I've not seen a discussion about okra. I happen to love okra. If you have grown okra please add to the discussion with the varieties you grow, how you prepare the seeds for planting and how you cook your okra. If you save okra seed please share how you saved the seed and if you have developed any "crosses" that you found interesting.

I'll start......

I started growing okra about 20 years ago in a backyard garden. The type I grew was Emerald - which is smooth, round and spineless. The Emerald pods tend to get woody at about 4 inches. I was introduced to Louisiana Green Velvet the following year and stuck with it until I stopped gardening 5-6 years later (work schedule). LGV could grow to 6 inches and still be tender enough to eat.

When I began to garden again I added Clemson Spinless to the mix and only grew it one year - still do not like CS to this day. I discovered Baker Creek Heirloom seeds and began to grow Burmese okra - great okra but did not stay tender after 4-5 inches. Grew Cowhorn varieties for 2 years with great success - taste was good - size of pods was huge. I then returned to the smooth podded okra 2 years ago with Stewart's Zeebest (Baker Creek) and WOW!! This okra grows to 7-9 inches for me with NO loss of tenderness and is quite prolific. The pods are skinny. My plants are widely spaced because I like my plants to branch. Zeebest gets about 8 feet tall in my raised bed garden. Zeebest slows production in late October here in Central Virginia and stops completely by first frost. 2011 is the first year I saved any okra seeds.

I soak my okra seeds for 2 days before planting -- warm water changed 2X per day. Usually do not sow inside but did this year (2012) because I got late start.

I fry okra whole, steam, boil and use in seafood gumbo.

Okra I've grown + rating (5 great -- 1 never again)

Emerald 4
LGV 5
Burmese 5
Burgundy 2
Clemson 1
Zeebest 5+
Cowhorn 4

Cheers,
DL

I first came to know okra as these amazing little fried disks I could buy at the cafeteria in the basement of the Vetran's Administration Building. Not having a deep fryer at home, I've never replicatd those, but I do like okra fried, sauteed, steamed with salt, pickled, or put in a pot with corn, cowpeas, onion, salt pork, and a little red pepper. I actually like it a lot, for a Northern girl. :)

Just one of each last year - hard to get enough to a recipe. This time, 2 of each - so hopefully this will work to be a perfect amount...

The reason I don't like Clemson Spineless is because it did not produce well for me - not prolific enough. The pods got woody after growing only 2-3 inches long -- most of the pods over 2 inches were not edible. I was not really happy with the flavor either. To my way of thinking the only perk in growing CS is the "Spineless" claim. I just wear gloves when harvesting my okra.

DL

I never thought about stuffing okra with seafood. I can't wait for my okra to fruit this year and I already have some shrimp and lump crab in the freezer. Do you have any recipes for stuffed okra?? If so please share.

DL

Cajun Fried Stuffed Okra

20 fresh young okra, sliced in half lengthwise and seeded
1 quart oil for deep frying

STUFFING:

1 cup corn flour
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
2 tsp salt
2 large eggs beaten
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup crabmeat, carefully picked free of shells

DREDGE:

2 cups corn flour
1tsp salt
Ground cayenne pepper to taste

DRENCH:

1 large egg beaten
1/2 cup white wine
Salt to taste
Louisiana Hot Sauce to taste

In a large mixing bowl, make the stuffing by mixing the corn flour, bread crumbs, onion and garlic powder, pepper,parsley and salt.

In a smaller bowl mix eggs and wine then pour into the flour mixture.

Add crabmeat and mix well.

Refrigerate for two hours or unti stiff and the stuff the okra halves and pat down to make firm.

Mix the corn flour salt and pepper in flat pan to make a dredge.

Make a drench by combining the egg, wine, salt and hotsauce in a small bowl.

Preheat oil to 375. Put one okra at a time into the drench and then roll in the dredge, making sure to coat all sides. Fry in batches for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Drain in paper towels and serve immediately.

