HEALTH BENEFITS OF ZOBO (ROSELLE OR HIBISCUS)

Scientific Name(s): Hibiscus sabdariffa L. Family: Malvaceae (mallows)

Common Name(s):The roselle is known as the rosella or rosella fruit in Australia. It is also known as 'Belchanda' among Nepalese, Tengamora among Assamese and "mwitha" among Bodo tribals.

In Assam, চুকর Chukor in Bengali, Gongura in Telugu, Pundi in Kannada, Ambadi in Marathi, LalChatni or Kutrum in Mithila] Mathipuli in Kerala, chinbaung in Burma, กระเจี๊ยบแดง KraJiabDaeng in Thailand, ສົ້ມ ພໍດີ som phor dee in Lao PDR, bissap in Senegal, Guinea Bssau, Mali, BurkinaFaso, Ghana, Benin and Niger, Réunion, the Congo and France, dah or dah bleni in other parts of Mali, wonjo in the Gambia, zobo in western Nigeria (the Yorubas in Nigeria call the white variety Isapa (pronounced Ishapa)), Zoborodo in Northern Nigeria,  Chaye-Torosh in Iran,karkade (كركديه; Arabic pronunciation: [ˈkarkade]) in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, omutete in Namibia, sorrel in the Caribbean and in Latin America, Flor de Jamaica in Mexico, Saril in Panama, grosella in Paraguay and vinagreira, caruru-azedo or quiabo-roxo in Brazil. Rosela in Indonesia,asam belanda in Malaysia. In Chinese it is 洛神花 (Luo Shen Hua) . In Zambia the plant is called lumanda in ciBemba, katolo in kiKaonde, or wusi inchiLunda.

Zobo has a unique taste that makes it pleasurable to all classes of people. In Nigeria and Senegal, Zobo is served cold, while it’s served warm in Egypt. It is a sharp tasting herbal infusion taken as tea or juice. The flower is also used in making wine, juice, tea and spices. It can also be used in preparing raw salad. Serve chilled with snacks.

Roselle is Neither a Fruit nor a Flower

It’s easy to mistake roselle for a juice in tropical countries because it’s commonly sold streetside and in food courts alongside fresh pineapple, orange, lemon and coconut juices. In Southeast Asian convenience stories, roselle is among the single-serving bottles and juice boxes. It also turns up, as a sherbet, in expensive ice-cream shops. But hibiscus tea has been consumed as a soothing evening tea for centuries in Egypt and elsewhere in the Near East. It probably first made a splash in the prettily-packaged US tea market as an ingredient in Celestial Seasoning's Red Zinger tea back in the 1970s.

Botanically speaking, it's Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (family Malvaceae) and it’s the bushy H. sabdariffa var. sabdariffa that produces the edible products. 

The edible parts used to make “juice” or tea (actually, an infusion) look like reddish dried-up buds. In fact, they’re not flowers but calyces. It’s the calyx, the red, fleshy covering enclosing the flower’s seed pod, which is used for flavoring, cooking and food coloring. The flower of this variety of sabdariffa is yellow, white or light pink.

Roselle(Hibiscus) has been used in folk medicine as a diuretic and mild laxative, as well as in treating cancer and cardiac and nerve diseases. Although information is limited, the potential for hibiscus use in treating hypertension and cancer, as well as for its lipid-lowering and renal effects, are being investigated.

Although roselle is being studied, it hasn’t yet been proven to have the healing powers of bael fruit. It is high in calcium, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin C and iron, as seen on this Purdue University page. And the beverages have no caffeine. In East Africa, "Sudan tea" is consumed as medicine to cure coughs. In Guatamala, roselle is believed to cure hangovers. In Senegal, a roselle extract is said to lower blood pressure. In India, Africa and Central America, infusions made from roselle calyces or seeds are prescribed as a diuretic, to stimulate bile production and to treat fever.

Ingredients
2 cups dried hibiscus flowers
5 cups water
½ bunch pineapple
2 tbs vanilla extract
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ tbs grated ginger

Preparations
Lightly rinse the hibiscus flowers in cold water.
Wash the pineapple and peel the skin (though some prefer to cook it with the skin). Slice and set aside.
Add the water in a pot and bring to a boiling point. As soon as it starts boiling, add the rinsed flowers, ginger and pineapple.
Cover and boil for 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow cooling for 5 minutes.
Using a large bowl, put a paper towel inside a sieve, then drain the mixture (be sure flowers don’t go inside the bowl, and if possibly sieve).
Pour the drained mixture into a pitcher. Add additional water if desired and vanilla extract. Taste to gauge the level of sweetness before adding sugar.
Stir and refrigerate. Best served chilled.

Health Benefits Of Zobo Drink

1. Thirst

Hibiscus tea can be drunk hot or cold. As iced tea, the infusion is known to satiate thirst quite effectively. It is often recommended as an alternative to artificially made commercial "sport drinks" that are marketed to physically active individuals. Hibiscus tea's ability to cool the body is well documented by cultures that include it in their diet or medicinal practices. This benefit is probably associated with the diuretic properties of hibiscus, a property that helps in the excretion of excess fluids from the body.

2. High Blood Pressure

The antihypertensive properties of hibiscus tea were noted by a study in which 70 people were involved; half of them drank hibiscus tea once daily and the other half took 25 mg of antihypertensive medicine twice daily. After a month, 79 percent of the tea drinkers experienced a ten point reduction in blood pressure, 84 percent of the ones that took pharmaceutical medicine also experienced the same reduction in blood pressure. Hibiscus is an antioxidant. It has properties that prevents the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins; a substance in our blood that if increased beyond normal quantities may cause high blood pressure.

3. Weight Loss

Some tea drinkers use hibiscus tea to aid in weight loss. The body produces an enzyme known as amylase which functions to break down complex sugar and starch molecules in food. When a person consumes too much carbohydrate-rich food (full of sugar and starch) that individual is most likely going to gain weight. According to pubmed.gov, hibiscus contains a substance that can inhibit the production of amylase. A person regularly drinking hibiscus tea can thus prevent too much absorption of carbohydrates and consequently not gain excess weight.

4. Cough and Colds

According to the book "Healing Herbal Teas," fresh hibiscus flowers contain around 6.7 mg of ascorbic acid, a form of vitamin C, which is one of the more essential nutrients needed by the body. Along with this significantly beneficial substance, hibiscus is known to have anti-inflammatory and mild anti-bacterial properties. Thus hibiscus tea is often used as a supplement to help treat coughs and colds. Because of its cooling effect, it is especially effective in reducing the discomfort of fevers that may accompany such ailments.

5. Nutrition

Besides containing a significant amount of ascorbic acid, hibiscus is made of the following nutritional substances: 1.145 g of protein, 2.61 g of fat, 12.0 g of fiber, 1,263 mg of calcium, 273.2 mg of phosphorus, 8.98 mg of iron, 0.029 mg of carotene, 0.117 mg of thiamine, 0.277 mg of riboflavin and 3.765 m of niacin. Given all this, it can be said that hibiscus tea can serve as an excellent food supplement and an aid to boost the body's immune system.

 Extracts of the flower is alkaline in nature and has been known to have cleansing properties. It helps to keep the body’s pH balanced, (without white sugar).The extract is used fresh for making wine, juice, tea, spice and the likes. The flower has pectin that CAN make a firm jelly. It can also be used raw in salads. The red flower contains antioxidants including flavonoids. The flesh Hibiscus flower is also rich in riboflavin, Vitamin C, niacin, carotene, calcium, and iron which are all nutritionally necessary.