Jing Orange Okra
Did you know okra is sometimes called lady’s fingers? I’ve never heard it called that myself, but I read that okra is indeed called lady’s fingers in other parts of the world.
The okra plant is part of the mallow family and is prized for those long slender seed pods that sprout along its length. Okra is easily planted directly in the garden in a sunny location in warm temperate regions of the world. Many folks soak their seeds in water or milk overnight before planting. We rarely remember to presoak them.
As you might imagine, okra grows especially well in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The plant can reach towering heights of over six foot tall. The pods are preceded by beautiful blooms which are reminiscent of hibiscus blooms.
Pap taught me to trim okra plants as they grow in the following manner.
Once a pod is ready to be harvested, cut the pod as well as the leaf growing directly below it. Pap said cutting off the leaves along with the harvested pods encouraged the plant to produce more blooms and therefore more pods. I haven’t read any scientific data to back up this method of pruning, but it has always worked well for my family.
Okra can be prepared in a variety of ways.
Many people associate okra with gumbo. The vegetable is delicious in other soups and stews too. Granny always added okra to her canned soup mix each summer so that we could enjoy it in the cold winter months.
Probably the other most popular way to consume okra is fried. Fried okra is definitely a staple on the Appalachian kitchen table. Granny shared two good tips with me concerning fried okra. The first is to use a cast-iron pan the second is to finish the okra in the oven. The oven cooking ensures each piece of okra is done without burning a few along the way or leaving pieces on the soggy side.
Okra is among the favorite things to pickle in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and many people find grilled or roasted okra to be especially good.
It can be preserved for later use by freezing, pickling, or canning. Okra can also be dried in a dehydrator with a few spices to make a tasty crunchy healthy treat.
Turns out the vegetable is not only pleasing to the palette but is also very healthy for the body. Okra is rich in vitamins A, B, C, E, and K. The pods are also high in fiber and contain calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.
Okra is said to be good for digestion because of mucilage and fiber and is even said to be good for vision due to its antioxidant traits.
Most folks are familiar with the green varieties of okra, but we’ve been growing a red variety called Jing Orange for years. It has great taste and is very prolific for us. Interestingly, the red disappears once you cook it.
We haven’t had our first mess of okra this year, but I’m hoping we get it soon!
Last night’s video: The BEST Chocolate Pound Cake & A Dying Mixer.
Tipper
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I love okra but have never seen the red. My mama always dipped hers in flour instead of cornmeal so I prefer it that way and fry in a single layer.
I have only eaten okra in soup made with a bag of frozen vegetables from the grocery store that happened to have okra in them…so I don’t really know what it tastes like. My parents never grew it and neither did anyone else I have ever known. I never see it in grocery stores here either. All the recipes everyone has presented today sound delicious, because I am a person who normally likes all vegetables. The chocolate pound cake in your video last evening had me craving a big slice. The grandbabies and I need to try making it real soon.
Never heard it called lady fingers but it sure is delicious in a good pot of field peas, gumbo, or fried. Sending my wishes for y’all many blessings today
I just love love love okra!!! Nothing better than standing in the garden, cut it then eat it. Sometimes I would have just a few left to boil…there is something about slimy okra that sends me over the moon!! Gee, fried can’t be beat….never had enough to can or freeze. No one in this house can’t stand it…which is fine with me….that means more for me!!
Have a great weekend coming up!!
While both are wonderful for you, red okra is a bit healthier due to its higher antioxidant content which gives it that beautiful deep red color! It’s interesting it turns green upon heating it, just like our purple asparagus does.
I have never heard okree called lady fingers. A few days ago, Greg has this posted on a Hoss Company newsletter, “the north has kraut, the south has fried okra, I think we (south) won. What is Tipper try to do to us, green beans, ham and potatoes yesterday, today fried okra, I would hurt myself to have a meal with both of them For a good laugh, look up Jerry Clower’s story about their two hound dogs fighting after giving them slick, slimy boiled okra to eat. It went down one dog’s throat so fast, he thought the other dog had ate all of it and jumped on him. Only one dog knew what they were fighting about.
As a girl, my mom would buy canned vegetable soup and I would love it when she served it because my favorite pieces to quickly pick out was the Okra, – I loved Okra! It was many years later that I found out the name of those delicious little tid-bits. I don’t see them sold in stores out here where I live on the west coast of Canada, nor does my organic farm that I shop at grow it, and we never grew it ourselves either – not sure why, other than maybe it doesn’t do well here. 🙁
We grow Clemson Spineless and Jing Orange. I’ve always pruned my okrie once it starts producing. Seems to make it really take off and flourish all summer and fall. I’ve never dehydrated it, but think I’ll give it a whirl and see if we like it. Thank you for sharing
Okra is one vegetable I have never grown, and I don’t particularly like it because of its slimy texture. However, I might try to add a bit of vinegar like Tamela’s grandma used to do and eat more for its health benefits. I learn something new every time I read this post. The only time I eat okra is when I go to Capt’n D’s, where I replace the fries with okra.
I don’t trim off the lower leaves until they start to turn yaller when they will come right off. If I leave them on the stem they tend to grow suckers right in the joint like tomatoes do. Those suckers will bloom and produce better okry that what is growing at the top of the main stem. The pods that grow 8 feet up tend to be knotty and curled. My okry looks like trees, the stems grow as big as my arm. I ain’t tried Jing Orange yet but every other variety I’ve tried has grown like that.
