09/30/2026
It’s so cute how Roselle, aka Jamaican Sorrel, aka Florida Cranberry is having its moment as an “it” plant for subtropical growers. I have championed this plant since give or take 2010– it’s gorgeous. It’s easy. Pollinators love it. It’s a nutritional powerhouse- the leaves, blooms and calyxes.
But for real. However adorable their 1 quart bowl of b***y photos are?
I’ve been harvesting since 7am. It’s a cut and come plant. You have to harvest as the calyxes are ripe- it’s not a one and done situation.
I’m at TWO full 5 gallon buckets for a combined weight of 39 pounds. That’s my first harvest.
That’s 3 hours of careful, delicate work.
Now there is from 11am-4pm, actually processing each “flower” to remove the petals for drying.
It’s all cute when hobbiests show you their little bowl of pretty stuff.
But if you want to buy a bag of Jamaican Sorrel? Organic. Hand grown. Hand harvested. Never a machine in the mix?
Save the sticker shock face. Instead? Be happy some farmer somewhere in the subtropics did all of this hard work- chemical free, and appreciate not how many hours- but how many MONTHS of hours of repeat effort went into that ounce of dried deliciousness in your hand at checkout. Please? Pretty please?
“I can buy this on Amazon for $5.”
Sure. You can. And if your bar is that low for quality and chemical free assurance? Go for it.
But for those who care? About small business? Quality? Handling? Reputation? $5 doesn’t even begin to cover the electricity to pump the water, never mind what it actually takes to produce that 1 ounce bag in your hand.
You have CHOICES.
We know consumers will not always choose us. We wish more would. We work very hard. And our ethics are rock solid.
Just like you traded minutes of your life to earn the money you shop with? We spent ours giving you something amazing to buy.
May we all be careful where we spend those life minutes turned into printed paper money. Remember what they represent. Time. Your life. And you cannot buy that back. Spend that life force wisely.