Jing Orange Okra
ROASTED OKRA
For folks who can never get past the “slimy” feel of stewed okra or those who want an alternative to the fried version of this dandy vegetable, roasting can be the way to go. Here’s a delightfully different way to enjoy it.
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 pounds okra—the smaller the pods, the better—for larger ones, cut into 1-inch lengths
Salt to taste
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking pan. Combine olive oil with balsamic vinegar in a large bowl. Add the okra to the bowl and toss until lightly coated. Arrange in a single layer on the baking pan. Roast, shaking or stirring every five minutes for 10 to 15 minutes or until the okra is nicely browned.
JC
—Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food written by Jim Casada and Tipper Pressley
We always grow okra, but we haven’t enjoyed it near as much this year.
Back at the beginning of the summer when we planted it I couldn’t find our favorite okra seed to plant. I know I’ve got a ton of it saved from years past but I still haven’t found where I put it.
Jing Orange is our favorite to grow. The pods are lovely, tasty, and don’t get as tough as some of the other varieties.
Our favorite way to eat okra is to fry it, but it’s also good roasted as well as cooked in soups and stews.
If you’ve heard me talk about okra you’ve certainly heard me say okree. That’s the way Pap and Granny said the word when I was growing up. In other words that’s how I learned to say it.
I’ve had a lot of folks tell me their elder family members said okree too.
You can find mine and Jim’s cookbook here.
Last night’s video: Digging Taters and Cleaning Off The Big Garden.
Tipper
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I like oakree roasted, boiled, pickled, in soup, and my favorite-fried. I’ve even took to eating pods raw as I cut them off the stalk.
My former neighbor said okree too.
I’ve never had roasted okra, but it sure sounds good!
I have to try this. It sounds wonderful. I would like to wish you and Matt a Happy Anniversary and may the Lord bless you both with many more blessings!
Jing Orange okra seeds can be found at True Leaf Market
https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/okra-planting-seed?msclkid=ed93f282b81a18406b4b944e4cd322e5&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=S%20-%20Seeds%20-%20Vegetable%20-%20MC&utm_term=jing%20orange%20okra%20seeds&utm_content=Okra%20Seeds
I also enjoy roasting okree! The wonderful thing is you can use a variety of spices to change the taste. My family likes simple olive oil, salt, pepper. I have friends who like lemon pepper or Cajun seasoning.
Okree. It is by far my favourite veggie. I’ve been called out a few times of the way I pronounce it. I’m proud of my Appalachian upbringing!
Dear Friends, If I haven’t ask y’all, I’d like to ask for prayers for our 48 YO daughter, who has recently suffered a massive stroke. She’s now in the rehab in the hospital. She’s having a rough time with this, which we can understand. Thank y’all for taking the time to do this for her. Also if you could include our family, her brother, nephew, niece and 3 Great-grandnephew’s. God bless y’all for giving me this time to ask. Especially Miss Tipper and the Blind Pig and the Acorn. Now Okree, okra, or whatever you call it, however you prefer it, I’d eat it. I like to eat fried okree with sliced fresh tomatoes. OMG! My mouth waters thinking about it. I hated okree growing up, can’t imagine why but daddy loved it. When I became an adult and married I fried some up and as we soon found out it is so good. My husband and I like it boiled, always put a bit of lemon juice, vinegar or any acid. That can cut the icky, gooey stuff. A favorite way I fix it, stewed with onions, okree and tomato, seasoned with bacon or butter, a scosh amount of sugar, salt and pepper. The tomatoes are either fresh or small diced in a can. I sometimes add fresh corn too. It’s good with rice, fried taters or mashed potato’s as a side. I love y’all and ask God to bless y’all today, tomorrow and always. Thank you. HAPPY AND HAPPIEST ANNIVERSARY EVER TO YOU AND MATT TOO MISS TIPPER. Always your friend, ♥️Jennifer
Jennifer-I will continue to pray for her and the rest. Thank you!!
I love okra, all the ways but I am interested in trying it roasted. I also would like to try the type you have but when I read about starting vegetables from seeds I get very overwhelmed. It sounds like a lot of work and might not turn out any way. I’ve never been a gardener but now that I’m retired, I am branching out some. I enjoy your videos and your blog, Tipper. I bought your cook book last year. 🙂
My Grandma said “okree” and always had some on the table with meals. As a child, I did not like it, but as I got older I did. She grew it in her garden. With my Grandpa she moved to Central Calif. in 1940, but she kept her southern accent and ways. My dad was born on the way in Colorado. He was baby number six. She was a strong woman.
Ain’t nothing as good as a big pan of fried okree!
Nothings better than a mess of fried okra and I’ll certainly be on the look out for Jing Orange for planting the abundant crop we’re going to have next year!
Everyone have a great day! God is good..pray for Israel and our country.
Randy, you reminded me of a time years ago when my husband and I attended some kind of social function where they served crackers with some kind of spread I don’t remember. What I do remember was the topping which I told him looked like okra. He knew but didn’t tell me it was a slice of hot pepper and I found out the hard way it wasn’t okra! He had fun teasing me about that for years!
