Every Father's Day, i harvest the shoot..peal them..boil for about 20 minutes and then fry in a tampora batter. I also use the Berries. I use them medicinally as well a make wine from them. Poke is a very underutilized plant. Great video.Thank you for making it.❤
Those were some fat shoots, alright -- great eating! Thanks for helping people understand this plant. Pokeweed is my top favorite of the wild greens. They are so plentiful and productive for such a long season if a person can discern the plants in good condition. Plants with big shade-grown leaves can be good into the summer, and trimmed back to stop flowering can be good into late summer. That's why so many people relied on pokeweed as a staple food - the long productive season, easy and clean harvest, easy cooking, delicious and satisfying. I'll use pokeweed like any kind of wild greens, but slow-cooked with bacon and onions is tradition in our family back through generations. It's good mixed with dock leaves and other wild greens, too. When Allen Brothers did their commercial canning, they used big leaves and only boiled once in a lot of water for a few minutes, then canned them up. Too many folks are missing out on some good eating! Enjoy your pokeweed!
Haphazard Homestead has a video on poke that covers some of the multi-boiling misconceptions. Here in the deep south one can fill a freezer with poke pretty easily.
I absolutely love poke salad. I grew up eating it. I try to find it every year. When I cook the stalks i batter them with cornmeal and fry it like fried okra. Thank you for sharing your video.
This is one I’ve been hesitant to mess with because of all the conflicting information. But there’s tons of it here, both on my property and within walking distance. I think I now have enough confidence to do more with it than make ink from the berries. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video. I grew up eating this and haven’t done it for years. I’m looking forward to having it again. It’s all over my back yard here in South Carolina 🌴
Perfect timing, my old pokes are poking through🎉 they grow so fast and they are red and chunky 😁I'll try myself first but something tells me our creator wouldn't put something that'll harm you right outside your front door 😂also learnt that the berries help arthritis pain in specific doses and the potent roots in a tincture make the best natural antibiotic, life is awesome 🙏♥️
Thank you for this. I have so much of this on my property. I like the idea of eating the shoots more than the leaves. I didn’t know one could eat the shoots like this!
@@foragerchef4141 I'm glad you did. I enjoy any excuse to cook something with bacon and eggs as well. Do you have a video on how you make your own bacon? I also have your book, and it is great!
Fabulous lesson! You taught me new things about Pokeweed and now I can’t wait to have them reappear in my yard so I can try them out. I bought your book second hand and am eager to try some recipes out this year. Thanks.
I used to trek the vacant lots harvesting this plant. Then a bird must've dropped a seed as it appeared in and took over part of the backyard. Last year I planted a seed in a pot and this year I see fresh, succulent shoots before the wild have even broken ground. It's like the youngest, most tender bok choy I could ever get from the Asian market only better and free.
Awesome, I love this one too! I would love to see comparison with the Asian relative used in Nepalese cuisine, Jaringo sag (Phytolacca acinosa). There's some CZcams videos on cooking this species, but mostly in other languages.
Thanks for the vid and your preparation method. When I was reading on how in the appalachias, they eat berries and shoots raw, I was assuming either I was too paranoid or maybe they had developed a mithridatic immunity to the pokes since they've been eating it all the time (kinda like how Japanese peeps can eat raw seaweed). Glad to see though that I wasn't too out there with wanting to parboil it several times.
100% agreed on the underutilizatuon of this prolific and hearty gift from the wild. We can up as many pints of the leaves as we can in the spring and it makes a wonderful addition to any meal all year long. It is especially appreciated in winter when access to fresh greens is so limited. I like this better than spinach. It has a deep flavor profile. Will definitely be cooking the stalks from now on after watching this video. Thanks for all you do to increase the awareness of wild foods!
Just tried eating the shoots. Most of the plants were flowering already, so I avoided those. Any that weren’t flowering, I tried to find a break-easy point. Some didn’t break easy- they were rather too fibrous or some were hollow stalks, especially down low. I ended up taking three shoots. Nothing like the size you had, but I thought they would suffice. They ended up being so tender that trying to peel them was a nightmare!! I had a small handful of stalk left, as most of them practically disintegrated in my hand trying to peel them. After boiling for 8 minutes and rinsing them, I cooked them with lambsquarters on top of your recipe here. I ate them separately to really get their flavor and they were delicious. Too bad they were gone in a couple of bites. I’ll have to wait until next year because everything is ready to flower, but I can’t wait to come back maybe two weeks earlier and hopefully catch some of the giant stalks I saw that were just past the limit today.
That’s very helpful to know. Even if the leaves are no longer upright? Is the general rule that the leaves and shoots are edible as long as everything is tender and breaks off easy, and before the flowers have started to appear? Should I have boiled those small shoots once as shown in the video, or twice with a water change, as with the leaves? Thanks for helping demystify all this for me!
