Okra??

[Wannabefree]

I can only handle it fried or in soups, but I may try it dehydrated too since I haven't tasted it like that yet. I can't even stand the thought of eating it raw...the texture would not suit me at all. I'll try almost anything....almost.

 

[CrealCritter]

I should have okra tomorrow - I have a 50 row so I should at least get something

 

[frustratedearthmother]

You should definitely get something!!

 

[Wannabefree]

If it's anything like mine you best take a 5 gallon bucket...I need to go cut some okra today myself.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I'm another okra fan! YUM! But you do need to stay on top of it. It only takes 4 days from flowering to picking. Once the pods get over about 3 1/2 inches long, they're about too big. And if you're out picking, you need a sharp knife and hopefully long sleeves and gloves because the plants can really irritate the skin. We've had all we want with only 6 plants (but I wasn't trying to freeze any this year). If you keep up with them, they'll keep producing for months. My chickens enjoy the ones that get too big. I love them in gumbo, and if course, fried. Fried okra is a great finger food. If you haven't tried them before, then I'd make sure you let a southern cook introduce them to you the first time when they're done wrong, they're really truly awful.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

In case you haven't seen okra pods before, here are some with some peppers I picked... I was in Memphis yesterday, and had to have my okra "fix" so I had gumbo with a side if fried okra. Sooo good!

 

[milkmansdaughter]

 

[baymule]

Monday we bought another half bushel of okra, i put it up Tuesday. Our neighbor Robert was over yesterday lamenting that his wife won't put anything up, so I told him why didn't he do it himself? I said I'd teach him. DH called our favorite produce stand guy and he said he'd have a half bushel for Robert this morning.

We went to Walmart yesterday evening and found corn for 10 cents an ear! We bought 60 ears for us and 20 for Robert. So not only did he get okra lessons today, he learned how to make cream corn. I got started at 6:30 AM and had our corn put up by the time Robert got here. I had shucked and washed his corn, so i showed him how to blanch it, cut it off the cob and scrape it. While he cut corn, i washed his okra. Then we made 8 pints of pickled okra. We cut okra and i showed him how I oven blanched it. He left with 6 bags of cream corn, 8 pints of pickled okra and 15 bags of 2 cups each of cut okra, ready for the freezer. We never quit, took a break or stopped. Snicker, snicker.......I worked his A$$ off...' Now he has more than a faint idea of how preserving the garden produce really works.

 

[CrealCritter]

<singing on> we've only just begun, to pick the okra. <singing off>

First few

Into the cornmeal you go

Into the frypan

Just a touch of salt - so good... This will put a big smile on a southern man's face, right here and right now!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]