I didn’t plant any okry this year due to health issues. Next year maybe I’ll try Jing Orange.
Okry is my favorite flower although it lasts only a day!
Likely have posted this long ago, don’t recall, but growing up in southern Kentucky between 1953 and 1973 nobody grew okra. I don’t remember when nor how I first got acquainted with it but it was most likely during my ramblings around the Tennessee Valley 1975-76. Anyway, I grow it now and have for 20+ years wth varying success. I have had problems with cold set, deer destruction and too much shade, each in different years. But I have had some good years to. I have a second planting in the ground that has not come up yet, my first time to do a second planting – we’ll see. I planted according to your “Planting by the Signs” for July post. and Clemson’s “Planting Guide” chart. As Randy mentions, Clemson Spineless is the seed I can reliably find and is all I’ve ever grown. Two other things about okra; (1) pull up the plants before frost because they are a slimy mess after being frost killed and (2) fire ants like okra and will make a home in the pods then defend them vigorously so watch out.
Ron you are absolutely right about the fire ants, if it gets real dry they will be all over the okra pods. I have also had them get in my ears of corn.
Tipper, I Loved learning more about Okra today!! But hey, did you forget we are calling “Okree” up here in the north now since we been helping our favorite doll to the “Celebrate Appalachia”!! thought you get a little laugh at that!!! xoxo Esme
Hi Tipper and Acorns. TY for the Chocolate cake video. So sorry about your mixer. Losing a long-used appliance is sometimes akin to losing a friend. I hope the new one lasts as long and works as well. I love Okra and the blooms are gorgeous. Look on Southern Living, Mama T Speaks and Mollys Homemade Guide and find some good Pickled okra salad recipes. I love freezing okra whole to cook with later. I keep everyone here, Papaw Tony and his family and everyone up Wilson Holler in my prayers. Please remember ED and me in yours. That last ER doctor he saw was sent by GOD thru our prayers as was his new Primary care doctor and the staff at Ballad Health that come to our home to help out. TY so much for blessing us in your prayers. Praise GOD in all HE does. May HIS will be ours and may we ever be grateful in everything.
I enjoy okra prepared in all the ways you mentioned. I also enjoy it raw. In dry weather you can tell if you need to water it by biting into a raw pod. If it’s not crunchy it needed water yesterday. When I’m “grazing in the garden” and sample a pod of hot pepper that leaves the burn too long I eat a couple of okra pods to overcome it.
Jackie, your comment about okra and hot pepper. I teased my Mother until she died about doing this to me. When I was less than 10 years old, we had went to visit my aunt. She had made a big pot of vegetable soup for our dinner, there was a pod of something I didn’t recognize in my bowl, when I asked Mother what is was, without looking, she said it was a pod of okra, so I bit down on it, Mother had lied to me, it was a pod of hot pepper and it set my mouth on fire.
My favorite way to prepare okra is roasting it in the oven. It can be left whole, sliced lengthwise or cut into pieces. Coat the okra with oil, I used olive oil. Season it with desired seasonings like garlic powder, salt and pepper. I used a foil-lined sheet pan and baked it in a hot oven, 425-450 for 20-25 minutes. I was surprised at how good it was and how similar it was to fried okra without the breading. I have also done this same preparation in an open foil pack on the grill.
One of the ways my grandmother prepared it was boiled in a stewpot, whole or sliced, with or without chopped onions and fresh or canned tomatoes. She would also add a little vinegar to eliminate the sliminess.
We planted Jing Orange for the past 2 years on your recommendation. This year it has done very well. I fry my okra a different way now. First, I smash the whole pod to flatten it a bit. It does break it apart, but if you trust the process, the results are great. I soak the smashed pods in buttermilk then dredge them in a cornmeal mix with a bit of rice flour (or use corn starch) and salt & pepper. They’re so much easier to fry this way and I doubt I will ever go back to cutting it up.
Thanks! I’m gonna try this method.
Okra is to me, as shrimp was to Bubba in Forest Gump. From fresh off the plant to anything you can dream up in the kitchen, I love it. And yes… the red/crimson varieties and fun to grow. My personal experience has been that it will grow longer lengthwise and remain more tender, less woody, than other green varieties I’ve tried.
I love crispy fried okra that has been breaded in cornmeal. I think Clemson Splinless is the most popular variety in my area. I have also planted a variety named Cowhorn. I bought some of the Jing orange or red okra seed one time but for some reason did not get it planted. Around here, deer love okra as much if not better than I do and they don’t wait until it is fried! Now with my arthritis and deer I am no longer able to have and work a garden and just buy some things from a local produce stand that sells produce they have grown.
Mr. Randy, I know we don’t know each other, but I want you to know that I think of you often and pray for you. I hope you are doing well.
Annie, I appreciate your concern and prays for me. I went for yearly blood work last month and was told all the numbers were real good, except for my kidneys showing some signs of dehydration. He made a few changes in my medicines and I am drinking more Gatorade to go along with water- I have already dranked a lot of water. It seems to be helping. I went today to have lab work done to see if it helped, I will find out next week. The arthritis does not get any better, I have been a teetotaler all my life but some days I wish I had some of Granny Clampet’s rumitise medicine (Beverly Hillbillies.) I would be tempted to try it. I don’t think my mental condition (depression) after my wife’s death will ever get better, I miss her so bad. BTW, forget about the mister, I am just plain ole Randy. My maternal grandmothers name was Annie.
Hey Randy, Did you ask your doctor about taking Allopurinol?