Gumamela as we locally call it and "Hibiscus" as called by many is an edible plant with distinctive flowers. There are many varieties of it and not all are good for eating. There is a report that it can induce liver damage if a wrong variety is consumed or consumed in large quantities. Well not all people will even try to cook Gumalela flowers and leaves, much less the other varieties of it because for one thing they are not aware that it can be eaten plus the fact that it is uncertain that a certain variety will not be fit for consumption. The leaves of hibiscus can also be consumed as an addition to some soups or perhaps can be made as an ingredient for a vegetable salad but keep in mind that it is mucilaginous like an okra pod and its young leaves.
It is easy which variety can be eaten and anyone can look it up in the Internet. The big variety which has a big flower is known to be eaten in the provinces and also the one that we as kids during my time as a child would pluck from it its mother shrub and we would use it to make a sticky and snotty solution combined with detergent soap. We would mash the flowers and combine it with soap with some water and make bubbles out of it using a string attached to a stick or even with out own fingers, well that was indeed fun to do for children if the happen to live near a hibiscus plant. Also, almost all varieties of it produces nectar which ants and other ant-like insects eat (or drink) and when I happen to walk or pass by our neighbor's house which has another variety of Hibiscus plant with its elongated flowers, I would pick a few and such its sweet and delicious nectar.
I might say that a hibiscus plant with its leaves and flowers are a kind of a "zombie apocalypse" type of food because it can be used to be an alternative source of food regardless that it might cause liver damage (if you happen to eat so much of it) because you know, if there are not much anything to be had when you are dead hungry, a shrub of hibiscus plant is like a ready-made salad for you to enjoy. But it is actually edible and can be used for many food and drink varieties like an addition to a soup, eaten raw or cooked, as an ingredient to a salad, an ingredient for a healthy smoothie drink and as a tea.
There are quite a lot of edible flowers out there and one of the most popular edibles flowers which most people eat was the pumpkin flowers which are not only beautiful to look at but is one attractive and exciting ingredient for a local fish and vegetable dosh we call as "Bulanglang". To make an original bulanglang dish, we have to broil some gutted and well-cleaned milkfish with scales intact in hot coals to impart it with smoky flavor and then set it aside. On a pot we put some rice washing which is made by collecting the water of the second washing of rice before the rice is cooked to make a cooked rice, then some onions is added, and then followed a ladle or two of fish sauce locally called as "bagoong-isda" or "bagoong Balayan" which is particularly made from fermenting anchovies which is not really the regular fish sauce with a refined golden or caramel-like color but the one which have a brownish color with reddish hue of color if it is freshly-made and has a distinct flavor profile among other types of fish bagoong.
The soup should taste quite salty but enough to enjoy sipping it from the bowl or using a spoon. Then the fish is added and then simmered for about fifteen minutes to give that pleasant roasted flavor to the soup. Then you can already put whatever leafy vegetables you like alone or those vegetables that are available for you to put in that are sourced locally like Jute leaves, moringa leaves, and young sweet potato leaves. Squash, okra, and eggplant is also added, even a raw papaya flesh. The dish is ready to eat when all the ingredients are cooked in which squash, eggplant, and or raw papaya pieces must be added first before the leafy vegetables to avoid overcooking the vegetable leaves. Don't forget about adding the squash flowers too. This fish and vegetable soup or dish is eaten with rice and is one of the most healthy dishes here in my country.