Okra

So yesterday, hubby and I decided to do a bit of grocery shopping. We thought since we were going to have a movie night, we'd run to the store and get some supplies for pizzas and such. Passing the deli, I saw a sign that said Fried Okra... um ok . I've heard of it, I've never had it. Exactly what is an okra? I asked my darling hubby if he had ever had okra. He said, well grandma used to eat that and collard greens, so I reckon I have at some point when I was younger....uh huh ...sure he did. Anyways, curiousity got the best of me. I mean Im 36 years old, Im willing to try new things..so I took a deep breathe and firmly went to the counter and asked for 1/2 a pound of the stuff. Its deep fried and has a green tint to it... I wait until we get to the car to pry the lid off. I mean I want to try new things, but this is pretty heavy stuff. Who wants to put things into your mouth you've never had? Leastways, if it was a popular item, they'd have them at the fast food joints right? ... right.

So, Im a new millenium kind of woman, and I just take a deep breathe, close my eyes (yes hubby is laughing at me) and pop one in my mouth. Ok its kind of crunchy, and it tastes..... ok. I try another, only this time, I bite the nugget in half. I want to see what this stuff LOOKS like that Im tossing into my body like garbage. My mouth pretty much makes an EWW sound and I put the half eaten bite in hubbys face. I tell him to look at it. Does it look NORMAL? Its all green and slimy and has this white mushy stuff..is it even done?! ARGH!

Needless to say, I tossed the rest of the fried okra. If I hadn't looked what I was eating, I would have been fine. But Im a need to know kind of gal, and well... I needed to know. Now I do, and no thanks. At least I can say I did try it. If I was starving on a deserted island, maybe then. I mean, is okra grown? What kind of family is it in? I thought the turnip, hubby said the squash. Like a weed if you ask me. So I did pulled on my big girl panties and did some investigating. Yep, I want straight to Wikepedia. Bon Appetit, and to each their own. Next time I'm leaving the Okra at the counter.

Okra (American English: [ˈoʊkɹa], British English [ˈəʊkɹə], [ˈɒkɹə]), also known as lady's finger^[1], bhindi (Hindustani) and gumbo, is a flowering plant in the mallow family (along with such species as cotton and cocoa) valued for its edible green fruits. Its scientific name is Abelmoschus esculentus.

The species is an annual or perennial, growing to 2 m tall. The leaves are 10–20 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with 5–7 lobes. The flowers are 4–8 cm diameter, with five white to yellow petals, often with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal. The fruit is a capsule up to 18 cm long, containing numerous seeds.