Every week I see okra and always shy away from buying any because what can you really do besides fry it? You can tell I’ve lived in the South all my life. I figured that many of you probably feel the same way, and I starting researching recipes. As I found several recipes, I realized that many of them contain some kind of tomato or citrus. The reason for this is the same reason most people fry it, to avoid the sliminess when cooked. Mix it with a little acid and you are good to go. So okra is perfect for jumbo, chili, or just stewed with tomatoes to top rice. Here are a few of my favorite recipes:

• Quick and Easy Stewed Okra from Emeril: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/quick-and-easy-stewed-okra-recipe/index.html
• Seafood Okra Gumbo from Emeril: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/seafood-okra-gumbo-recipe2/index.html
• BBQ Okra: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/barbecued-okra-recipe/index.html
• Wet Fried Okra from Alton Brown: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/wet-fried-okra-recipe/index.html
• Okra and Tomatoes from Alton Brown: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/okra-and-tomatoes-recipe/index.html

Do you have any favorite recipes you like to cook with Okra? Send us a comment and share your recipe.

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So what really is the difference between a tomato from the Super Market and a tomato you get at the Farmers’ Market? You may have recently been asked this question by someone who has never shopped outside a convenience grocery store before. It’s probably not for cost, and certainly not for convenience. But for those of us that do go out of our way to buy local and often heirloom tomatoes, it’s all about the flavor. One local patriot describes it best, “The fresh-picked flavor is so phenomenally-better from local-growers, that we get out in the heat and circle around the parking lot and drive out-of-our-way to the farmers’ market just because it’s the only place to buy the produce that tastes unbelievably better than from anywhere else. And biting into a freshly-picked, locally-grown tomato for the very first time, is the same experience of actually tasting a real tomato for the very first time.”

The larger the grocery chain is, the more power they have to shop around for the lowest cost. That often means buying from international suppliers. By the time you see that tomato, it’s likely travelled so far — by long-haul truckers and often by ship — that the fresh-picked flavor was gone long before it ever reached Customs. All of our farmers at the Woodbine Farmers’ Market pick their produce the morning of Market day so you can be sure that it is extremely fresh, flavorful, and full of all the nutrients you could ever need. Hail to the Heirloom Tomato!

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