Originally from Africa, okra is now widely used in cuisines such as Caribbean, Creole, Cajun and Indian. It is a warm-season vegetable and essential crop in many countries due to its high nutritional value. Ridged along its length, the green, slightly fuzzy pod contains rows of edible seeds that release a sticky liquid when chopped and cooked. This has led to it being used to thicken soup and stew recipes such as Cajun gumbo, but it’s also served whole as a side dish. Okra’s flavor is quite subtle, so it benefits from being cooked with strong, spicy ingredients!

Storage

Keep okra dry and store in the crisper drawer in a paper or plastic container to stop it from becoming slimy or moldy. Avoid washing it until you are ready to use it. Use within 3-4 days.

Preparation

Wash and dry. If you are serving the okra whole as a side dish, and don’t want the liquid to be released during the cooking, trim around the stalks in a cone shape, so that the pod isn’t pierced. If you do want to release the liquid, chop or slice thickly or thinly, according to your recipe.

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Papaya is native to the tropics of the Americas in the regions of southern Mexico and Central America. The papaya is a tree-like plant that can grow over 30 feet tall. The fruit is a type of berry and when ripe it feels soft and the skin turns an amber to orange hue.

Papaya plants grow in three sexes: male, female, and hermaphrodite. The male produces only pollen, never fruit. The female will produce small, inedible fruits unless pollinated. The hermaphrodite can self-pollinate because its flowers contain both male stamens and female ovaries. As a result almost all commercial papaya orchards contain only hermaphrodite papaya plants.

In 1998, in response to the papaya ringspot virus (PRV) outbreak in Hawaii, genetically altered papaya were approved and brought to market (including ‘SunUp’ and ‘Rainbow’ varieties.) Varieties resistant to PRV have some DNA of this virus incorporated into the DNA of the plant.

Preparation:

Papayas are often eaten raw. To ripen papayas, store at room temperature in a loosely closed paper bag. Ripe fruit has more yellow than green coloring and yields to gentle pressure. The fruit is cut in half and the seeds removed. The flesh can be scooped out or cut into wedges. Cover and refrigerate ripe fruit for up to a week.

Papaya seeds are edible, but quite bitter, pepper and reminiscent of horseradish. Save them to use in your next papaya seed dressing!

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Swiss chard, also known simply as chard, is a beet that is grown for its deep green leaves instead of its root. It’s known for its brightly colored stems of red, yellow, pink, and purple. Swiss chard is highly nutritious and is a good source of several vitamins. It also contains more minerals than most other greens and is very high in fiber.

The leafy greens are extremely high in vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, and antioxidants. This nutrition combo makes for a good dose of healthy digestion, eyes, skin, heart, and immune function. Swiss chard was considered medicine for allergies, constipation, and general pain in ancient times.

Preparation

• Before you cook chard, the first thing you should do is wash it well, by rinsing it in a sink full of cold water. You can even drain the water and repeat, unless the chard is free of dirt. If you got the chard at a farmers’ market, it will be extra fresh and more likely to have dirt on it, so wash thoroughly. Don’t wash chard until right before you’re going to use it, or it will wilt.
• Decide whether to separate the chard or leave it whole. Small leaves of Swiss chard can be left whole or added to salad, and larger leaves with thin ribs can also be left whole for cooking. But if you’re cooking Swiss chard with thick ribs, then you should separate the ribs from the leaves by tearing the leaves away, because the ribs will need to cook for a few more minutes since they are tougher than the leaves.
• Bitterness is caused by the organic compound oxalic acid, which is found in the stalk of Swiss chard and many other vegetables. It can be removed altogether or cooked out. When cooked, the vegetable loses the bitter flavor and makes for a more refined taste.

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Kale is a vegetable with green or purple leaves, in which the central leaves do not form a head. It is a member of the Mustard, also known as the Cabbage, family. Kale can be curly, flat, or even have a bluish tint mixed in with the green. This week we have curly kale from Shawn’s Farm.

Depending on the variety, kale can sometimes be spicy or a bit sweet, and usually slightly bitter. In general, kale offers an earthy flavor with a nutty sweetness that is accentuated when cooked. Kale is rich in antioxidants and packed with vitamins A, C, E, K and B, as well as minerals like iron and calcium. Kale is a great source of fiber and contains a fair amount of protein.

Preparation and Storage

Kale is incredibly versatile in the kitchen and can be enjoyed raw or cooked. Young kale leaves add an earthiness to raw salads, and mature kale is one of the few leafy greens that doesn’t shrink much when cooked. Try it sautéed, roasted, stewed, or even baked into kale chips. Or try it raw in juices and smoothies.

• To prep mature kale – first remove the tough fibrous stems. Hold the stem and strip the leaves along the stem away from you. If preferred, you can cut the leaf into thin, confetti-like ribbons. 
• A quick massage with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt can break down the cellulose structure of kale. This gives a slightly sweeter, silkier kale to add to salads. 
• To store – wrap the leaves in a loose bundle, cover with a paper towel or a thin cotton towel (to absorb excess moisture) and store in a large, sealable bag in the crisper for up to a week.

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