Notation : I make these and freeze them to take out and fry as I need them.

Dancinglemons (or Farmerdill), I'm curious, what makes Green Velvet better than Cowhorn? Flavor, size, texture? Thanks!

I think the reason that most people don't like CS is because they want bigger pods and they don't want pick it every day. It grows very fast, so you have to pick it! If it is almost ready, pick it or go out early the next day! My Dad used to pick it twice a day.

I have grown CS and other different variety's at the same time. I had almost twice as much CS daily than the other variety's.

It is the perfect size for pickling. I pickle, fry with no batter, boil, microwave, and add it to homemade veggie soup. I pick really small pods and put it in salads.

It stores very good, I found a bag in the freezer that was 2 years old and it was still great!

Actually, okra has been frequently and enthusiastically discussed here. A search of the forum yields 194 hits. Many of us love okra.

But I will not discourage more okra discussions. Please continue.

Jum

Cowhorn and Emerald get my high votes. For the last 3 years I've only planted Emerald due to it's compact stature. I believe Cowhorn is a bit more productive than Emerald. However, at the end of the season, the Cowhorn plants were about 10 or so feet tall. I keep telling myself to plant both and/or maybe also try something different. But I always seem to go back with Emerald.

Regarding the cooking process... both Emerald & Cowhorn taste great. But if frying the okra, I find that the velvety okra does a slightly better job of holding on to the corn flour.

MAMCKEE that recipe sounds amazing! I can't wait to start harvesting some okra and eating them stuffed and fried.

This year I am trying out Lee, Green Fingers, and Jambalaya. All are described as dwarf, compact varieties. Have any of you tried these?

To produce a seed crop:
When the plants produce edible pods of okra, harvest the okra for the first 3 weeks, then stop harvesting and let the plants set a seed crop. If done properly, these steps will bring the plants to an optimum maturity to produce a heavy seed crop.

Re an okra that is nematode tolerant and will grow in Florida conditions, the only one I know of is African which Sandhill sells. It originated from a stand that had "gone native" beside a woman's house in central Florida. It is the most ornamental tropical looking variety of okra I have grown. I would caution that it is also the most spiny variety of okra that I have grown so be prepared!

DarJones

jimster,
Somehow the gremlins keep messing up my searches. Thanks for the info :-)

DarJones,
Thanks for that info about Sand Hill okra seeds - will have to try them in 2013.

sunnibel7,
I like Lo Green Velvet better than Cowhorn (but not by much) because of how long the pods get and the flavor.

For those who have not harvested okra - some types are more spiny than others. I always wear long sleeves and gloves when I pick okra (yes even when 100 degrees).

DL

The plant can set larger pods, but it seems to slow down production the more it hangs onto pods compared to other some other okras I've seen.

It also tends to naturally branch way less, especially when crowded.

It's one of those varieties that's awesome for mass production in rows, but there might be better options for the home gardener if they can put up with a spiny okra.

I grow it, myself, because I like the vertical mostly-non-branching nature of C.Spineless. I wish I had more time to pick the pods before they went tough/woody or slowed down the plants, though I grow a small enough amount to monitor it well. Tradeoffs...

Cowhorn - This is the tenderest most nearly spineless okra I grow. It is highly productive and very good fried. It is too tender to make good pickled okra.

African - I got this from another Gardenweb member about 7 years ago and he had gotten it from the woman in Florida who had it growing wild beside her house. It is a highly ornamental okra and good fried. It will produce over a very long season but is about 1 or 2 weeks behind most okras in producing the first pods when planted as seed. As noted above, it is very spiny. I am growing it this year for seed to send to Sandhill so they can offer it next year.

I've grown Evertender and thought it to be a pretty good okra, but one trait I did not like was that the stems are very thin and flexible. It leans over in a strong wind. Otherwise, it is a good frying okra but a bit skinny for stuffing.

I grew Longhorn for a couple of years. It is extremely productive, but a bit spiny. It is good fried and stuffed and boiled but not so good pickled.

