Pokeweed shoots, the greatest vegetable you've never had
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 4. 07. 2024
- Learn how to identify, gather, and prepare pokeweed shoots, one of the greatest vegetables on the planet that almost nobody has tried before.
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Big thank you to Sam's book, "Incredible Wild Edibles"! Without it, I don't think I would have been able to find the exact CDC report for the case that happened in New Jersey in 1980. Check it out in the recommended books below!
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introducing the best vegetable in the world
01:33 - How to identify pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)
02:06 - Pokeweed consumption precautions
02:35 - Common foods that require proper preparation
03:08 - The right stage to harvest pokeweed
05:58 - Where to find pokeweed
06:27 - When is it too late to harvest pokeweed?
06:52 - Can you eat pokeweed berries?
07:27 - Pokeweed lookalikes
07:58 - Symptoms of eating raw pokeweed
08:33 - Is pokeweed deadly?
09:39 - Debunking a commonly referenced toxicology case
11:23 - Traditional pokeweed food uses around the world
12:05 - How to prepare pokeweed shoots to eat
13:48 - Another edible plant you should know
References:
Kentucky toxicology history - www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Ohio Weed Guide - weedguide.cfaes.osu.edu/singl...
Camping Toxicology Case - link.springer.com/book/10.100...
North American Ethnobotany - naeb.brit.org/
Uses in Nepal - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Uses around the world - brill.com/display/title/68923
Attributions:
Conboy inat (Pokeweed July) - www.inaturalist.org/observati...
hb2000 inat (Pokeweed July) - www.inaturalist.org/observati...
Phytolacca octandra - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Japanese knotweed - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Knotweed leaf - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Knotweed iNat1 - www.inaturalist.org/observati...
Knotweed iNat2 - www.inaturalist.org/observati...
Knotweed splotches - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Kidney bean - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Cassava - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Knotweed group - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Knotweed leaves - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
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Medical Disclaimer:
The information on this channel is for educational and information purposes only. None of the information on this channel is medical advice, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, or cure anything. You are responsible for anything you do related to foraging or the subjects of any of my videos.
#pokeweed #pokesallet #foraging - ZĂĄbava
I've looked forward to finally sharing the information in this video for two years now. I'm so happy you're getting to watch it! Have you eaten pokeweed before? If so, what part? Also, if you try the shoots after watching this video, let us all know how you liked them! (Don't forget to check out my Interactive Forager's Calendar in the description!)
I've eaten leaves and shoots. The shoots after boiling can be breaded and fried and are similar to okra.
@@evanburke499 Do you wear gloves to collect it, or how do you handle it?
@@evanburke499 Thanks for saying that. I do not like the taste of okra.
But since it's wild and free for the taking, and nutritious, I can make myself like it with the right preparation and ingredients.
Thank you for covering this plant! I've waffled on it for years due to cross competing teachings. I appreciate the clarity and education your brought us đ đ±đ
I knew an herbalist years ago who collected and dried the berries. Her advice was that you should only swallow whole dried berries, like a pill, to "poke" your immune system when you felt like you were getting sick. You do not want to chew them as the seeds contain higher doses of the toxins. The seeds, if not chewed, will pass through your digestive tract and the berry flesh will digest giving you a lower dose, putting your immune system on alert.
I am not an herbalist and do not have any experience with this. I did, however, watch her do this a number of times and never witnessed her having any adverse reactions.
I have some poke plants in my garden and they are beautiful, stately plants, but I have been apprehensive about eating them. I think I will give it a shot after watching this. I hate to see such potential abundance going to waste.
The birds love the berries and they paint the property purple with their droppings during that time of year. Sometimes you just need to let things grow for the benefit of the rest of the local ecosystem. Everything isn't all about humans after all.
Iâm 90 and I remember being a kid during the depression. Poke was on the table often, along with wild onion/garlic and others. Maybe that has something with being in my 90th year?
