You can freeze okra by blanching it, shock cooling it and then cutting it up and freezing on a cookie tray seperate bits to throw in a bag together once frozen.
You can also roast it in the oven at 350 for about 1/2 an hour in olive oil and salt, then freeze it (without doing anything else to it). I use roasted okra on pizza, in soups and stews, on grilled sandwiches. It's really good!

I cut it up and bag it and freeze it. Try to use it in in a couple months. I use it in soups and also roll it in cornmeal and seasoning and panfry it. If you don't blanch it, it won't keep as nice for more than a couple of months. But I've never blanched it....LOL OOO, ggg, never used it on pizza!!!! In the freezer sometimes it gets pretty solid, just like french fries do, but I just poke a bit with a knife and break off what I want.

Oh, come on midnightsmum - you're following a 'diet' which stops you eating vegetables? We all know diets don't work. Ditch it and just enjoy your okra :-) I've just got back from Sri Lanka and the tastiest dish I had there was Okra curry.

You can get okra to grow in zone 4?!?! They told me up here in the 5/4 border that our growing season isn't long enough. I know zones are decided by winter temps and not summer seasons, though. How long is your growing season, as in when roughly are your last frosts in spring and first frosts in autumn?

Okra. I like it two ways: fried and in gumbo. Yummmm.....

You can definitely grow them in your zone if you start them out early. Midnightsmum is in a zone 4b borderline zone 5. I sometimes feel that since I am in a zone 5a,I can easily be in zone 4b too. it was a mild winter here too so spring came early. I am able to plant the okra seeds out as soon as the ground warms up. It flowers and fruits around this time. Okras are of the hibiscus family and you might note that they bloom around the same times as the rose of sharon (a distant relative). Another relative are the mallows.

Anyway, here's what you do if you feel the need to stretch the season, plant the seeds in decompostable pots in March, indoors. (like peatpots) Once it is ready to plant out, just loosen the pot a bit, remove the bottom if possible and plant it all in the ground. Okras hate to be transplanted so be careful about root disturbance.

Thanks, ianna! We'll be moving soon to zone 6a, which will be even more okra friendly. I'll remember your advice. Yea!

Somebody up here in northern New England asked me how to make gumbo. I said, "Well, first it's best made with okra to give it good consistency."

He said, "What's okra?"

Nancy, you want my mailing address? lol.

I make beef vegetable soup and add whole okra the last 30 or so minutes. If it is whole those who don't like it can easily pick it out.

One Christmas Daddy ask Mother if my sister collected cook books. After she answered yes, she said "let me rephrase that".
Frances collects cook books and Kathy uses them. So I got a cook book from Daddy.

In that book was how to brown beef bones for soup. I had never heard of that. Sure improves the taste.

Bake the bones @ 475 for 45 minutes, then turn them over and bake another 45 mins. Put the bones in a pot an cover with water. Boil them about 1 hour and strain the broth for your soup.

OOPS!!
I got my numbers wrong.
Bake @ 425 for 35 minutes turn over and bake another 35 minutes.

lol. You guys really are the best!! Flora, I can't have it right now cause I love it fried!! That having been said, my South Beach cookbook has fried green tomatoes in it, and I think I can do the okra the same way!! Yea! - the only problem is I like high fat sour cream. 8( Oh well.

Deanna, as Ianna say, yes we can!! My Stokes catalogue says if you can grow sweet corn, you can grow okra!! I got 'Annie Oakley', which had the shortest growing days. I did everything wrong - the seed was 2 years old(every one grew), I didn't soak it and it got planted in late May. I have maybe a dozen and a half plants, and they have been prolific (as has my jalapeno pepper plant). We are in a Stage 3 drought (or were) and I only got out to water once a week. The plants are quite a bit smaller than I imagined - only about 8" tall, but, as I said, prolific! The flowers are lovely!! Butter yellow, and like a hibiscus.

GGG - I love the pizza idea. As soon as I am allowed more carbs, I'm going to try that!!

Oh yes, and Flora, I am allowed LOTS of veggies, it's the 'acoutrement' that is forbidden - the battering, cornmeal, sour cream dips, etc. I'm trying not to tempt myself too much. I've just finished the 2-week kick-start, so had my first morsel of chocolate today. Oh yum. I'll pick up some peaches tomorrow, and that will be my fruit once a day. What can I say, it's working, I'm down a few pounds, and my belly-fat is (to me at least) going down. Carbs are my downfall.

Kathy, I'd gladly share with you for a lesson on beef soup - my MIL made great soup, and I'll bet she roasted her bones in the wood stove!!

Thanks again to All!!! Nancy.