When I was growing up down in Louisiana there was a girl named Annie that used to go by the truck patch and pick her a mess of it. Cause that’s about all they had to eat.
I love burdock flower stalks, you're definitely selling me on this and I always thought it wouldn't be worth it. (There are so many great greens out there that are easier, but the stalks seem more worth the effort.)
Yayyyyy.... a couple young shoots just showed up in central Illinois (end of April). I've been scouting for poke ever since i watched the video the first time (about a month ago). QUESTION: once you cut it back one does it put out new young shoots that you can then get additional crops until it gets to the more mature stage. You are the best! Thx
Every year my mother and I would go poke salad Hunting. She was Is american indian. She would take poke's salad And boil three times then fry with bacon grease. She gave us poke salad as a Spring cleaning Intestinal cleanse. Eating too much poke salad can give you diarrhea. But, She always stayed away from the purple Stalks. We would find them growing underneath wild grapes that was used For jelly. The FDA says poke Salad will kill you, But I grew up eating it And i'm still alive At 67 years old. When cooked right it was a healthy choice in the spring time. I liked it better than spinach.
I put 20 poke berries into a jar with one cup of apple cider vinegar smash them all up and pour through a strainer to catch all the seeds. Now you have your juice of the berries in the apple cider vinegar pour one cup of organic honey into the juice store in the fridge and take 1 tsp when you are sick it is an amazing herb for wellness. You should always put just a small amount on the inside of your wrist for 15 minutes or so to make sure you are not allergic to the herb. Do this test for all herbs before using them. I am 71 years old and only use herbs for my good health I use no meds of any kind at this time. I make a Poke Root tincture also I have never used gloves ever. Reply
Harvest the young plants, peel stem cut the stem up like okra, egg and cornmeal salt and pepper like fried okra, fry. Have never boiled the shuts when cooked like fried okra. Grew up on this in Oklahoma
Thanks so much for sharing that. Personal experience eating stems after peeling without boiling is underreported. I’d really appreciate if you posted your comment on the post on my site since more people see that than YT. Poke deserves its credit as a bountiful, safe wild food 🫡 .
Oh trust me I’ve been Informed of my error 😂. The point, is that if an edible wild plant has a song written about it there’s a certain undeniable cultural significance that goes with it. Things like that are important when trying to convince people that eating it won’t kill them.
What happens if you try to cook the shoots or leaves after the plant flowers? Also my stem is very tough because I have very very old poke weeds can I still cook and eat it?
@@foragerchef4141 so you can still cook leaves after berries show up? The leaves and shoots turned out great! I hope they provide plenty of health benefits.
I thought it was quite an insult to Tony Joe White by crediting Elvis with writing that song plus the Tony Joe White sung version is faaaaar better than the Elvis one
The research I did on this plant says you should never handle it without gloves. 🤔 Is it okay to handle the leaves without gloves and the entire stock . 🤔 I absolutely know that the route is super toxic and absolutely need double gloves on . 🤔 Many people use the route for medical purpose with a 100% vodka always wearing double gloves never touching anything using a disposable cutting board and making a very small amount since you only need a raindrop 💧 each day only absolutely never take more than that. 😮 And absolutely keep this away from your children and pets and anyone who is pregnant. I seen that you can also eat one Berry each day as long as you spit out the seed . 🤔 Make sure to place the seed in the garbage don't spit it all over your yard or else it we'll growing and take over your yard . 😮 I also heard that this is extremely poison from leaves and branches and Roots but it is use in many cultures to eat and as a medication for cancer and other infectious diseases. 🤔 Will try this one day and see.
Every Father's Day, i harvest the shoot..peal them..boil for about 20 minutes and then fry in a tampora batter. I also use the Berries. I use them medicinally as well a make wine from them. Poke is a very underutilized plant. Great video.Thank you for making it.❤
Those were some fat shoots, alright -- great eating! Thanks for helping people understand this plant. Pokeweed is my top favorite of the wild greens. They are so plentiful and productive for such a long season if a person can discern the plants in good condition. Plants with big shade-grown leaves can be good into the summer, and trimmed back to stop flowering can be good into late summer. That's why so many people relied on pokeweed as a staple food - the long productive season, easy and clean harvest, easy cooking, delicious and satisfying. I'll use pokeweed like any kind of wild greens, but slow-cooked with bacon and onions is tradition in our family back through generations. It's good mixed with dock leaves and other wild greens, too. When Allen Brothers did their commercial canning, they used big leaves and only boiled once in a lot of water for a few minutes, then canned them up. Too many folks are missing out on some good eating! Enjoy your pokeweed!
