Okra is tasty Southern food delicacy; try some

Okra is a much-maligned Southern food. Tom and Barbara Womack, owners of Homestead Hill Farm near Middlebrook, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley, say:

“Okra is one of those things you either love or you hate. There are few who have tried it who feel truly ambivalent about it. Since okra is a member of the mallow family, there is a mucilaginous quality of which to be aware.”

In the Carolinas, where okra is considered to be a fine Southern delicacy, okra is naturally and wholesomely “slippery or slick.”

 

Southern cooks know that okra’s mucilage, “a compound of sugars and proteins in the plant, is what makes okra a great thickening agent for dishes like gumbo and succotash” as well as okra stews, said Paige Burns of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension office in Rockingham, N.C.

Two late, great Southern writers added to the mystique of okra. One was poet and novelist James Dickey, a native of Atlanta, who once remarked: “If God had made anything better (than okra), He’d have kept it for Himself.”

Columnist and storyteller Julia Reed of Greenville, Miss., joked: “So few people eat okra that it never even makes it onto the lists of Top 10 hated foods.”

Okra thrives in the southern U.S. climate, soaking up heat and humidity. Burns said that “okra is a cousin of ornamental hibiscus, cotton and cocoa.”

Some say okra is a fruit, while others maintain okra is a vegetable. Sarah Toney (shown below), co-owner of Free Range Farm near Fayetteville, W.Va., in the New River Gorge, said scientists consider okra to be a fruit, but chefs call it a vegetable.

“In the culinary world, okra is described as a vegetable,” Toney said. “Chefs use a less scientific criteria to classify fruits and vegetables, one that is based on sweetness and sugar content.”

“Fruits have a more delicate flavor. They have a softer texture and are sweet or tart in taste. Vegetables are harder, with a somewhat bitter taste. They are used in savory dishes and soups,” Toney said.

“Okra is delicious and has a lot of nutritional value. Okra is rich in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, folate and thiamine. It is also low in calories, has next to no fat and is a good source of antioxidants, so no matter if you think okra is a fruit or a vegetable, keep on eating it and keep on growing it,” she advised.

Writing for Food & Wine, Kat Kinsman (shown below) recently offered 17 okra dishes that deserve consideration. “Okra is a marvelously versatile vegetable that is beloved in cooking cultures from Ethiopia to Bombay to Tokyo to New Orleans and everywhere in between,” she said.

 

Consider “Okra Mac and Cheese with Andouille Sausage,” prepared by New Orleans chef Kevin Belton. He “layers flavor upon glorious flavor in his Creole seasoned, andouille studded, mac and cheese that tastes and feels like a glorious marriage with gumbo,” Kinsman said.

 

Pitmaster Griffin Bufkin of Southern Soul BBQ in St. Simons Island, Ga., “offers serious Southern comfort in the form of a hearty, smoky brisket and okra soup, bolstered by legumes and rich egg noodles. Fresh beans, field peas, corn and okra offer a bright taste of the summer season,” Kinsman said.

“Carolina Fish, Shrimp and Okra Stew with Black Rice” is a signature dish of restaurateur and opera singer Alexander Smalls (shown below), who graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

 

His dish is a “Lowcountry-style stew with catfish, shrimp, a quick shrimp broth, black rice and plenty of okra,” Kinsman said.