This is a “you’ve gotta try it to believe it” recipe. Not too sweet. This is made with raw okra, honey and vanilla, with a texture sort of like Turkish Delight candy. Be prepared. Donna says “It looks like bug spit!” (before it goes into the dehydrator). The taste of these bite-size yummies can grow on you.
- 2 cups sliced fresh okra (cut off the tops)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 Tablespoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup toasted, ground nuts for rolling (cashews, almonds....)
Blend okra, water, honey and vanilla in a blender until it is creamy and thick. (Okra’s mucilaginous quality shows up here...Don’t be surprised! It turns into green slime. You may need to use your hands for the next step.) Pour onto dehydrator sheets (as for fruit leather) and dry at 115 degrees for 6 hours or more until mixture is dry enough to peel off the sheet. You are aiming for tacky-chewy not hard-crunchy. If you don’t have a food dehydrator, you can use a very-very low oven.
Use a scissors to cut into strips, roll up into bite size pieces and roll in the ground nuts. Store in air tight container.
Recipe from The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration by Chris Smith with comments by Lonna. We had fun with this recipe on the radio.
DonnaLonna Kitchen KHOI community radio and also DonnaLonna Kitchen podcast.