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["SISU!" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Maybe I'm late on this one-wouldn't surprise me, but as a true
Southerner, I have always loved fried okra.  I don't usually fry it
myself as I don't eat too much that is fried, but I do make it once or
twice a year.  I hate boiled okra...yuk....
In the past, I have also sliced and dried okra, then tossed a handful of
sliced okra into soups and such for added vegetable nutrition and
thickening, but generally, before this year, I had only eaten okra
fried.  I was missing out, and if you are like I was, you are missing
out, too.
This year, I tried a new variety, Lee, and planted about 20 plants, 12
of which are still producing and haven't been demolished by the chickens
or ants.  It was just enough, so I thought, for a couple of batches of
fried okra and a bit to dry.  A few weeks back, I brought in a mess of
okra that wasn't enough to fry, and I decided to try to can one jar of
pickled okra.  I had never tried it before, but I do like pickles.  I
used the Ball Blue book recipe for pickled okra with a hot pepper and a
clove of garlic in a salt brine and made just the one jar.  Needless to
say, I now love pickled okra and will be planting okra to pickle next
year.  Today, I picked a few more pods of okra and brought them in the
house.  As they sat on the counter, I started making a sandwich for
lunch and the okra just called to me.  I bravely ate a pod raw.  WOW.
If you have never tried raw okra, you have missed out.  It is now my
favorite way of eating it....I like raw okra better than fried okra, and
I am sure it is better for me that way.  So I just wanted to post this
to mainly all you other Southerners who may not have tried either of
these two ways of eating okra.  It is so easy to grow, so prolific, and
now so easy to prepare...In years past, I haven't included okra every
year in the garden plan, but that will be changing.  I just read that it
is high in fiber, Vit A and potassium, too, among other nutritional
attributes.
I found a couple of new recipes to try while I was looking for the
nutritional info and now I can't wait until tomorrow to pick more okra
since I ate the entire mess I picked this morning.

Bev
--
Bevanron in NW Georgia          EarthNSky Farm  34.498N 85.076W
SISU! (Finnish--There is no single word in English that encompasses
all that sisu means, but it combines the following ideas: guts, pep,
determination, stubbornness, perseverance, hardiness, stamina, go, do,
nerve, spunk, pluck, and grit.  It's like "Just Do It!" & "Go for It!")
                                GO NAVY!