Okra IS a Super Food!

Have you heard about the new 17 day diet craze?! Well, we just did. It is NO surprise to us at Jason's Fine Okra that okra is so good for you. Okra has been one of the most nutritious vegetables around for YEARS! So for your heart, your brain, your skin and even your digestive system, give okra a try in your kitchen! Here is a link to a cool vegan website that talks about okra as a 'Super Food'!


 http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/04/okra-nutrition-facts-surprise-its-super.html

This is also a cool site that gives a lot of nutritional information. Check out ALL of those vitamins in Okra!



 http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/okra.html

Okra is on!

Even the Bee's like Jason's Fine Okra

Ho-in away! A clean bed makes for easy harvesting!

One of the first okra pods this year!

Beautiful okra bloom!

Okra is part of the Hibiscus family. Can you tell?

Beautiful Burgundy!

First harvest of the year!

That is some good lookin' fried okra! Come and get it at the Saturday market in downtown Boise!

Working in the Incubator in Caldwell

That's a lot of fried okra!

Tallest and strongest plant out there!

The rest of Jason's Fine Okra (a.k.a. Okraville!)

Jason using the harvest bag

Okra!

Peppers!

JFO at market!

Jason of Jason's Fine Okra. My he looks proud!

Sorry folks. We have not abandoned the blog spot. But I am trying to keep up with a lot these days, so bear with me! The summer heat is upon us, kids are going back to school and the okra is growing like wildfire! Jason and Shelle harvested 50 POUNDS on Monday! Whoa! We just harvested last Friday for market! Fried okra has been selling like crazy at the Saturday market, some people LOVE their okra fried! We have also been selling out of thr fresh we are bringing as well. Hopefully with these 100 degree hot August days we will be at the Incubator pickling 120-150 pounds of okra pickles! Yay! The day I have been waiting for! You just CANNOT get as good of okra pickles around here as Jason's Fine Okra pickles!


 Well, enjoy the updated photos of the farm and come see us at Saturday market!

Seafood Gumbo, YUM! (recipe)

I received this recipe from one of Idaho's own GRITS, (Girls Raised In The South!). Jennifer comes to us from Georgia and she is am amazing chef! I for one cannot wait to try out this wonderful recipe! It is that time of year to get your Gumbo on!




 

Basic Roux

Yields 6 cups

3 cups fat: vegetable oil, lard or butter

3 cups all purpose flour

Heat the fat in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke.  Slowly stir in the flour, small batches at a time, stirring constantly.  Lower the heat to medium-low and cook while stirring to prevent burning.  Do not leave this unattended!   Cook until the desired color is achieved:  For a light brown roux, cook until smooth and light brown, 5-7 minutes; For a medium brown roux, cook until a peanut butter color is achieved, 10-12 minutes; For a dark brown roux, cook until thick and dark brown, 15-18 minutes.  Once the desired color is achieved, remove from the heat and continue to stir for 1-2 minutes.  The roux will be extremely hot and continue to cook after it has been removed from the heat. 

A couple of notes to consider when cooking a roux:  The color of the oil roux will be a darker color than the butter roux.  Stir constantly and never leave unattended. Light brown roux is generally used to thicken sauces for gravy.  Medium brown roux has a stronger, nuttier flavor is used to flavor veal, pork, and seafood.  Dark brown roux is generally used for gumbo is usually the default roux.  If you ever overcook your roux, scrap and start over...this will ruin your dish if you try to use a bad roux!

Seafood Gumbo

2 pounds extra-large (16-20) shrimp (uncooked)

6 cups water

1 cup vegetable oil + more for saute'

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 pound smoked slab bacon, diced

3/4 pound okra, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

1 bunch green onions, both white & green, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 lb crabmeat (cooked & canned)  Phillips brand is preferred - fresh is also great!

Creole Seasoning (see attached recipe)

Chili Powder

Louisiana hot sauce

white rice (cook per box's instructions)

Dried Parsley (for garnish)

French Bread

Boil the shrimp in the water.  When they are pink, drain, cool, peel and devein.  Preserve the water as stock.

Make a dark brown roux by stirring 1 cup of oil and 1 cup flour together in a skillet over medium-high heat until a dark brown color is achieved.  (See attached recipe).

