I bought dwarf okra seeds last spring because I was tired of trying to fetch ripe okra pods that had grown to Jack and the Beanstalk heights. It would be nice, I thought, to actually bend down and pick the delicious okra pods.
Bend down my rear end.
All seven of Snow White’s Dwarfs could stand on each other’s shoulders and still not be able to reach the top blooms. My dwarf okra plants have grown up though the top of our seven-foot cage and are blooming in the stratosphere. I have to reach through the wire with my scissors and snip them off, then work them so they fall back down through the holes in the wire.
And one thing about okra – any okra. If you turn your back for just one day and don’t pick the 4-inch pods, they are the size of skinny footballs the next day. My friend Bill Hitt puts the huge okra pods in soups, but I toss them.
I did, however find one way to eat the marginally too-large okra pods – those of about 5 or 6 inches. If you trim the ends and split them open, add olive oil and some Kosher salt, you can cook “Okra Fries” in a 425 oven for about 25 minutes and they are very good.
Next year, I think I’ll skip okra altogether and wait for Burpee to come out with a Mini Me variety.