Rosella is grown at Annapurna as a rainfed crop from August (depending on the southwest summer monsoon) to harvest in late November. The whole fruits are plucked when they are tender, fleshy, and deep red. The calyx lobes (outer layer) are separated and used fresh to process into Jams and syrups, while seeds are collected for the next season’s plantation and also milled in with the dairy animal’s grain concentrate due to its high protein content.
This year we sowed Roselle late in September (irrigated for the germination) as there was no trace of a good summer monsoon. However, we already have some early harvest coming in from last year’s (August 2021) rosella plot. Later last season rosella harvest, the plot was rotated into fodder sorghum and leguminous Phaslous Tribola (pilli pisaru) for dairy under the irrigated condition where rosella germinated back from the residual seeds. while most of it was plowed in to prepare for the next crop, a few lines were maintained to harvest the fruits earlier than regular November.
Currently, this early harvest is being processed into rosella jams and syrup for flavored yogurt.
