Well, it was hard to decide what needs to be in the garden as we get 6-8 months of gardening time. Rounds of discussions, finally, we decided to go ahead with "OKRA" which is the vegetable always "on-demand" in our family and of course, on demand in the market too!
OKRA, known as Lady's finger in english speaking countries, Bhindi in Indian subcontinent,
originated from Africa and cultivated mainly tropical and sub-tropical region.The picture on the right is an OKRA from my garden.
Actually, the geographical origin of okra is disputed, with supporters of South Asian, Ethiopian and West African origins. Supporters of a South Asian origin point to the presence of its proposed parents in that region. Opposed to this is the lack of a word okra in the ancient languages of India suggests that it arrived there in the Common Era (AD). Supporters of a West African origin point to the greater diversity of okra in that region; however confusion betweeen okra and West African okra casts doubt on those analyses.
The Egyptians and Moors of the 12th and 13th centuries used the Arabic word for the plant, suggesting that it had come from the east. The plant may entered have south west Asia across the Red Sea or Bab-el-Mandeb strait to the Arabian Peninsula, rather than north across the Sahara, or from India. 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.
From Arabia, the plant spread around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and eastward. The plant was introduced to the Americas by ships plying the Atlantic slave trade by 1658, when its presence was recorded in Brazil. It was further documented in Suriname in 1686.
Okra may have been introduced to southeastern North America in the early 18th century. It was being grown as far north as Philadelphia by 1748. Thomas Jefferson noted that it was well established in Virginia by 1781. It was commonplace throughout the southern United States by 1800 and the first mention of different cultivars was in 1806.
Okra is cooked and also eaten raw in many countries into many different dishes, right from soups with fish, thick stew with vegetables and meat, breaded deep fried to soya sauce, chicken with okra.
During my childhood days, elders used to mention that okra contains radio calcium which helps in brain growth and development and often reminded me that when my marksheets, progress reports come from school. The same story, I too tell my child! :-)
The truth is Okra possess diuretic properties, which means, it pushes water out of our body and used to treat heart failure, hypertension, kidney disease and liver cirrhosis.
The picture on the right is my OKRA garden!
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