Seme bamije

Okra is native to Africa and is now widely grown in Southern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and America. The fruit is a capsule up to 18 cm long containing numerous seeds.

Origin and Production

Okra is cultivated in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions around the world for its edible seed pods. In 2023 world production of okra was 11.5 million tonnes, led by India with 62% of the total, and Nigeria and Mali as secondary producers. In cultivation, the seeds are soaked overnight prior to planting to a depth of 1-2 cm.

Seed Oil

Greenish-yellow edible oil is pressed from okra seeds. It is high in unsaturated fats such as oleic acid and linoleic acid. In 26 okra landraces, lines and cultivars the seed oil content ranged between 12.15% and 18.83%. An exceptionally high value of 40% was reported for a sample that excluded seed coats.

Chemistry

On average, linoleic, palmitic, oleic and stearic acids make up the largest fraction of the fatty acids of the seed oil, at 42.01%, 31.65%, 18.39% and 3.20%. The main restriction to using okra seeds as an oil crop is their gossypol content. In seed samples of Italian okra, 17 volatile compounds were detected, the predominant ones being isopentyl 2-methyl butanoate (24.5-59.1%) and heptanoic acid 2-methylbutyl ester (6.6-13.5%).