Sowing Seeds and Spilling Beans: Harvesting Okra

Featured Image: Okra plants in the Cheekwood GROWS Garden.

Okra fruits emerging on the plant.

Hello readers!

My name is Natasha, and I’m the Garden Educator at Cheekwood. My work here involves managing a raised bed vegetable garden (the Cheekwood GROWS Garden) and leading educational programming in this space. I’m excited to be starting this monthly blog series, in which I hope to explore cultivated edible plants and our relationships with them in Middle Tennessee.

As summer begins to wind down, I have been thinking a lot about okra (Abelmoschus esculentus). A member of the mallow family (Malvaceae), hibiscus, cotton, and cacao are among its relatives. With its vigorous growth habit and ephemeral, red-tinged flowers, okra is a joyful plant. It thrives in heat, tolerates poor soil, and rarely faces significant pest or disease issues. The flowers only bloom for a single day, after which they quietly fall off the plant to reveal tiny fruits emerging behind them. Okra stands tall and strong with no staking necessary and will produce an abundance of these tasty fruits that can be prepared and eaten in countless ways – provided you catch them before they turn woody and tough, a change that will occur before you know it (i.e., in 4-5 days)!

Okra has ancient origins. The plant was first collected from the wild and cultivated over 3,000 years ago in the Abyssinian center of origin – a region encompassing present-day Ethiopia and parts of Somalia, known as an ancient agricultural hotspot. Wheat, sorghum, broad beans, and coffee are other significant crops now grown around the world that can be traced back to this biodiverse center of origin.

From there, okra spread around the world. It is an important ingredient in cuisines throughout the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and West Africa. It was enslaved Africans who brought okra – along with thousands of years of agricultural and culinary tradition –  to North America as a means of cultural preservation and survival. They grew the plant as a food crop in the American South, where it thrived in the rich soils and heat just as it did in its place of origin. Okra quickly became a staple of Southern cuisine and important food crop of the African diaspora.

Distinct okra recipes developed across the South in response to diverse cultural influences, from Creole gumbo in Louisiana to the okra and tomato stew of the Gullah Geechee people along the Southern Atlantic coast. Something that all okra recipes contend with in one way or another is one of its unique botanical features: the slime it secretes when cut open. The scientific term for this gelatinous substance is mucilage, and it acts as a lubricant to help okra plants efficiently transport and utilize water – a definite advantage in hot weather.

In gumbo, the slime acts as a thickener, giving the dish its signature mouthfeel. Pickling okra achieves the opposite effect, as the acidity from the brine cuts the gooeyness of the slime. Fried okra lands somewhere between these two; exterior crunch and interior slime balance each other out. I am a fan of all three, and welcome okra’s unusual mouthfeel as something truly unique among the vegetables widely available in this country.

Okra flower up-close.

As mentioned earlier, okra has a short harvest window and is best picked when the pods are about 3 inches long. I, however, have forgetful gardening tendencies and collected pods of all sizes this growing season. The slightly larger pods are still delicious but benefit from a longer cooking time; I like to halve them lengthwise and roast them in the oven. The very large pods contain jumbo white seeds – these can be removed and gently toasted in a pan with seasonings of your choice for a tasty snack! Okra is also perfectly edible, and in fact very delicious, freshly picked off the plant. It has a wonderful crunch that tends to fade during cooking.

If you hope to save okra seeds for the following year, leave a few pods on your plant to grow huge and dry out. Towards the end of the summer, the ridges on these pods will become more pronounced and the green color will fade to white in between these ridges. At this point, you can harvest the pods, split them lengthwise, and remove the seeds within. You’ll know that they’re ready to save because they’ll have turned from a pearly white to a deep, green-tinged black. Since okra flowers are self-pollinating (both male and female parts exist in a single flower), the seeds you collect should produce the same variety you grew originally. Happy gardening!

Okra fruit that has dried out on the plant.

Okra seeds collected from dried-out pods.

Quick Fridge-Pickled Okra

Makes one 16-ounce jar

Ingredients

• 8 oz fresh okra (10-15 pods, depending on size)
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 fresh chile, split lengthwise, or 1-2 tsp dried chile flakes
• 1 sprig fresh basil
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1.5 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 0.5 cup water

Instructions

1. Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Simmer on the stovetop until sugar and salt have dissolved completely.
2. In a clean, 16 oz mason jar, add okra, garlic, chile, basil, mustard seeds, and peppercorns.
3. Pour heated brine over the vegetables and seasonings to fill the jar.
4. Let the jar come to room temperature, then seal and refrigerate for at least 48 hours.
5. Enjoy!