Poke Sallet

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comissaryqueen

Senior Cook
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
181
Location
North Carolina
Poke is a wild green that comes up in the spring. Some folks feel it's like a tonic for them. There's even a song about it "Poke Sallet Annie." It's up in my yard and it's dinner tonite.
 
I've never had it, but I thought they were saying "poke salad". Perhaps I need a tonic.
 
licia said:
I've never had it, but I thought they were saying "poke salad". Perhaps I need a tonic.

:LOL:

----sing along with me-----You say either, and I say either; you say neither and I say neither.....

Poke sallet or poke salad are both commonly used terms!

Good eating stuff!
 
A while back this city boy spent a few years in the Missouri Ozarks, and folks there raved about "Poke Salad". I was shown the weed,

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and I suffed a bunch of leaves in a "poke" (sack or bag to the rest of us), took 'em home and made a delicious tossed green salad. It was reqlly good.

Unfortunately, my mountain friends had forgotten to mention the toxic aspects of the weed, said toxins necessitating boiling and discarding the water prior to consumption. I got away with it, bt my B/W suffered tremendous abdominal discomfort, to put it nicely.

Next time we boiled it, and it was a really nice change from spinach, chard, collard greens, etc. Much more pleasant flavor - in my opinion - than any of the others.

Back in the city, I'd pretty much forgotten Pokeweed. Then a friend, a black lady from Oklahoma, mentioned that she grows it in her garden here in L.A. - and would I like some? I jumped at the offer, and tonite dined on crisp fried chicken, hush puppies, and poke salet (salet from the german word for salad) tossed in bacon drippings )after boiling!). A truly delicious and satisfying dinner.

So I'm gonna grow my own now! It's a welcome change. Give it a try!
 
It grows wild in my yard. I picked and boiled some last nite. It's great. The stalk and berries are toxic and can cause everything from upset stomach to a trip to the hospital. A friend says her son painted his car with the dye from the berries once.
 
My husband talks about this all the time. His mother used to make it for him and his brothers all the time and couldn't believe that I never had it. We grew up with 4 miles of each other too and I had never even heard of it. I keep telling him he's crazy. Now I have to tell him I was wr....
wr.... wr.... not right. DANG IT! I don't like telling him that.
 
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