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Poke salat - truth vs myth
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Posted by mollymcbee 98002 (My Page) on Mon, Mar 20, 06 at 14:00
| There are lot of misconceptions about this plant, and a lot of unnecessary dire warnings about how toxic it is. I guess they figure it's easier to scare folks away than to educate them and count on them to do things the right way. How sad.
Here's the truth about poke salat - phytolacca americana.
Poke salat, when it matures, develops purple colorations on its stalk, flower stem, and berries and seeds. It is the MATURE leaves, and purple stem and seeds that contain the poisonous substances. Young plants are safe, as is the juice.
Young poke without any hint of purple makes an excellent dish of greens similar to spinach. It must be parboiled, then should drained well and added to a skillet and fried in butter or bacon drippings. It's a meal fit for a king.
Mountain folk often make a wine from the berries, claiming that a small glass each day helps relieve their arthritis symptoms. They also make a jelly, discarding the seeds. Many southern cities have festivals in honor of poke, and many websites contain lots of information.
Poke plants are spread far and wide by birds who gobble up the berries, then deposit the seeds for miles around. In fact, the seeds are difficult to germinate artifically because they prefer going through the acid in a digestive tract and then get frozen before they will sprout.
Poke root is a herbal remedy that has been used for millenia with excellent results, but can be poisonous when used incorrectly, as sometimes happens with someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
Poke salat has a place of honor in my garden, and in my kitchen.
Molly McBee
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| I've never had it in my garden but I have eaten it and gathered it many many times...I grew up in the south and Poke salat was a welcome spring addition to our table... |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| Thanks for the informative post. I've heard people say it's edible, but I'd also heard people say it was poisonous and was rather confused. We have it growing all over the place. James |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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The three most important things to remember are:
1. Pick poke early in the spring before it starts showing any purple, cutting the stalk a couple of inches above ground and well away from the root,
2. Parboil at least once and discard the water, and
3. DON'T EAT THE POKE ROOT, not even a tiny bit of it. There are a lot of really good recipes on the internet for how to fix poke.
Molly |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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I've eaten it.
You can have it.
Give me a good mess of turnip or mustard greens, anyday. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| I collect it every spring. I have read of the following but I have not done it. One reference says one can did up the root in the fall, stick it in a box of sand in a dark basement or closet and water it and it will grow edible white sprouts. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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These recipes for poke remind me of that book on gathering wild edibles. His recipes too always involved a lot of butter or bacon - suspect that shredded cork if heavily buttered or baconed would have the same great flavor!
We used to cook dandeion greens and marsh marigolds each spring. But that was back when the nearest market was 10 miles away and we couldn't afford to buy greens. After a winter of canned vegetables, just about any fresh greenery tasted really terrific. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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- Posted by dghays Z9B FL Brevard (My Page) on
Sat, Apr 15, 06 at 21:01
| It supposedly has excellent nutritional qualities. I have Chaya, which is another poisonous plant which must be boiled, and then is safely edible. It also is 'killer' nutritionally. Also, shredded cork is great over a nice stiff pasta! Gary |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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Poke salate, grows here in Mississippi, to the extent, some
put it in the freezer and have it the year around..i love it, when i cook it, i put some raw eggs in it, when its almost ready to take off the stove, these eggs will be like scrambled eggs in the poke..i love to put a bit of vinegar on it like pepper sauce when i eat..its wonderful and its so good for cleaning you out..better than any other greens i know of...patti |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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Hi,
I Live in Scisciano (Naples - Italy). In my garden Phytolacca is very, very infestant! It is indestructible!
Excuse me, but I don't understand very well the English, so I ask you simple questions:
The berry juice cooked (without seeds) is edible?
Thank you in advance
Carmine |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| How this takes me back to my childhood!! Growing up, our household included: Parents,Grandmother,Niece,and six children. My brother and I would go hunting after school and shoot rabbits or squirrels, and my Mom would bake them in a pot-pie with a crust on top. I would also be sent to the woods to pick Poke for our dinner. I only collected the youngest growth. My Mom or grandmom would then parboil it in two changes of water, and then serve it like spinach. My Mom died a few years ago at the age of 96, so I guess it didn't hurt her!. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| I like to pick it young and eat it uncooked with a little bleu chease dressing.We have a plenty here in Ky. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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Carmine,
The answer to your question is NO.
Only the young leaves and stems, before they begin to exhibit any red coloration, are considered safe, and even then, many people recommend at least one - if not several - changes of water while cooking in order to hopefully leach out and eliminate toxic alkaloids. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| This is great info about poke salat--hope I get the courage to try it! I have a question--I'm rescuing my garden now, which had gone to weeds for the past several years. In one raised bed there is a huge poke tuber, too big and woody for me to dig out. I"ve covered it in newspaper and weighted the paper down with rocks. Do you think that will kill it? Also, since the tuber is poisonous, is it safe to plant near it? Thanks. Maro |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| Poke roots are very sturdy and hardy - they love a challenge. That root will probably still live and poke through the paper and grow between the rocks. If you decide to try digging it out, take care with the sap from the root as it is very poisonous and might be irritating to any skin it touches. Planting other things near it won't hurt the other plants. The sap from the poke root won't travel into the other plants. Molly |
re: poke salat - raw is dangerous
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| Poke salat raw is NOT a good thing where safety is concerned. Parboiling and removes the saponins and other poisonous substances and makes it safe to eat. Molly |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| I was looking for Chaya plant starts, or Malabar spinach seeds. I am unfamiliar with this plant. What makes this plant taste so good that I would want to go through all the procedures to cook and eat this. |
RE: Poke salat - truth vs myth
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| Reading this thread is so funny...I wonder too why we all couldn't wait for the poke salat in the spring time and who ever was the first to decide well if it is poisonious to eat. ...I'll just change the water a few times and see if if is still poison or if I'll still be around after eating it...My Mama is long passed now but she loved to go pick poke... |
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