Slimy, Yet Satisfying Okra

I conducted three separate trials as part of the manic culmination of a six-year obsession with this marvelous mallow, . is Latin for “delicious” and “full-of-food,” although I fear modern-day botanists would rename okra “,” for its reputation. The mucilage released from all parts of an okra plant has suffered a public opinion reversal over the last 150 years. In the 1800s the slime was celebrated: Okra soup was all the rage, gumbo developed and diversified into many variations, and okra was generally beloved. But the 1900s saw okra’s slippery slide into a marginal vegetable, deep-fried in the South and listed on many a list of most hated foods. In 1949, Victor R. Boswell, the principal horticulturist of the United States Department of Agriculture, declared that, “Okra alone is generally considered too ‘gooey,’ or mucilaginous, to suit American tastes.” While this statement does seem to reflect many people’s