Haphazard Homestead has a video on poke that covers some of the multi-boiling misconceptions. Here in the deep south one can fill a freezer with poke pretty easily.
I enjoy learning from HH as well. Between this and that channel there’s a wealth of useful information for eating well from nature!
I absolutely love poke salad. I grew up eating it. I try to find it every year.
When I cook the stalks i batter them with cornmeal and fry it like fried okra.
Thank you for sharing your video.
This is one I’ve been hesitant to mess with because of all the conflicting information. But there’s tons of it here, both on my property and within walking distance. I think I now have enough confidence to do more with it than make ink from the berries. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video. I grew up eating this and haven’t done it for years. I’m looking forward to having it again. It’s all over my back yard here in South Carolina 🌴
@@andiparker8286 Hey you’re welcome. Mine are popping up in my garden in MN.
Perfect timing, my old pokes are poking through🎉 they grow so fast and they are red and chunky 😁I'll try myself first but something tells me our creator wouldn't put something that'll harm you right outside your front door 😂also learnt that the berries help arthritis pain in specific doses and the potent roots in a tincture make the best natural antibiotic, life is awesome 🙏♥️
I have poison ivy and poison hemlock that spring up in my yard, so what does that say about any so-called creator?
Thank you for this. I have so much of this on my property. I like the idea of eating the shoots more than the leaves. I didn’t know one could eat the shoots like this!
Yep. I didn’t know about the shoots until Sam Thayer showed me. They’re so good. One taste and I knew I had to share it with others.
@@foragerchef4141 I'm glad you did. I enjoy any excuse to cook something with bacon and eggs as well. Do you have a video on how you make your own bacon? I also have your book, and it is great!
We've eaten poke since the early 80s but have never used the thick shoots. Can t wait to try them when it comes up. Thanks for this fantastic video.
Fabulous lesson! You taught me new things about Pokeweed and now I can’t wait to have them reappear in my yard so I can try them out. I bought your book second hand and am eager to try some recipes out this year. Thanks.
I used to trek the vacant lots harvesting this plant. Then a bird must've dropped a seed as it appeared in and took over part of the backyard. Last year I planted a seed in a pot and this year I see fresh, succulent shoots before the wild have even broken ground. It's like the youngest, most tender bok choy I could ever get from the Asian market only better and free.
Always wondered how to eat them. They are super invasive here in Europe. Will try it soon. Thanks for the video
Awesome, I love this one too! I would love to see comparison with the Asian relative used in Nepalese cuisine, Jaringo sag (Phytolacca acinosa). There's some CZcams videos on cooking this species, but mostly in other languages.
not gonna lie, that shoot looks tasty, I imagine putting it in chinese mala hotpot.... yum
Thanks for the vid and your preparation method. When I was reading on how in the appalachias, they eat berries and shoots raw, I was assuming either I was too paranoid or maybe they had developed a mithridatic immunity to the pokes since they've been eating it all the time (kinda like how Japanese peeps can eat raw seaweed). Glad to see though that I wasn't too out there with wanting to parboil it several times.
100% agreed on the underutilizatuon of this prolific and hearty gift from the wild. We can up as many pints of the leaves as we can in the spring and it makes a wonderful addition to any meal all year long. It is especially appreciated in winter when access to fresh greens is so limited. I like this better than spinach. It has a deep flavor profile. Will definitely be cooking the stalks from now on after watching this video. Thanks for all you do to increase the awareness of wild foods!
Saw pokeweed on Reddit, wanted to see if it was edible even though it had mammalian toxins. Love it. Earned a sub!!
Just tried eating the shoots. Most of the plants were flowering already, so I avoided those. Any that weren’t flowering, I tried to find a break-easy point. Some didn’t break easy- they were rather too fibrous or some were hollow stalks, especially down low. I ended up taking three shoots. Nothing like the size you had, but I thought they would suffice. They ended up being so tender that trying to peel them was a nightmare!! I had a small handful of stalk left, as most of them practically disintegrated in my hand trying to peel them. After boiling for 8 minutes and rinsing them, I cooked them with lambsquarters on top of your recipe here. I ate them separately to really get their flavor and they were delicious. Too bad they were gone in a couple of bites. I’ll have to wait until next year because everything is ready to flower, but I can’t wait to come back maybe two weeks earlier and hopefully catch some of the giant stalks I saw that were just past the limit today.
If your shoots are very small there’s no reason to peel them.
That’s very helpful to know. Even if the leaves are no longer upright? Is the general rule that the leaves and shoots are edible as long as everything is tender and breaks off easy, and before the flowers have started to appear? Should I have boiled those small shoots once as shown in the video, or twice with a water change, as with the leaves? Thanks for helping demystify all this for me!
