1 oz. (28 grams) Hibiscus Flowers Whole (Hibiscus sabdariffa) Uses Source of a red beverage known as jamaica in Mexico (said to contain citric acid and salts, serving as a diuretic). Calyx, called karkade in Switzerland, a name not too different from the Arabic. Karkade is used in jams, jellies, sauces, and wines. In the West indies and elsewhere in the Tropics the fleshy calyces are used fresh for making roselle wine, jelly, syrup, gelatin, refreshing beverages, pudding, and cakes, and dried roselle is used for tea, jelly, marmalade, ices, ice-cream, sherbets, butter, pies, sauces, tarts, and other desserts. Calyces are used in the West Indies to color and flavor rum. Tender leaves and stalks are eaten as salad and as a pot-herb and are used for seasoning curries. Seeds have been used as an aphrodisiac coffee substitute. Fruits are edible (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). Perry cites one study showing roselle's usefulness in arteriosclerosis and as an intestinal antiseptic (Perry, 1980). Roselle is cultivated primarily for the bast fiber obtained from the stems. The fiber strands, up to 1.5 m long, are used for cordage and as a substitute for jute in the manufacture of burlap.