Okra

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Okra

Okra (American English

American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
: , British English

British English

British English or UK English is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere....
), also known as ladyfinger and gumbo, is a flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
in the mallow family

Malvaceae

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus , Sterculia , Dombeya , Pavonia and Sida ....
(along with such species as cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
, cocoa

Cocoa

Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao from which chocolate is made. "Cocoa" can often also refer to the drink commonly known as hot chocolate; Cocoa solids, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the dark, bitter cocoa solids; or it may refer to the combination of both cocoa p...
, and hibiscus

Hibiscus

Scientific name:Hibiscus rosa-sinensisThe Genus Hibiscus comprises plants also commonly called hibiscus and less widely known as rosemallow....
), valued for its edible green fruits. Okra's scientific name

Binomial nomenclature

In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is called binominal nomenclature , binary nomenclature , or the binomial classification system....
is Abelmoschus esculentus; it is occasionally referred to by the synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with identical or very similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy....
, Hibiscus esculentus L.

The species is an annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates flowers and dies in one year. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed....
or perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants....
, growing to 2 m tall. The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are 10–20 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with 5–7 lobes.

Nutrition Facts

?? Nutrition Facts
Calories in ??
Carbs in ??
Fat in ??

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Etymology, origin and distribution

The name "okra" is of West African origin and is cognate with "" in Igbo

Igbo language

Igbo is a language spoken in Nigeria by around 20-25 million people, the Igbo people, especially in the southeastern region once identified as Biafra and parts of Southsouthern region of Nigeria....
, a language spoken in Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federation constitutional republic comprising States of Nigeria and one Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria....
. In various Bantu languages

Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo languages family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree....
, okra is called "kingombo" or a variant thereof, and this is the origin of its name in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
, Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
. The Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
"" is the basis of the names in the Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
, the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic subregion of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia....
, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
, North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
and Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
. In Southern Asia, its name is usually a variant of "bhindi" or "vendi."

The species apparently originated in the Ethiopian Highlands

Ethiopian Highlands

The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea , and northern Somalia in the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian Highlands form the largest continuous area of its altitude in the whole continent, with little of its surface falling below 1500 m , while the summits reach heights of up to 4550 m ....
, though the manner of distribution from there is undocumented. The Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
ians and Moor

Moor

Moor may refer to:*an ethnic or racial designation, from Latin Maurus "of North Africa"**Moors, people of North Africa and Al-Andalus**Sri Lankan Moor, a minority ethnic group of Sri Lanka...
s of the 12th and 13th centuries used the Arab word for the plant, suggesting that it had come from the east. The plant may thus have been taken across the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
or the Bab-el-Mandeb

Bab-el-Mandeb

The Bab-el-Mandeb meaning "Gate of Tears" in Arabic language , is a strait located between Geography of Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti, north of Geography of Somalia in the Horn of Africa, and connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden....
strait to the Arabian Peninsula

Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula , Arabia, Arabistan, and the Arabian subcontinent is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia. The area is an important part of the Middle East and plays a critically important geopolitics role because of its vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas....
, rather than north across the Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,000,000 square kilometers , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as the United States or the continent of Europe....
. One of the earliest accounts is by a Spanish Moor who visited Egypt in 1216, who described the plant under cultivation by the locals who ate the tender, young pods with meal

Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
.

From Arabia, the plant spread around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
and eastward. The lack of a word for okra in the ancient languages of India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
suggests that it arrived there in the Common Era

Common Era

Common Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used in the Western world, and also internationally, for numbering the year part of the calendar date....
. The plant was introduced to the Americas

Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
by ships plying the Atlantic slave trade

Atlantic slave trade

The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trade of primarily African people supplied to the colonies of the New World that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean....
by 1658, when its presence was recorded in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
. It was further documented in Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname is a country in northern South America. Originally, the country was spelled Surinam by English settlers who founded the first colony at Marshall's Creek, along the Suriname River, and was Geographical renaming Nederlands Guyana, Netherlands Guiana or Dutch Guiana....
in 1686.