Glory to God, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray you are ready to meet him đđ
Yes it's a delicious plant especially fried in butter. People in the modern worked don't appreciate nature's gifts. I was born in a house without electricity and with no sealed roads.. things were cooked on a wood stove and oven or over the fire. You'd always be in the forest or on the verge of the forest looking for plants to eat. Berries, herbs, wild fruit, birds and rabbits and hare, it wasn't bad and such a life gives you appreciation of patience and joy for small things.. such as waiting for a peach to ripen on a wild peach tree . Checking it every day. My parents were both quite evil neglectful and vicious people but I can say even with all that malice and maltreatment I had a great time myself sometimes the forest was the only way I'd find something to eat in the day as food was "rationed".
Nature has many good things to spare if you are in need
Iâm 39, and I grew up having it, too. I grew up poor on a farm in Arkansas, so we ate what we grew, raised, and foraged.
â@@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367I think a lot of it is lack of education related to foraging. That info was bred out of people generation after generation of relying on others for food.
My at goo'ness
I really appreciate you calling out osu's lack of citations
Pick the young leaves take them home wash them and clean them and cut them up, but not the lead the stem the young stems and then we dip an egg roll in milk flour and we fried best eat you ever had in your life
It drives me crazy whenever I see articles that fear monger wild plants, but especially when it is all just based on hearsay! đ
gawdamn shots fired at ohio!! that's so skibidi I nearly spit out my coffee!
The berries were used to make fake wine by coloring other alcohol in the 1800's.
@@bonaface âčïž
Poke used to be sold in cans as "poke salet" all the way until 2000 (Arkansasâ Allen Canning Company), when it became too difficult to obtain sufficient stock to make processing profitable. I am not able to have a garden, but there is a huge grouping of poke at the edge of the wooded area behind my house and I regularly collect the greens to eat. I haven't tried the stems and look forward to adding those to my rotation. Thank you!
I saw Allen's branded Poke salet in NC as late as 2014.
Wow! I didn't know that
Yes, the leaves are very good for the digestive system.
When I was a kid I knew and old lady who would fry the stalks in corn meal. They were tasty.
That's how my family has always eaten them too! Imagine my surprise when I was informed, at about the age of 30, that they were quite deadly.
@@peteblack7052 she still soaked the stalks. The greens are as good as spinach as far as I'm concerned.
I remember a patch in our yard in the rural Mississippi Delta when I was about 4 (1960). My Mom, a pharmacist, and my Dad, an MD with an MS in pharmacology, told me to never eat those berries. Poke sallad was a staple of poor people's diet and was frequently served without issue, but I guess they knew "Don't eat the berries!".đ€Ł
If poke salad was that deadly then I'd be long dead. I'm 49 and have eaten this my whole life. It's really good. My pawpaw used to teach is how to harvest and prepare things most people call weeds. I really miss him. RIP pawpaw đ
Did pawpaw teach you how to harvest pawpaw too
@@brandon9172 Did yours teach you to be this disrespectful or does it come naturally?
@@JCC_1975 I'm not quite sure what was disrespectful about that, but I apologize. It was a play on words. You called them pawpaw, which is also the name of a fruit that grows in eastern America. Very popular fruit to forage for.
â@@brandon9172yeah, I didn't think it was disrespectful either.
I never heard of pawpaw until a few years ago, and still haven't tried any.
But we did plant a couple of trees and finally have our first fruit coming in this yearđ
Salad.. so leaves were raw?
I live in a rural area in VA with TONs of this stuff on our property.We also have some native berry brambles (not tasty, but edible.) We have wild aramanth, black cherry tree, walnut trees, what I believe is a native persimmon tree. Some very THICK growths of various docks, burdocks, lambsquarter. Tons of purslane and wild violet. And so so much more. I havenât done much in the way of foraging due to health issues, but I do love the animals, birds, amphibians, turtles, reptiles and insects it attracts.
My husband gets annoyed with how varied our yard is, but I absolutely love it and refuse to help him make it boring and not fauna friendly. This year we had a mama deer rest her fawn in our yard!
Thatâs called a tapestry lawn and itâs gaining in popularity as they are much prettier and more interesting than a golf course lawn (also referred to as plastic lawns).
