Okra plant is a vegetable that needs regular harvesting or picking. If you are not consistent with planting, you may get tired of picking your okra pods, and leave them until they overgrow.
You probably have many outgrown okra and don’t know what to do with them.
Overgrown okra refers to okra pods that stay longer on their vine tree.
Often, they appear as brown and big and also woody in texture. Go over this article to discover an engaging way to use your overgrown okra, as you do not have to feed them to a pig.
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What to Do With Overgrown Okra?
Overgrown okra is often inedible, thus useless. Meanwhile, it is also true you can do quite a lot of things with overgrown okra, provided you implement the appropriate method of usage. There are several things you can do with overgrown okra, including stewing and baking. You can either use outgrown okra as biofuel, decorative ornaments, coffee, or flavor substitutes.
Uses of Overgrown Okra
Okra tree takes a long period to develop, compare to most vegetables. People often collect the seeds and cook or a long period.
Interestingly, you do not need to undergo the long cooking process before you use your mature okra. Below are several ways you can prepare your okra using overgrown pods.
Okra as a Side dish
Okra has a light flavor, which is also noticeable. Remove your overgrown okra seed, and add it to a stir-fry or baked recipe.
During this process, continue to stir until caramelization. When you are done mixing, you can separate the seeds from the main dish.
After all, you have successfully gained the okra flavor you wanted.
Okra as a Thickener
Your overgrown okra is a good use for thickening stew, sauce, or your local beauty products. When using okra as a thickener, you can either chop it or add it as a whole.
However, we recommend you pick an overgrown pod from the dish after extracting its flavor and ensure you remove its sliminess. A method of taking out the okra slim is by soaking in lemon juice or tomato and allow the pods to sweat (heat up).
A slimy okra may give you a consistency that is too thick, which would not be palatable.
Okra as Coffee substitute
Absolute right! You can use your overgrown okra as a coffee substitute. Sometimes, customers get tired of the strong coffee scent and long for a replacement.
Okra is cheap and readily available. Hence, it’s a good option for saving costs in beverage preparation.
Okra Planting
When your okra becomes too overgrown, such that it’s already brown and dry, you can discard the pods and collect the seeds. Get a jar while you save the seeds for the plantation in the next year.
An Overgrown Okra Recipe
Many people argued that overgrown okra cannot be cooked, while others believe overgrown okra can only be pickled or roasted. Do you know you can make granola from your matured okra?
Until you try it out, you never could think of its impressive result. Okra granola is easy to prepare and goes hand-in-hand with a healthy complement like honey or Greek yogurt.
Note; To get the desired result, make sure you follow the appropriate measure. Remember you are using a brown-colored and woody okra.
2 cups of oats
1/2 cup of dried overgrown okra seeds
1/2 cup walnut
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 mixture of dried berries
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cloves
A splash or little quantity of maple syrup
Salt to taste
Preparation
Preheat your oven before you start baking. The standard heat temperature for preheating is about 300°.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, except the berries
Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.
Pour the wet ingredient into the dry ingredients bowl, and mix well.
Get a clean baking sheet, and lightly pour the mixed content into it.
Spread the content in the sheet to make it evenly distributed.
Place the baking sheet inside the oven, and bake for 35min. Once the sheet content is golden, it is already cooked.
Afterward, mix it with the berries you separated. However, berries are not compulsory.
You can serve your okra pod granola without an additional dish.
Congratulations! You can save your overgrown okra with the granola recipe.
How to Prevent an Okra from Overgrowing?
The most effective method to save young okra from overgrowing is by refrigerating. Once you harvested the plant, you can freeze its fruit if you do not need them anytime soon.
Okra is reported to have a rapid rate of seed development. Although it takes a longer time to bear fruit, the fruits start to grow fast during its season.
Make sure you check your okra plant at intervals.
Moreover, big okra doesn’t imply its pod or fruit is overgrown. Some okra species are naturally long in size, such as cowhorn.
Frequently Asked Questions About What to Do With Overgrown Okra
What can I do with overripe okra?
Asides from feeding it to pigs, you can cut your overripe okra into large chunks and cook with stew, beans, or soup. You may be lucky to have some soft parts of overripe okra. The soft areas will introduce their flavor into the sauce in few minutes, you can remove the chunks of okra, then serve.
How to Know an Overripe Okra?
Overripe okra has a different appearance from immature okra. You can know overripe okra from its pod and seed color. Usually, overripe okra is brown, while young okra has white-colored pods and seeds, and overripe okra is slimmer than an immature one.
What to do to Okra Sliminess?
Okra is a vegetable that adds a slimy appearance to soups or dishes, and not everyone loves to see slimy okra in foods. What you can do to okra sliminess is reduce its concentration by soaking it in vinegar before cooking. After soaking for about 30minutes, rinse the sliminess away, and stir fry the okra.