When I saw a beautiful okra seedling reaching for the sky in a photo one of my AeroGardening Forum buddies had posted, I started digging for information on this plant and serendipitously also found a seed packet on sale for 10-cents at a store just down the street.
Why okra? I'm looking for heat-tolerant fast-growing edible plants, and to my amazement, internet research convinced me that young okra leaves are indeed edible. Here they are less than a week from planting:
And here they are two weeks old:
Those primary leaves are ready for the taste test!
In truth, I really did not expect them to be so delicious. So far, I have tried them lightly sauteed with eggs and butter, and also raw, wrapped around flavored cheese cubes. Either way, I find them a bit tastier than spinach, and quite palatable.
Here is a close-up of a three-week old stem showing the bead saps that develop on this by now well-munched plant:
Atop this, much like an umbrella, there are still lovely 3-inch wide leaves that look almost exactly like those on our summer squash.
Already, little leaves are getting ready to grow out from the stems I munched on. In a few days they will be huge, and the top of the plant will be ready to snip back.
Without pruning, these fast-growing seedlings will get too tall and leggy.
The sap beads are really quite interesting and if a comparison to
orchids would be meaningful here, they apparently are an indication
that the plant is healthy. If anyone knows more about this phenomenon,
I'd love to hear more about it.
Next time I am buying the spineless variety, because although those
sharp looking things in this detail are soft and furry now, something
tells me they could become quite prickly down the road a piece.
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