Giant Okra

15 years ago

So we came back having been out of town for a week, and the vegetable garden has gone wild! The cucumber vines are climbing up the okra and tomato cages, tons of tomatoes have appeared where I swear there were only a few meager blossoms before, and the okra... 10 - 12 inch pods are everywhere.

Can I do anything other than compost these Clemson spineless beasts? I do have a few smaller pods ( 2 - 6 inches) that I'm planning to cook up, but my understanding is that the larger ones are just too tough to digest. I do have a pressure cooker and so am tempted to try making the big ones palatable, but I thought I'd ask if anyone's already been-there-done-that before I try.

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Comments (3)

jqpublic
15 years ago
We save a few for seeds for next year and let them dry out. If they are too big I don't find them palatable, but maybe someone would like them?
nancyofnc
15 years ago
Only the compost digester would like your huge okra! That big and the only value would be to make rope out of them, so I was told. Pressure cooking them just makes tougher rope and you are not supposed to eat rope, you know.

Last summer my 50 okra plants produced many, many bushels of tiny tasty pods and, if I didn't pick TWICE a day, I had enough long tough hard pods to fill 2 cubic yards of my compost bin after a week (I do go on vacation occasionally to prove it). I measured one tiny beauty and in 24 hours it grew 1.25 inches, for example.

I make wonderful pickled okra, so I am told. I just grow them for others to enjoy since I am not Southern enough yet to enjoy okra any which way it is prepared.

Nancy the nancedar
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rootdiggernc
15 years ago
If you still have some (or you could let some get bigger) make some Santa okras! I've also seen angel, gnome and elf okras. There's a special paint that looks fluffy like snow which works great for the beards. They're pretty worked into wreaths and dried arrangements too.