A beloved Jamaican Christmas tradition may be in jeopardy this year as sorrel crops, severely damaged by Hurricane Melissa, are expected to yield drastically low supplies for the holiday season.

The warning comes from farmers in the northeastern parish of St Mary who are grappling with the aftermath of the Category 5 storm.

The deep red, fleshy calyx of the Roselle plant, boiled to create a sweet, gingery, wine-hued drink is often a non-negotiable part of the Jamaican Christmas celebration. But this Yuletide might see the beverage missing from many tables.

Sorrel farmer Dave Evans of the community of Richmond said his crops got a “beating” in the storm, putting a damper on his supplies for the holidays.

“For the season, mi will go up to 9,000 pounds [of sorrel]…but since the hurricane, like those higher ones on the hills, we lose them because you can’t go push up back sorrel trees and kotch them up…We have to call it a loss,” Evans shared with Observer Online.

He explained that Melissa exacerbated supply challenges as pre-existing leaf diseases had already affected sorrel yields.

“It prevents it from produce more. When it a grow, it pretty, and from it start fruit, then is like it determine seh it nah produce no more. One time we used to have three months sorrel weh you start reap from November go right back to February,” he continued.

The farmer said the relentless rains before and after Melissa have been devastating to the younger sorrel plants, the ones meant to ripen just in time for the festive season.

“We’ve been getting rain. From last year, the hurricane [Beryl], we’ve been losing crops inside south-east St Mary and the higher hills of St Catherine and higher hills of St Andrew, Portland too. [So] for the Christmas crop now, most likely, we probably don’t get it because if the rain continues the same way, they’re going to beat off,” Evans explained.

He estimates Jamaica may end up with “about 10 per cent of the sorrel… if so much”.

And with scarcity comes soaring prices. Sorrel normally sells for about $500 per pound throughout the year but Evans predicts that this Christmas, it could spike up to $1,500 per pound.

Further uphill in Richmond, Comisha Campbell-Clunis is doing her best to salvage her remaining crops. She sowed over 3,500 sorrel plants in July this year anticipating that they would bear in time for the season. However, she estimates only 1,500 survived.

“These varieties, we call them the Rasta sorrel. It was in a pretty good shape before the hurricane but the hurricane left us in a bit of bother,” she said, adding that her team is “trying to see what is it that we can get out of the remaining crops that we have.”

Campbell-Clunis said another field with younger crops was flooded out in the storm and “they just rotten up.”

“So this is all that I have left. It take a lot of work for me to get them back to where they are right now because some, they broke down, bent over, they might start to have a little bit of water soak on their leaves. It’s a bit of a challenge but we are still trying,” she continued.

Campbell-Clunis, who has been farming for four years, also cultivates carrots, pumpkins, dasheen, cocoa, and corn, but she said those crops have also been impacted by the disaster.

In Leinster, veteran farmer Junior Williams, with almost 30 years’ experience planting sorrel, emphasised the resilience of the “original Jamaican berry” variety.

“These are stronger sorrel for the Jamaica hurricane weather, breeze or rain. I keep up to this breed of sorrel. When the hurricane blow, dem lie down on the ground and get up and stand up again. If you help them, even better, but if you don’t help, dem get up. They may not get up straight but they still get up. These are the only ones I plant because I can rely on them,” he explained.

He is advising other farmers to plant the hardy variety.

“Nuh stop plant the early berries but these, you can rely on them. You can see the hurricane a pass through and you see nuff a dem, dem still stand up,” Williams said.

But Williams, who plants sorrel for the surrounding district and supplies suckers for the berries throughout the year, did not survive the hurricane unscathed.

“[The hurricane] blew down bananas and a couple of sorrel, it leaned them down, some of them touched ground, bend them down, break up the breadfruit tree, mostly bananas still,” the farmer shared.

For Christmas, he estimates he will have “about 70 something pounds or so” of sorrel for market sale.

“Is just a what lef thing, mi haffi look how dem bear because dem get wring up and all kinda thing but dem start fi bear,” he said.

Zion Hill farmer Lincoln Rose, who manages 10 to 15 acres of mixed crops, including coconut, June plum, pepper, and sorrel, said the storm brought heavy financial losses.

“The further you go, the more damage,” Rose said, “We can make all $300,000, $400,000 off sorrel [but] we nah go able to supply none.”

His half-acre sorrel plot was just beginning to bear when Melissa struck. Now, the plants are stunted and wilted.

“We have to go replant back everything for next year. We nah go reap nuh crop really for this year to sell, only might the cane dem now, if we get a buyer…but we nah go have no cash crop to sell,” Rose added.

Attempts to reach the Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green were unsuccessful, but across the sector, the story is the same: fields flattened and the uncertainty over what will be available for the festive season.

Farmers are propping up plants, nursing soaked roots and salvaging what they can, but for many Jamaicans, this Christmas may not be what they are used to. And for shoppers hoping to steep their sorrel, spice it with ginger, sweeten it with sugar, and spike it with wine, this holiday may come at a cost.

Dave Evans predicts that sorrel prices this Christmas could spike to between $1,200 and $1,500 per pound. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

Comisha Campbell Clunis displays what remains of her sorrel farm after it suffered a massive hit from Hurricane Melissa. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

Veteran farmer Junior Williams. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

Junior Williams props up his sorrel plants after Hurricane Melissa left many of them flattened. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

A ripe sorrel plant stands ready for reaping. (Photo: Gavin Jones)

A young sorrel plant begins to bear its first buds, which remain vulnerable to being beaten off by persistent rainfall at this stage of growth. (Photo: Gavin Jones)