Recipe: Roselle juice (Homemade "Ribena" drink)

The weather in KL recently has been super hot, and coupled with the haze, we find ourselves more vulnerable and easily falling sick. It is important to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as drinking lots of water to boost our immune system and keep ourselves healthy.

Roselle is high in vitamin C and anthocyanins. We managed to harvest a large amount of roselle calyx from our garden, so I made roselle juice for my kids once every couple of days - so happy!

I used to add caster sugar to sweeten the juice (and some honey later on), but I have recently switched to using rock sugar 冰糖 (which the Chinese believe to have medicinal properties), and the resulting roselle juice tastes just like Ribena. It is slightly sweeter than my other version (using caster sugar), however I have to say this tastes a lot nicer. It is important not to boil it for too long, or else the juice will taste quite concentrated and sour.

Please see this post for my roselle jam recipe.


Roselle juice (Homemade "Ribena" drink)
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Makes 2l

Ingredients
20 roselle calyx
80-100g rock sugar 冰糖
2l water



1. Firstly, peel the seed out of the calyx. You can just use your fingers but be careful as some parts of the seeds are prickly.

2. Place roselle and water in a large pot and boil over medium high heat for 15-20 minutes. The longer you boil it, the more concentrated the juice will taste.

3. Stir in sugar, to taste. Once dissolved, remove from heat.

4. Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in fridge and serve with lots of ice cubes.

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