping around, you might be interested in the Nesco Snackmaster. This affordable and compact model has served me well for 5 years.
- Dehydrator liner sheets - Fruit roll sheets are designed with a non-stick surface and have a no-spill lip ideal for making jam.
🍓 Ingredients
Ripe strawberries are sweet but often lack the acidity needed for an exceptional preserve. That's where sour rosella fruit comes in.
Rosella fruit, a.k.a. calyces, have a wonderfully unique flavor and intense tartness that compliments strawberries.
- Rosella - Choose bright red calyces that snap off the stem easily.
- Strawberries - The riper, the better. Make sure there aren't any signs of mold on the berries.
- Raw sugar - Organic evaporated cane juice makes the recipe vegan.
🔪 Steps
- Prepare fruit - Wash and dry strawberries and rosella. Slice the tops off the rosella, remove the seed and discard. Slice strawberries and chop rosella fine.
- Blend - Combine sliced strawberries, raw sugar, and finely chopped rosella. Place in a blender and process briefly with pulses until mostly uniform.
- Dehydrate - Pour blended jam onto a dehydrator liner and dehydrate until jam is desired consistency.
- Store - your finished jam in a glass jar in the refrigerator.
🥇 No-fail recipe
There's nothing worse than spending the time to make jam only to find your choice fruit hasn't gelled and set after cooling. You might have even picked the fruit yourself.
With this recipe, you won't have to boil, strain, skim foam, or guess at the amount of pectin in your jam. Not only is the finished jam stable, but it has a bright color and supremely fresh taste because it hasn't been cooked.
Wondering how it's possible? Thickening jam in a dehydrator lets you control the thickness of your spread without guesswork.
As a bonus, since this rosella jam recipe doesn't require pectin, you can use half the sugar of typical recipes with excellent results.
👩🏻🍳 Expert tips
- Slice strawberries and chop the rosella fine.
- Dehydrate at a low temperature, no higher than 135 degrees, to preserve color and flavor.
- Stir jam every hour or so to lift moister areas to the surface.
- Take note that dehydrators vary, and rosella jam will be ready anywhere from 2 to 5 hours.
- Remove jam from dehydrator liners when it's slightly softer than you want the finished preserve to be. It will thicken more in the refrigerator.
💭 FAQ
Dried rosella petals won't work with this recipe. They will have an unpleasant texture. However, dried rosella, also called Jamaica roselle, makes excellent Ginger Bug Sodas and brewed beverages for iced tea and cocktails.
Frozen calyces are just fine for making jam. Freeze them whole, thaw and then remove the seeds and chop them according to the recipe instructions.
The basic recipe makes one cup of jam and can be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled.
Yes, absolutely. The great thing about this dehydrator method is you can adjust sugar to your own taste and still have a beautifully thickened jam. If you use less sugar than the recipe instructions give, make note that the jam may have a shorter shelf life than three months.
🥄 More sweet jams and sauces
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📖 Recipe
Strawberry Rosella Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups sliced strawberries
- ½ cup chopped rosella calyces
- 1 cup organic raw sugar
Equipment
- 1 Dehydrator Liner Sheet
- 1 Dehydrator
Instructions
Blend fruit with sugar
- Place strawberries, rosella, and sugar in a blender. Pulse on low speed until combined. Blend until uniform but still flecked with darker color from small pieces of roselle.
Dehydrate jam
- Place a fruit roll-up liner or non-stick sheet made to fit your dehydrator on the drying tray.
- Pour the mixture onto the liner and spread evenly.
- Dehydrate at 135 degrees. Stir every hour or so and let the jam thicken to desired consistency. I usually let mine go for about 4 hours.
Store
- Transfer thickened jam to jars. Refrigerate and keep for up to 6 months. Strawberry Rosella Jam can also be frozen for up to 9 months.
Notes
- Use the ripest strawberries you can find.
- Use fresh or frozen rosella calyces.
- Slice strawberries and chop rosella fine.
- Dehydrate at a low temperature, no higher than 135 degrees, to preserve color and flavor.
- Stir jam every hour or so to lift moister areas to the surface.
- Take note that dehydrators vary, and jam will be ready anywhere from 2 to 5 hours.
- Remove jam from dehydrator liners when it's slightly softer than you want the finished preserve to be. It will thicken more in the refrigerator.
- Refrigerator - Up to 6 months.
- Freezer - For 9 months.
- Note - Sugar is a natural preservative. Jam made with less sugar won't last as long in the refrigerator. Jam made without sugar should be treated as fresh food and consumed in a week. It can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
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