I am growing White Velvet this year. No idea what to expect, but I hope to get a seed crop.

DarJones

Without getting all technical, because it's all "to-taste" anyway...

Tomatoes (chopped well), okra, peppers (sweet and/or hot), onions, summer squash/zukes, and some sweet corn all cut up + stewed together with some fresh herbs.

The okra "slime" (flavorless) thickens things up with the tomato enough to eat it all with a fork, though it's not exactly paste-thick. The "green pod" has it's usual taste, and the seeds are very soft + sweet...so sweet that I usually take it easy with the sweet corn because not all of them stay within the pods while cooking.

I had about 12 plants and cut okra daily, keeping the pod size around 3 inches and they were perfect in texture. 12 plants gave us enough for a small serving of grilled okra for 2 people several times a week or a larger pot of stewed okra once a week. We enjoy it grilled (coat with olive oil, salt and pepper and throw it on the grill until tender) but I also love it stewed Cajun style . . . this basically means you cook it to death and the flavor and texture is out of this world good!

I'm growing more CS this year but I also have a bunch of Cow Horn okra since they seem to be more productive and you can grow bigger pods that are still tender. The Cow Horn okra took longer to germinate but they're coming along while the CS has it's first flowers today.

Our weather has been wacky (who's hasn't?). Hot March, chilly rainy April and May and June have been fickle. When the 90� temps returned briefly in May I saw a big burst of growth and then it cooled off a little so they've slowed again. It's nice for us but I'm ready for the Okra to really get going!

DarJones

I'm growing Clemson Spineless, it is true these pods do grow fast. I only have 4 plants so I don't see it becoming a problem to get and keep it all harvested.

Burmese: thin, long, light whitish color pods, tender for several days, very thin walled, have picked them at 6-9 inches and still very edible. Branching plant, long lenky branches.

Cowhorn: Looks and feels pretty much like burmese except the shape is curved like a cow horn.

Clemson Spineless: much thicker pods compared to above two, thick walled, dark green, one pod of this will weigh twice as much as other two here. So, same number of pods give more produce. True: if i miss it one day, it doubles in size in one day and is no longer edible. I have picked some as much as 6" long that are still edible. The plant does not branch much however I happened to cut the growing top of one plant off accidentally and that did cause braching but still not as much as other two. This plant needs less space that the other two.

My Dad always insisted that we plant 2 rows, 150' long. By the time you got to the end of the rows it was almost time to pick the okra on the end you started on! LOL

A lot was wasted because it got to hard, it was easy to miss some with that many plants.

I think the CS makes better pickled okra since it grows so fast. It is tenderer, crispier, and holds it's texture better while pickling IMHO.

Not quit the same as a cucumber, you don't feel it right away. They are tiny little spines.

Clemson Spineless is spineless, hence the name.

However, depending on each persons sensitivity it will make some people itch anyway. I sometimes itch between my fingers after cutting it, sometimes not.

My sister-in-law can look at it and start itching!

Happy to see folks talking okra! One of my very favorite veggies!! I'm still not a fan of Clemson because I like my okra long and smooth. I've got my seeds for Stewart's Zeebest ready to plant this season. I was able to source a tiny bit of Louisiana Green Velvet after years of not locating seed so will plant a few plants of that also.

Good harvest to all in 2013!!

Cheers,
DL

The okra variety Granny Franklin was sourced from Franklin County about 7 miles south and a bit west of Phil Campbell.

I have Jing Orange on the schedule to grow this year. I also need to renew my supply of Cowhorn so have to figure out where to slip in a short row.

DarJones

According to Naylor's Hardware, LA Green Velvet & Emerald are close to the same. Supposedly, Emerald grows a bit shorter. So they are recommending Emerald in it's place. I have not tried LA Green Velvet so no personal experience on the comparison - but, shorter for me is a positive attribute.

In any case, my Emerald is planted and sprouted.