Okra: Uses

In America the use of okra is one of the characteristics of creole cookery and cajun food. Sliced pods give a thick, glutinous texture to the famous ‘gumbo soups’, often referred to as simply ‘gumbos’. filé, a powder made from sassafras, may be used to add more gumminess. Okra itself can be dried and powdered to serve as a thickening agent.

Okra is only moderately popular in Europe, although it is eaten in the south of France and in Spain, and in other regions where it grows well and where N. African culinary influences appear. It is used much more extensively in the Middle East and India, as a vegetable. The gummy texture, which those who dislike it regard as slimy, was mitigated in Egypt in medieval times by cooking okra with meal. Modern methods include steeping the pods in acidulated water before cooking, and frying them even if they are later to be cooked in water. Care is taken not to break the pods and thus release the mucilaginous substance within. However, whatever one does, okra remains slippery, unless the pods have first been thoroughly dried. In India the dried, shrunken pods are cut into short sections and these are then fried and drained, after which they have the appearance of small croutons and taste quite different from okra in its usual forms.