farm crops: okra
info: Okra is a flowering plant that produces slender, seed-laden fruits. It has a delicate flavor and soft texture. A good source of vitamins A & C, along with magnesium, potassium and calcium.storage: Wrap unwashed pods in loose paper towels & refriegrate. They will keep for 2-3 days.
preparation: Wash fruits well in cold water & pat dry. Trim the stems & stem ends.
Okra can be sliced thin & eaten raw in salads. You can also boil, fry, steam, braise, or saute okra. Add it to soups where it will act as a natural thickener.
recipes: history:
from Okra: Origin & distribution
The species apparently originated in the Ethiopian Highlands, though the manner of distribution from there is undocumented. The Egyptians and Moors of the 12th and 13th centuries used the Arab word for the plant, suggesting that it had come from the east. The plant may thus have been taken across the Red Sea or the Bab-el-Mandeb strait to the Arabian Peninsula, rather than north across the Sahara. One of the earliest accounts is by a Spanish Moor who visited Egypt in 1216, who described the plant under cultivation by the locals who ate the tender, young pods with meal.
From Arabia, the plant spread around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and eastward. The lack of a word for okra in the ancient languages of India suggests that it arrived there in the Common Era. The plant was introduced to the Americas by ships plying the Atlantic slave trade by 1658, when its presence was recorded in Brazil. ...read more