When I was growing up down in Louisiana there was a girl named Annie that used to go by the truck patch and pick her a mess of it. Cause that’s about all they had to eat.
@@GaryDelabate 🎼
I love burdock flower stalks, you're definitely selling me on this and I always thought it wouldn't be worth it. (There are so many great greens out there that are easier, but the stalks seem more worth the effort.)
Stalk and stem veggies are just so efficient. Once I harvested 100 lbs of burdock flower stalks in an hour for an event. So much free food.
Yayyyyy.... a couple young shoots just showed up in central Illinois (end of April). I've been scouting for poke ever since i watched the video the first time (about a month ago). QUESTION: once you cut it back one does it put out new young shoots that you can then get additional crops until it gets to the more mature stage. You are the best! Thx
Omg! I have tons of this growing in my yard!
Every year my mother and I would go poke salad Hunting. She was Is american indian. She would take poke's salad And boil three times then fry with bacon grease. She gave us poke salad as a Spring cleaning Intestinal cleanse. Eating too much poke salad can give you diarrhea. But, She always stayed away from the purple Stalks. We would find them growing underneath wild grapes that was used For jelly. The FDA says poke Salad will kill you, But I grew up eating it And i'm still alive At 67 years old. When cooked right it was a healthy choice in the spring time. I liked it better than spinach.
I put 20 poke berries into a jar with one cup of apple cider vinegar smash them all up and pour through a strainer to catch all the seeds. Now you have your juice of the berries in the apple cider vinegar pour one cup of organic honey into the juice store in the fridge and take 1 tsp when you are sick it is an amazing herb for wellness. You should always put just a small amount on the inside of your wrist for 15 minutes or so to make sure you are not allergic to the herb. Do this test for all herbs before using them. I am 71 years old and only use herbs for my good health I use no meds of any kind at this time. I make a Poke Root tincture also I have never used gloves ever.
Reply
Harvest the young plants, peel stem cut the stem up like okra, egg and cornmeal salt and pepper like fried okra, fry. Have never boiled the shuts when cooked like fried okra. Grew up on this in Oklahoma
Thanks so much for sharing that. Personal experience eating stems after peeling without boiling is underreported. I’d really appreciate if you posted your comment on the post on my site since more people see that than YT. Poke deserves its credit as a bountiful, safe wild food 🫡 .
Sam is every foragers fairy god dad
He is and I feel so blessed to know him.
My dad would use the shoots like okra and bread and fry it.
Save the seeds for next season
Elvis DID NOT WRITE THAT SONG. He covered it. Like most of Elvis's songs, and this food plant, they came from rural black roots.
Oh trust me I’ve been Informed of my error 😂. The point, is that if an edible wild plant has a song written about it there’s a certain undeniable cultural significance that goes with it. Things like that are important when trying to convince people that eating it won’t kill them.
I like Polk Berry juice
But be careful the seeds will put you under
Just picked 5 gallon bag ziplocks stuffed full of it
This is the way
i wonder how much oxylates poke has. It seem when i eat black beans, my feet hurt for days
Do not consume the seats they are daily
Poke weed is very good❤
What happens if you try to cook the shoots or leaves after the plant flowers? Also my stem is very tough because I have very very old poke weeds can I still cook and eat it?
The old stem needs to be peeled as I demonstrate. If you cook it after it flowers it’s going to be too tough to eat.
@@foragerchef4141 so you can still cook leaves after berries show up? The leaves and shoots turned out great! I hope they provide plenty of health benefits.
@@richardaustin939 no, sorry if that wasn’t clear, the plant will be tough after the berries appear.
tony joe white wrote the song
I thought it was quite an insult to Tony Joe White by crediting Elvis with writing that song plus the Tony Joe White sung version is faaaaar better than the Elvis one
The research I did on this plant says you should never handle it without gloves. 🤔
Is it okay to handle the leaves without gloves and the entire stock . 🤔
I absolutely know that the route is super toxic and absolutely need double gloves on . 🤔
Many people use the route for medical purpose with a 100% vodka always wearing double gloves never touching anything using a disposable cutting board and making a very small amount since you only need a raindrop 💧 each day only absolutely never take more than that. 😮
And absolutely keep this away from your children and pets and anyone who is pregnant.
I seen that you can also eat one Berry each day as long as you spit out the seed . 🤔
Make sure to place the seed in the garbage don't spit it all over your yard or else it we'll growing and take over your yard . 😮
I also heard that this is extremely poison from leaves and branches and Roots but it is use in many cultures to eat and as a medication for cancer and other infectious diseases. 🤔
Will try this one day and see.