In a large stew pot, stir the diced bacon over medium heat until it begins to crisp, then remove the bacon from the pot.  Saute' the okra in the bacon drippings until it loses all signs of sliminess that will ultimately thicken the gumbo. (5-7 minutes).  Add a small amount  (1 tbsp) of vegetable oil.  Add celery onions, garlic, bell pepper, thyme, bay leaves, and parsley.  Saute' until the vegetables are cooked (7-10 minutes).  Add the tomato paste, stirring 2 minutes more. 

Pour in the shrimp stock and return the bacon to the pot.  Bring the gumbo to a boil, then thicken it gradually with the roux until a smooth, rich consistency is achieved (approx 3 minutes...add, stir, sit and repeat).  Cover the pot and simmer for one hour.  Season the shrimp and crab with Creole Seasoning and add to the pot.  Season with Creole Seasoning, chili powder and Louisiana hot sauce as you like it.  Remove the bay leaves and serve in soup bowls over white rice.  Garnish with dried parsley and serve with French Bread.

Serves 6 - 8

 

 Remember, the best part of making a Gumbo is using what you have in your home already. So scour the pantry and the icebox and show us what you've got! Enjoy!

Okra seedlings are 3 weeks old!

Burgundy okra. Clemson Spineless. Jade (she's a shorty!)

Okra in the back row. A variety of peppers in the front rows.

Our okra babies! They are growing up so fast!

The beginnings of our little farm!

Yum!

Okra and peppers are ready to go and we are right on schedule! We just need this weather to keep cooperating!

Okra and Peppers going strong!

Burgundy Okra starts. These babies grew 4 inches in less than a week!

Clemson Spineless Okra starts are getting big.

Beautiful Purple Jalapeno starts for pickled okra this summer, YUM!

Mas Peppa's

Approximately 500 Hot Paper Lantern starts!

Well, all of the pepper seeds have been started. Now we wait for germination. The Jalapeno's and Inferno peppers that were started a couple weeks ago are looking great! We hope for the same with the Hot Paper Lantern. I can not wait to taste one of these cousins to the Habanero! Ok- we all have to wait, but it will be worth it!

Peppers! - Germination

They've sprouted! Almost 99.997% germinated, only 0.003% to go!

Peppers!

So we started the first round of the hot peppers for Neomia's Blend pickled okra in the greenhouse this week! We will have 4 varieties this year; Jalepeno, Purple Jalepeno (for Shelle!), a hybrid named Inferno and a relative to the Habenero pepper called the Hot Paper Lantern. So this means we only have 4 more weeks until we start 2 different varieties of okra in the greenhouse! We can't wait for fresh, organic okra pickles! Yum!

Meet the Gang

Jason's Fine Okra is a family business. Jason and Shelle decided to take his Grandma's 50 year-old pickled okra recipe and share it with the world in 2010. We have learned some of Grandma's tricks over the years. Now we are moving forward with commercially canning Neomia's Blend Okra, a gesture of love for our Grandmother. We will sell her mouth-watering okra pickles at the Capital City Public Market along side our fresh and freshly fried okra. We hope to have a lot of okra fun with our friends and family this summer. We look forward to seeing you at the Market.

Grandma Bates- The woman behind Neomia's Blend Pickled Okra

 Two of Neomia's daughters, Chandra and Cleta

 Jason's Fine Okra

 2010 canning crew number 2. Chandra, Theresa, Jason and Neomia

 Pickled Okra spices, Yum!

Shelle, the girl behind the camera and behind the scenes.

Up and at 'em

Well Hello. We are Jason’s Fine Okra. Thank you for visiting our blog. Jason’s Fine Okra was established in 2010 when Jason started working on Peaceful Belly Farm. Having lived and farmed in Texas, Jason immediately sought out permission to grow nearly 500ft of Okra. We were originally unsure if okra would grow and produce in such a different climate. However we found out that okra CAN be grown in Northern regions. Now that we have mastered the art of growing okra we feel that it is time to impart our love of okra to the people of the Northwest. We will be sharing some of our family recipes for okra, as well as some of our favorite Internet finds. We will also keep you up to date on everything we do from seeding, planting and harvesting to going to market. We will be selling fresh, fried and even our Grandmother’s 50 year-old pickled okra at the Saturday Market. We hope to see you there!

Check back and we will see you soon!