This flower is a treasure from head to toe: its blooms are bigger than a bowl, can fight cancer, and the flowers are so heavy they snap the branches

One day, my mom brought home 3 flowers from the vegetable market for 5 yuan, and one of them was bigger than a bowl, with a diameter of more than 10 cm. I didn't know what they were for at first, but later at dinner I saw they had turned into soup ingredients. Well, to be honest, it was pretty tasty.

It turns out this is an edible flower called golden flower okra (Abelmoschus manihot). If you have seen okra in bloom, you will notice that golden flower okra and okra flowers look very much alike. In fact, golden flower okra also belongs to the okra genus, and this flower is a treasure from head to toe. It is highly nutritious, and long-term consumption can fight cancer and even prolong youth. It is a remarkable flower.

Golden flower okra tastes fresh and fragrant. It can be used in soup, served cold with dressing, or stir-fried plain, and it can also be steeped in water as a tea, which has a calming effect and helps people relax.

Growing golden flower okra is relatively easy. It is mainly propagated by seed. At temperatures above 22°C, seedlings emerge in about 10 days. Fresh flowers can be harvested starting in early June, and blooming can continue until October, so the flowering period is quite long.

It is not demanding about soil either, and it tolerates both cold and heat, withstanding lows of -10°C and highs of 40°C. It has strong disease resistance and very high yields, with fresh flower output of around 1000 kg per mu. At temperatures above 20°C, it can be harvested in about 60 days. Golden flower okra can also be grown in pots, and besides being edible, it can also be used for ornamental purposes.

Caring for golden flower okra should follow its habits. It likes warmth and a sunny environment. For pot cultivation, sandy loam that drains well and retains water and nutrients is ideal. It likes moisture but fears waterlogging, and it is also quite drought-tolerant. During the growing season, liquid fertilizer can be applied 3 to 5 times. It grows very vigorously and has strong adaptability.

If a single crop produces too many flowers, we can also dry and store them, then take them out whenever we want to cook with them, so there is no worry about not being able to finish them all at once. Around September in autumn, golden flower okra can be kept for seed, so there is no need to buy seeds again the following year.