FOUND SOME SORREL LEAVES ( JAMAICAN ROSE MEDICINAL PLANT ) IN BELIZE

WELL I FINALLY GOT A BAG OF SORREL FLOWER LEAVES, A MEDICINAL PLANT, IN THE LOCAL, MACAL RIVER MARKET, OUT WEST HERE.   The bag of dried Sorrel flower leaves cost me $15 bz.  Fair sized bag and I use about 3or 4 leaves in my tea.  I tried it alone, but didn't like the taste.  So make my regular morning and evening 2 cup sized TEA CUP, I HAVE, with a regular tea bag, then add 3 or 4 dried Sorrel leaves ( they call it Jamaican Rose, here and in Mexico ). Add honey, a spoonful of condensed milk, a dash of cinammon spice in powder and a dash of fresh yellow ginger spice.  Figure that will keep this 75 year old fart healthy.
  The stall seller in the market.  First stall on the right, as you enter the market from the intersection told me she gets it from Guatemala.  From that tidbit of information, I presume JAMAICAN ROSE, medicinal dried flowers are not produced by anybody in Belize?  SORREL is the name of the flower and it is of the hibiscus family. 
  I'm taking the Sorrel, or Jamaican rose, because Dr. Gordy told me my blood pressure was too high.  With sistolic pressure of 190, when it should be 140.  I've always had high blood pressure, so I regard that as normal.  Pills I will not take for it, but Sorrel dried flower leaves as a tea, is okay by me.  Can't hurt I wouldn't think?  I like the laxative aspects as well.  Wife needs it, must remember to tell her, it works on kidney stones, a recurring problem for her.
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Mary Susan Loan of Cristo Rey in the foothills of the Belize Alps wrote a very nice article on SORREL for the Ag Report magazine, a quarterly.  It is in the May-June Issue No. 17.  I believe it can be found online.

  Sorrel is rich in antioxidents, vitamins, has 18 out of 25 amino acids. Mild laxative, helpful for nervous disorders, and excellent for liver, bladder and kidney problems.  An excellent proven record of lowering blood pressure.  An immune booster ( as antioxidants for sure ), blood cleaner of dead cell accumulated garbage, fights cancer well.  All the parts of the SORREL plant are useful.

  Soon as I see some, we are going to start using it at home.  Usually sells for $2 bz a pound in season.

Comments:

Ray, sorrel is also called roselle, which is a form of hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffa) – it contains more vitamin C than oranges and is great for urinary tract infections.  It also inhibits the uptake of alcohol into your blood stream.  Plus, it tastes great – and if you put sugar in it, it makes a nice mixer for vodka or white rum.  I used to be able to buy a tea in Placencia that was a combination of rose hips and sorrel and if I felt a cold coming on, I would drink that tea straight for a couple of days and it would kick out the cold.  Unfortunately, I can’t find the tea anymore here – it was a staple for the last 14 years, and then all of a sudden it’s gone.

By the way, it’s also called Jamaica, wanjo in the Gambia, zobo in Nigeria, karkaday in Egypt, and the Sudan, and omutete in Namibia.