Cannon County Farmers Market

As is true with a number of our less generally popular vegetables, many people fail to appreciate this one because they do not know how to use it. The first and commonest mistake that gardeners make is to let the pods become too old and tough before harvesting them. They grow very fast, and in hot weather will become unfit for use in less than a week from the time they start developing from the pollinated flower. The plants must be gone over at least every second day and the pods harvested when only three to five days old.

Important Crop in South

Okra is rarely used "straight" except when fried with meal, just a little of it usually being cooked with other vegetables or put into soups and stews. Okra alone is generally considered too "gooey," or mucilaginous, to suit American tastes. In recent years, however, it has become an important commercial crop in certain localities in the South, where thousands of tons of the pods are grown for the large soup companies.

Okra (PDF166 KB)