Everything about Okra totally explained
Okra (
American English: [ˈoʊkɹə],
British English [ˈəʊkɹə], [ˈɒkɹə]), also known as
lady's finger,
bhindi (
Hindustani) and
gumbo, is a
flowering plant in the
mallow family (along with such species as
cotton and
cocoa) valued for its edible green fruits. Its
scientific name is
Abelmoschus esculentus.
The species is an
annual or
perennial, growing to 2 m tall. The
leaves are 10–20 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with 5–7 lobes. The
flowers are 4–8 cm diameter, with five white to yellow petals, often with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal. The
fruit is a capsule up to 18 cm long, containing numerous
seeds.
Etymology, origin and distribution
Okra is occasionally referred to by an early, now incorrect
synonym,
Hibiscus esculentus L. The name "okra" is of
West African origin and is cognate with "" in
Igbo, a language spoken in
Nigeria. In various
Bantu languages, okra is called "kingombo" or a variant thereof, and this is the origin of its name in
Portuguese,
Spanish,
Dutch and
French. The
Arabic "" is the basis of the names in the
Middle East, the
Balkans,
Turkey,
Greece,
North Africa and
Russia . In
Southern Asia, its name is usually a variant of "bhindi" or "vendi".
The species apparently originated in the
Ethiopian Highlands, though the manner of distribution from there's undocumented. The
Egyptians and
Moors of the 12th and 13th centuries used the
Arab word for the plant, suggesting that it had come from the east. The plant may thus have been taken across the
Red Sea or the
Bab-el-Mandeb strait to the
Arabian Peninsula, rather than north across the
Sahara. One of the earliest accounts is by a Spanish Moor who visited Egypt in 1216, who described the plant under cultivation by the locals who ate the tender, young pods with
meal.
From Arabia, the plant spread around the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea and eastward. The lack of a word for okra in the ancient languages of
India suggests that it arrived there in the Common Era. The plant was introduced to the
Americas by ships plying the
Atlantic slave trade by 1658, when its presence was recorded in
Brazil. It was further documented in
Suriname in 1686. Okra may have been introduced to the southeastern
North America in the early 18th century and gradually spread. It was being grown as far north as
Philadelphia by 1748, while
Thomas Jefferson noted that it was well established in
Virginia by 1781. It was commonplace throughout the southern
United States by 1800 and the first mention of different
cultivars was in 1806. and other parts of the eastern
Mediterranean, okra is widely used in a thick stew made with vegetables and meat. In
Indian cooking, it's sauteed or added to gravy-based preparations and is very popular in South India. In Caribbean islands okra is cooked up and eaten as soup, often with fish. In
Haiti it's use in rice and maiz and also with meat for sauce. It became a popular vegetable in
Japanese cuisine toward the end of the 20th century, served with
soy sauce and
katsuobushi or as
tempura. It is used as a thickening agent in
gumbo. Breaded, deep fried okra is served in the southern United States. The immature pods may also be pickled.
Okra leaves may be cooked in a similar manner as the greens of
beets or
dandelions. The leaves are also eaten raw in salads. Okra seeds may be roasted and ground to form a non-caffeinated substitute for
coffee.
Okra forms part of several regional 'signature' dishes.
Frango com quiabo (chicken with okra) is a
Brazilian dish that's especially famous in the region of
Minas Gerais.
Gumbo, a hearty stew whose key ingredient is okra, is found throughout the
Gulf Coast of the United States. The word "gumbo" is based on the
Central Bantu word for okra, "kigombo", via the Caribbean Spanish "guingambó" or "quimbombó". The oil content of the seed is quite high at about 40%. Oil yields from okra crops are also high. At 794 kg/ha, the yield was exceeded only by that of
sunflower oil in one trial.
Unspecified parts of the plant reportedly possess
diuretic properties.
Cultivation
Abelmoschus esculentus is among the most heat- and drought-tolerant vegetable species in the world. It will tolerate poor
soils with heavy
clay and intermittent moisture. Severe frost can damage the pods.
It is an annual crop in the southern United States.
In cultivation, the seeds are soaked overnight prior to planting to a depth of 1-2 cm.
Germination occurs between six days (soaked seeds) and three weeks. Seedlings require ample water. The seed pods rapidly become fibrous and woody and must be harvested within a week of the fruit being pollinated to be edible.
Further Information
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