Tipper, I’m going to have to try your recipe. I am not good at frying okra and do not like it boiled. This sounds delicious. Since I no longer garden I’ll have to find some okra to try.
Love fried okra but roasting sounds good too. I’ll have to give that a try.
I don’t know very much about okra, but that red okra is certainly pretty in its rich red hue and interesting attractive shape! Your recipe sounds good indeed. Murr gets balsamic vinegar and rice vinegar for his salads ( he eats a lot of weird salad stuff) and it stinks up the fridge. Lol He said he would like to try your okra recipe so I guess we will see. At 56, I’ll be heading to the kitchen and plumb forget why I’m going in there. At my age I don’t just lose seed, Tipper, I lose many things and forget where I’m headed or what I’m looking for. As we age, the brain mass shrinks, blood vessels shrink and it’s like the rest of an aging body—-ain’t for the faint hearted… lol I see it’s strictly down the tubes from here but it’s ok cause I intend to enjoy forgetting. It may be a relief…
I have roasted okra before but the recipe called for splitting the pods down the middle lengthways. It was pretty crispy and very tasty. I will try it whole, with the addition of the balsamic vinegar in the future. We looked for your Jing Orange seeds in the spring and never found them. The variety we planted is reddish colored and produced ok for how dry it’s been but the pods were tough as often as they were tender. But I ordered Jing Orange okra along with Good Mother Stallard beans, Freckles lettuce, Muncher cucumbers and Tromboncino zucchini and 6 other vegetables from Thresh Seed Co. in Iowa do I feel ready for Spring 2025 and trying again!
What does balsamic vinegar taste like? Would it make the okry taste like pickles?
My okra was a near-complete bust this year. Planted the first – too cold; inter planted – too dry. Got about knee high and I might have picked six pods with some too hard. Never tried roasted but sounds interesting. Still say Cracker Barrel should use y’alls cookbook.
Okree – Okra Folks who aren’t from around here love it when I say okree. My Granny told us that her husband (who was Scottish) pronounced it “O-kray” which over time, became okree. One of the things about cooking okra she taught us is that if you don’t want fried, you put it in some kind of acidic dish like tomatoes. Vinegar cuts the slime too. I’m partial to gumbo with its tomatoes, okra, rice and shrimp. That was always a Christmas treat at our house when we could get our hands on shrimp. To this day, shrimp is the one non-Appalachian food I’m partial to.
I need to try this new recipe. Thank you. I really enjoyed watching you and Matt harvesting your potatoes, cleaning off the garden, and sharing knowledge and stories last evening. It is getting closer to my favorite season of all and cooler weather. I actually love all the seasons, but Fall just puts me in a good mood every day. I love the colors and the temperatures. Have a great day everyone.
never see no red okra, God bless Granny Wilson, been killing yellow jackets, a very large hole, near the edge of the road where I walk everyday for my exercise, left the back porch light on last night, big yellow hornets coming to the light, cut the light off, shut the door, they started coming to the kitchen window they can see the light, had to close the blind and turn the light off, I’m terrified of them things, God bless you friends have a great day
I wanted to plant the Jing Orange. but I couldn’t find it either. I did plant another kind of okra, though. I have found that I can grow okra well and plant it every year. I put some in cornmeal and put in my freezer to have on a cold, snowy day. As my mom would have said, it’s better than eating snowballs.
The Pressley family may not be my biological family, but you are my family by heart. I have to have my daily fix. lol
I like Okra covered in cornmeal and fried in butter. Nothing better, slimy or not, I love them!
I have never tried roasted okra or boiled, but love it when battered in cornmeal and fried. I always remember when I was a kid and we were visiting my aunt, she had a pot of vegetable soup. I had a pod of something in my bowl of soup, when I ask my Mother what it was, she said okra, she lied to me, it was a pod of hot pepper and set my mouth on fire. I always teased Mother about lying to me.
I usually plant Clemson Spineless but have also planted cow horn. The deer love both varieties!
Tipper, our favorite seed store closed down last year after many years of providing the absolute best seeds and plants anywhere. We used a different source of getting seeds this year and I am sad to say that our okra crop was aweful. New seeds and no rain took out our okra and green beans. Hopefully next year will be better for all gardens. Love your show and your family and I love celebrating Appalachia with you.
Jeanette, I am lucky in have a store near me that buys their seed in bulk and will sell you the amount that you want. I have never bought any bad seed from them. An example of his price 1/2 lb rutabaga seed $4. Buying from him sure is a lot cheaper than buying this small packs of seed from these online seed companies.
Hoss tools has an online website that sells seed, they usually have the jing orange okra seeds along with other varieties.
I want to thank you & Jim for including this in the book. I’d never heard of anyone roasting it before- only fried or boiled. I’ve made it many times, albeit a little differently than this recipe, and I have enjoyed it very much.