Okra Rant

This post is going to be a bit unusual for me, but sometimes I just need to vent.  I was wondering how many of you are tired of this too...so, I'm putting it out there.   Please let me hear from you so that I know I'm not crazy...I can't be the only okra stem end hater out here...Can I?

If you're not an okra lover, you will probably want to skip on to the next thing on your "to do" list, because you probably just won't understand, but for you Southern women who love your fried okra or okra in gumbo, then you can probably relate to my rant.  

Pictsweet--I'm calling you out on this one.  I am so tired of buying your bags of frozen okra and then having to pick out the end pieces that most of us would throw into the compost bin if we had cut our own fresh okra.  Why, if you insist on adding the trash ends into the bag, do you put a picture of something on the front of the bag misrepresenting what is actually inside the bag?  Do you see any end pieces in this pretty picture?

I don't see any...Let's get a closer look, just to be sure.

No, I still don't see any of those repulsive ends, I mean stems.

This is what I actually got.

See the growing pile off to the left of the bowl?  I really feel I shouldn't have to pick through to get out the trash bits.  I guess I could just eat it, but I don't want it.  I want the good stuff, just like my grandmother would have served.  And, no, I don't remember her making us eat stems.

I should probably go back to growing our own and then I wouldn't have to buy frozen okra from the store anyway, but when we moved to the middle of the forest, the garden thing just didn't work anymore.  Our resident deer population loves the okra as much as I do, and to make a fence that actually works to keep them out, it would take lots and lots of $$$ and about a ten foot space around the perimeter of the garden.  I've researched the fence fix, and a normal old garden fence doesn't work--they just jump over it. So, it seems like just less work to pick out the trash end pieces from the frozen bags when you consider the fence fix cost and effort.  

Why can't they just do it right?  I mean, I happen to be aware of the fact that there's automated equipment out there that could work for them.  I know they're not paying real human beings to stand there and cut the okra by hand.  And because it's cut in little "wheels" that are somewhat straight with parallel cuts, then they must be using automated equipment.  So then, why don't they have little paddles that would throw the trash stem ends off the assembly line conveyor belt as it cuts them off?  I mean if they have actual humans walking around the belt, they would have to be careful not to slip down on the slimy bits, but maybe they could put something like a gutter catch thing on the side to catch the paddled off bits as they fall...there has to be a way.

Oh, wait, that would make the product in the bag weigh less, wouldn't it?  Maybe I'm onto something now.  Here's what I picked out--it must weigh a few ounces.

It's about 3/4 cup...And according to their label, that's almost a whole serving!  I guess if they actually trashed the stem ends, only eight people would get to eat from this bag, right? That poor ninth person...

As always, I just grumble to myself as I flour that okra and heat up my oil (olive oil!) in the black iron skillet...as the stem end anger causes my stress level to rise and that causes the hypertension to kick in, at least I'm using a healthier oil alternative.  

I think I'll try another brand of frozen okra just to finish this study that I seem to have started...Now I'm wondering if they all do this.  Watch for a comparison report soon.