tossa jute

tossa jute, (Corchorus olitorius), annual herbaceous plant in the mallow family (Malvaceae), cultivated as a source of jute fibre and for its edible leaves. Tossa jute is grown throughout tropical Asia and Africa, and its mucilaginous leaves and young stems are commonly eaten as a vegetable similar to okra. The plant is especially popular in a number of Arab countries, where it is used in a soup-based dish known as molokhia, or mulukhiyyah. Jute, obtained from the bast fibres, is used to make low-cost fabrics such as burlap and twine, though the fibres of the tossa jute are considered to be somewhat inferior to those of the white jute (Corchorus capsularis). The plant is often thought to be the mallow mentioned in the Book of Job, and the name “Jew’s mallow” may have origins in this and the fact that it was historically a popular food among Egyptian Jews.