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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Army veteran who tried to stop UCC shooter faces long recovery ... UPDATED: Names of UCC shooting victims released ... Thursday fire northeast of Sams Valley grew to 10 acres ... Army veteran who tried to stop UCC shooter faces long recovery ... UPDATED: Names of UCC shooting victims released ... Thursday fire northeast of Sams Valley grew to 10 acres ... Page Onorato: Invite the queen for dinner Comment By Page H. Onorato More Content Now MailTribune.com By Page H. Onorato More Content Now Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 8:09 AM Updated Sep 4, 2015 at 1:58 PM By Page H. Onorato More Content Now Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 8:09 AM Updated Sep 4, 2015 at 1:58 PM » Social News “Yuck,” I grouched. “Are we having stewed okra again tonight for supper?” “Young lady, you know better than to complain about your food. Okra is a perfectly good vegetable, and it’s good for you as well,” my mother reprimanded. It was late summer; the markets were overflowing with the pod, as were the gardens of neighbors happy to share the bounty. Okra was appearing on our menu three or four times a week, in various forms. Resigned to my fate at the dinner table, I muttered something about slimy lizards and why couldn’t it be fried as I slouched out of the kitchen. We still have okra often during its season, and oddly, it has made a major improvement in flavor and consistency since I was a child. I still love it fried, but in the light of the advice of health gurus everywhere, fried foods are to be avoided most of the time. It is great in soups and stews; it’s the soul of shrimp gumbo. We like it cooked with tomatoes and onions and served on rice, in fritters, pickled and, yes, even stewed. My friend Ruthie dips whole pods in batter and deep fries them; old folks praise a big pot of boiled cabbage seasoned with bacon grease, okra laid across the top to steam. It’s called by many names in different parts of the world. The word okra probably came from the African term okuru, but it’s also known as lady’s fingers, quingombo, bhindi, bamia and gumbo. A member of the mallow family, it’s first cousin to hollyhocks, hibiscus and cotton. Okra has been around for thousands of years and is thought to have originated in either south Asia, Ethiopia or West Africa. The vegetable came to us on slave ships, probably as seeds in the pockets of captured Africans or necklaces and bracelets worn around their necks and wrists. Also, slave traders stocked okra aboard their vessels as a familiar food for their cargo. It became a staple in the South, especially as a signature ingredient in Creole and Cajun cooking. No doubt Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello next to his asparagus and eggplant; he said it was well-established as a crop in Virginia by 1781. Okra is one of those foods that you either love or loathe. It’s gooey and slimy, described often as mucilaginous, which sounds worse that gooey and slimy. It doesn’t age well; any pods over four inches long are likely to be tough and stringy. It’s also one of those foods that you have to grow up with to develop a taste for. Not a Yankee I know enjoys okra enough to order it in a restaurant. Most children do not like it, my own included, unless it’s fried. It exudes sticky goo when cut; its seeds get stuck in your teeth. Plus, it makes your arms itch when you harvest it, which you must do every day, standing on a ladder as the stalks rise. In spite of all these shortcomings, okra is often referred to as the queen of vegetables. And, oh boy, Mother was right, it is good for you — full of calcium, potassium, folate and vitamin C; it’s high in fiber and antioxidants. Sounds like just what the doctor ordered to cure what ails you. In New Orleans, I read that they used to fry okra in food carts and sell it in paper cones; its nickname was Southern popcorn because you just couldn’t stop eating it. During the War Between the States, when real coffee was unavailable, people dried okra seeds, ground them up and brewed them into a cup of something like coffee. (They also did this with acorns, peanuts and chicory.) My friend Phyllis grew so much of the pod one year she was making okra omelets for breakfast, raw okra sandwiches for her husband to take to work for lunch, okra salad for dinner, stuffed okra poppers and “limpin’ Susan,” sister to ”hoppin’ John,” but made with okra and rice instead of field peas and rice. Down in Irmo, South Carolina, while we’re whooping it up at our Barbecue Festival in October, they’re parading around town at the annual Okra Strut. Butterbeans are great this time of the year, as are fresh black-eyed or Crowder peas. We’re still enjoying a side of sliced tomatoes at most meals and late crops of cukes and squash are available. But for the best late summer dinner, invite the queen of vegetables okra, to your table. Page H. Onorato is a retired teacher. By Page H. Onorato More Content Now MailTribune.com By Page H. Onorato More Content Now Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 8:09 AM Updated Sep 4, 2015 at 1:58 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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