For those of us that live and garden in the south, you know what brutal summers we can have. The temps will hover around 99 degrees this week with no relief in sight. By this time of year I’ve abandoned my spring veggie garden and eagerly awaiting that first breeze of cool autumn air.
My tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and squash are long gone, but my okra is still thriving. Okra is a tough flowering plant in the mallow family, native of Africa and thrives in hot conditions, so it does very well in the south. It is among the most heat- and drought-tolerant vegetable species in the world and will tolerate soils with heavy clay and intermittent moisture but frost can damage the pods – no worries here!
Okra plants can also be used for ornamental plantings in the flower garden. The red-leafed okra varieties, such as ‘Red Velvet’, ‘Royal Burgundy’ and others, are especially attractive as focal points or backdrops in flower borders.
This year I grew three varieties for the veggie garden; Clemson Spineless, Emerald and Louisiana Long Pod.
Ok. See the picture below? Don’t let the okra pods get that big – you won’t be able to cut them with a Samurai sword! (It’s 99 degrees out – I got lazy!) Really, the pods are hard and fibrous – you just can’t eat them, but you can dry the pods and use the seeds next year. Off to the compost pile they go.
This is more like it! Pickled okra with dill seeds, jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers and garlic.
I’ll give you a recipe on my favorite way to eat okra. I don’t really measure ingredients on this one, but I’ll get as close as I can!
Smothered Okra & Tomatoes
2 slices bacon – fried and crumbled – retain bacon drippings
about 4 or 5 cups sliced okra (it will cook down)
1 onion (red, white, yellow – doesn’t matter)
8 ounce can stewed or diced tomatoes or 2-3 fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Salt & Pepper
While the bacon drippings are still hot, throw in the chopped onion along with the okra. This needs to cook for a pretty long time (stirring often so that it doesn’t burn) to get the okra soft and cook the slime out. I like to brown my okra for more flavor.
After the slime has cooked out and the okra is somewhat brown you will need to add the can of tomatoes. If you are using fresh tomatoes, then you will need to add water. Add brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and let this simmer until there is no runny liquid. Now, make yourself a pan of cornbread and ENJOY!