Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

• Fruits of the Cucurbits can be used for food either fresh, cooked, pickled,
  candied, dried or in sauces and curries. Their tough skins can be used for
  containers, water and drinking vessels, musical instruments, penis sheaths,
  ornaments, floats for fishing and rafts, etc.


• Some species have seeds which are rich in oil and protein, which can be roasted
  and salted to make a nutritious snack, or fried to make pepitos.Cucurbita pepo
  seed kernels contain about 45% of an unsaturated fat, 25% protein and useful
  amounts of minerals and the Vitamin B complex.

LIMITATIONS

• and can grow in almost all of the extremes of climate, although they do need
  warm growing conditions and most species are killed by frost.


• A further reason that Cucurbits are not more widely grown is that it can be
  difficult to identify the most appropriate species or variety for a particular
  location, or, even when this information is known, it is not always possible to
  find a supply of enough good, reliable seed.

Okra

Abelmoschus esculentus (Syn. Hibiscus esculentus)

Okra originated either in tropical Africa (Ethiopia and West Africa) or in India and

is now grown widely around the world in the hot lowland tropics and subtropics,

mainly for local consumption. The FAO estimate of the total global production in

2004 was 5 million MT, grown mainly in India, Brazil, Thailand, Turkey and Spain.

It is closely related to the fibre crop Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), to the Rose of

members of the cotton or mallow family Malvaceae.

red flowers. These develop into 10–30 cm long, slim, finger-like fruits, or “pods”,

which are eaten as a vegetable when they are dark green and immature. The fruits

are usually five-sided in cross-section, normally green but sometimes red

(“Burgundy” and “Red Okra”) or white (“White Velvet”) and have a sticky

mucilaginous texture inside.

Very few—there is usually one or more species of Cucurbit which is adapted

The plant is an erect annual herb 1–4 m tall, with large, single, bright yellow and

231

Bindi, Gombo, Gumbo, Lady’s Finger, OkroKetmie {Comestible}, Gombo (French);
Rosenpappel, Gombo (German); Quesillo, Quimbombó (Spanish); Quiabo{chifre-de-
veado}, Caber (Portuguese); Bamies (Greece); Ochingombo (Angola); Bamia
(Sudan); Bhindi (Hindi); Binday, Layloo (Pashtu); Bamia (Dari)

GROWING FOOD – THE FOOD PRODUCTION HANDBOOK

(H. sabdariffa var. sabdariffa and var. altissima). Together with Cotton, these are all

Sharon (H. syriacus or Althaea syriaca) and to the Roselle or Jamaican Sorrel