Marshmallow Family (Malvaceae)
Native range: Old World Tropics
Savored in African cuisine for millennia, okra was transported across the Atlantic Ocean on slave ships as provisions, grown by slaves in their domestic gardens, and introduced into American foodways via enslaved cooks. Okra can be stewed with tomatoes, battered, and fried, pickled in vinegar, and simmered in bubbling pots of hearty gumbo.
Varieties dispalyed in this exhibit:
Abelmoschus esculentus ‘Candle Fire’
Abelmoschus esculentus ‘Motherland’
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