Okra may have been introduced to southeastern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
in the early 18th century. It was being grown as far north as Philadelphia by 1748. Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States....
noted that it was well established in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
by 1781. It was commonplace throughout the southern United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
by 1800 and the first mention of different cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s was in 1806.

Uses

Abelmoschus esculentus is cultivated throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world for its fibrous fruits or pods containing round, white seeds. The fruits are harvested when immature and eaten as a vegetable

Vegetable

The term "vegetable" generally means the Eating parts of plants. The definition of the word is traditional rather than scientific, however, and therefore the usage of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective, as it is determined by individual cultural customs of food selection and food preparation....
.

A traditional food plant in Africa, this little-known vegetable has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare.

In Egypt

Egypt

Greece

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba....
, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
, Turkey

Turkey

Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
, and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean, okra is widely used in a thick stew made with vegetables and meat. In Indian cooking

Indian cuisine

The cuisine of India is characterized by its sophisticated and subtle use of many spices and vegetables grown across India and also for the widespread practice of vegetarianism across its society....
, it is sauteed or added to gravy-based preparations and is very popular in South India. In western parts of India, Okra is one of the most popular vegetables of all and is often cooked in day to day meals. Generally Okra is stir fried with spices and some sugar. Okra is also used in Kadhi. In Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
islands okra is cooked up and eaten as soup, often with fish. In Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
, it is cooked with rice and maize; it is also used as a sauce for meat. It became a popular vegetable in Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of Shogun rule....
toward the end of the 20th century, served with soy sauce

Soy sauce

Soy sauce , soya sauce , or shoyu is a fermentation sauce made from soybeans , roasted cereal, water and Sodium chloride. Soy sauce was invented in China, where it has been used as a condiment for close to 2,500 years....
and katsuobushi
Katsuobushi

is the Japanese language name for a preparation of dried, Fermentation , and smoked skipjack tuna . Katsuobushi and kombu are the main ingredients of dashi, a broth that forms the basis of many soups and sauces in Japanese cuisine....
or as tempura

Tempura

is a classic Japanese cuisine dish of deep frying Batter vegetables or seafood....
. It is used as a thickening agent in gumbo

Gumbo

Gumbo is a stew or soup originating in Louisiana, and found across the Gulf Coast of the United States and into the Southern United States. It consists primarily of a strong Stock , meat and/or shellfish, a thickener, and the vegetable "Holy trinity " of celery, bell peppers and onion....
. Breaded, deep fried okra is served in the southern United States. The immature pods may also be pickled.

Okra leaves may be cooked in a similar manner as the greens of beet

Beet

The beet is a plant in the Amaranthaceae. It is best known its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red root vegetable known as the garden beet....
s or dandelions. The leaves are also eaten raw in salads. Okra seeds may be roasted and ground to form a non-caffeinated substitute for coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the Coffea. Caffeinated coffee has a stimulating effect in humans....
. As imports were disrupted by the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
in 1861, the Austin State Gazette noted, "An acre of okra will produce seed enough to furnish a plantation

Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
of fifty negro

Negro

Negro is a term referring to people of Black people ancestry. Prior to the shift in the lexicon of American and worldwide classification of race and ethnicity in the late 1960s, the appellation was accepted as a normal neutral formal term both by those of Black African descent as well as non-African blacks....
es with coffee in every way equal to that imported from Rio

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , is the second largest city of Brazil and South America, behind S?o Paulo, and the third largest metropolitan area in South America, behind S?o Paulo and Buenos Aires....
."

Okra forms part of several regional "signature" dishes. Frango com quiabo (chicken with okra) is a Brazilian dish that is especially famous in the region of Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais was so named for its great riches in the mining industry. It is one of the 26 states of Brazil of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation....
. Gumbo

Gumbo

Gumbo is a stew or soup originating in Louisiana, and found across the Gulf Coast of the United States and into the Southern United States. It consists primarily of a strong Stock , meat and/or shellfish, a thickener, and the vegetable "Holy trinity " of celery, bell peppers and onion....
, a hearty stew whose key ingredient is okra, is found throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States

Gulf Coast of the United States

The Gulf Coast region of the United States comprises the coasts of states which border the Gulf of Mexico. The states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are known as the Gulf States....
and in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The word "gumbo" is based on the Central Bantu word for okra, "kigombo", via the Caribbean Spanish "guingambó" or "quimbombó". It is also an expected ingredient in callaloo

Callaloo

Callaloo is a Caribbean dish that is most popular in Trinidad and Tobago, with variants in Guyana, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Haiti, Dominica, and Jamaica....
, a Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
dish and the national dish of Trinidad & Tobago. Okra is also enjoyed in Nigeria where okra soup (Draw soup) is a special delicacy with Garri(eba) or akpu.

In Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east....
, okra is the important ingredient in the dish canh chua

Canh chua

Canh chua is a sour soup indigenous to the Mekong River region of southern Vietnam. It is typically made with fish from the Mekong River, pineapple, tomatoes , and bean sprouts, in a tamarind-flavored broth....
.

Okra oil is a pressed seed oil, extracted from the seeds of the okra. The greenish yellow edible oil has a pleasant taste and odor, and is high in unsaturated fat

Unsaturated fat

An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there are one or more double bonds in the fatty acid chain. A fat molecule is Monounsaturated fat if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated if it contains more than one double bond....
s such as oleic acid

Oleic acid

Oleic acid is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid fatty acid found in various animal and vegetable sources. It has the formula C18H34O2 ....
and linoleic acid

Linoleic acid

Linoleic acid is an unsaturated omega-6 fatty acid. It is a colorless liquid. In physiological literature, it is called 18:2. Chemically, linoleic acid is a carboxylic acid with an 18-carbon chain and two cis double bonds; the first double bond is located at the sixth carbon from the omega end....
. The oil content of the seed is quite high at about 40%. Oil yields from okra crops are also high. At 794 kg/ha, the yield was exceeded only by that of sunflower oil

Sunflower oil

Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil expressed from sunflower seeds. Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetics formulations as an emollient....
in one trial.

Unspecified parts of the plant reportedly possess diuretic

Diuretic

A diuretic is any drug that elevates the rate of urination and thus provides a means of forced diuresis. There are several categories of diuretics....
properties.

Contains male contraceptive gossypol

Gossypol

Gossypol C30H30O8 is a polyphenol derived from the cotton plant . Gossypol is a polyphenolic aldehyde that permeates cells and acts as an inhibitor for several dehydrogenase enzymes....

Cultivation

Abelmoschus esculentus is among the most heat- and drought-tolerant vegetable species in the world. It will tolerate poor soil

Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
s with heavy clay

Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
and intermittent moisture. Severe frost can damage the pods.

It is an annual crop in the southern United States.

In cultivation, the seeds are soaked overnight prior to planting to a depth of 1-2 cm. Germination

Germination

Germination is the process whereby growth emerges from a period of dormancy. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant or gymnosperm....
occurs between six days (soaked seeds) and three weeks. Seedlings require ample water. The seed pods rapidly become fibrous and woody and must be harvested within a week of the fruit being pollinated to be edible.

The products of the plant are mucilaginous

Mucilage

Mucilage is a chemical polarity glycoprotein; an polysaccharide; a polymer produced by most plants and some microorganisms.It occurs in various parts of nearly all classes of plant, usually in relatively small percentages, and is frequently associated with other substances, such as tannins and alkaloids....
, resulting in the characteristic "goo" when the seed pods are cooked. In order to avoid this effect, okra pods are often stir fried, so the moisture is cooked away, or paired with slightly acidic ingredients, such as citrus or tomatoes. The cooked leaves are also a powerful soup thickener.

Okra

Etymology, origin and distribution

Uses

Cultivation

See also

External links