I didnât mention that this was only one of the foraged vegetables that my grandmother gathered for me. I almost lost my daughter when pregnant. I had poke weed 3 times a week if we could find them. Sassafras tea which came from my uncleâs farm in Kentucky. Itâs the roots that are good and beneficial not the bark or leaves. And of course liver and lot lots lots of onions. Thank goodness I like liver the way my mother and her mother cooked them. Thereâs an art to making it. But thatâs just 3 things that my grandmother made sure I ate to cleanse my blood. And it worked. There is another factor but canât remember right now. But I was able to carry my daughter to full term. The land will heal you if you know where to look.
I thought I would mention , coming from a nurse...me , that Sassafras Root Tea is carcinogenic meaning that it can produce cancer in the human body. I will admit that I don't know how much or how long you have to ingest it to inquire cancer production. There was a short period in my life as a kid in the country and the neighbor kids down the road , 7 of them in the household showed me how to get the roots , clean them and make the tea. We drank it from time to time in the year we lived there. I was 30 when I went to college to earn my Nursing degree and I'm now 58 and wouldn't drink it for nothing. Too me that's just plain , well you know. Another even more carcinogenic food that people eat the crap out of and that's Pumpkin Seeds. So that's a giant no for me. Once your educated in the world of nutrition , foods , natural vitamins from food , supplements , minerals , Electrolytes , medicines etc. , you quickly realize that the FDA is not really looking out for people but looking out for huge corporate kickbacks and also learn that the CDC sleeps in the same bed with the FDA under the same roof with the CDC and Big Pharma. When you stand back and look and see and hear , there's nothing great about this country, nothing at all but planned and
programmed illness and death that fuels Cronie's and Bureaucrats pockets aka "The 1% , the Blue bloods" and also coined as "The Paladiens" by the endowed , in the know minded people on this planet while the census of this enlightened population shrink due to the dumbing down of this country and rest of the world.
Please please tell me how to prepare liver.
So it's edible, besides liverworst.
Older generations used to call it "Poke Sallet" but younger generations thought that their parents/grandparents were mispronouncing "salad" so they "corrected" it to "Poke Salad" but the older generation was correct. Salad is eaten raw. "Sallet" is an old word that means cooked greens. Poke sallet should only be eaten cooked. So just call it poke, or poke greens or poke sallet but don't call it poke salad because that gives people the idea to eat it raw and that could be unsafe.
thatâs a cool fun fact. thanks
What a neat fact, thanks for sharing! :)
So that's what Elvis was saying. Thanks for this!
Where do you get that "sallet" means "cooked greens" from? I can't find anywhere it actually says that, but the two old recipes I found were indeed cooked rather than just mixed. And when I say "anywhere" I'm not including a 3 year old Quora comment.
The wikipedia just says that both salad and sallet stems from the french word salade of the same meaning and that the french word stems from the latin "herba salata" meaning "salted herb".
@IAmMrGreat I'm old enough to remember a world without internet when knowledge was on paper instead of a screen. I distinctly remember reading an article about poke sallet in the late 70s or 80s where the author explained the difference between sallet and salad, but that was about 40 years ago and I don't know who wrote it or what publication it was in.
However, your question motivated me to look online and by searching Google Books I found this line in "A Savory History of Arkansas Delta Food" by Cindy Grisham:
"Once it is cooked, it is poke sallet, which is derived from an Old English term that basically means a mess of young greens cooked until tender. Thus it is pokeweed before it is cooked and poke sallet afterward."
Another book, "Foraging Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods" By Christopher Nyerges has the following on page 154.
"A big misconception about eating poke resulted from the popular 1968 song by Tony Joe White called "Polk Salad Annie." The song was about a girl who picked pokeweed and knew how to prepare it. But if you're from the South you knew that White should have spelled it "Poke Sallet," since "salad" suggests you eat poke raw - you can't! - and "sallet" refers to cooked greens, which is the proper way you must prepare poke."
I know that the English language is very diverse, and words like salad and sallet may be used in different ways in different times, places and dialects.
In my personal experience, I've lived all my life in Arkansas, and people here of older generations were/are more likely to say "poke sallet" while younger generations are more likely to say "poke salad." I know those old people are not just mispronouncing salad because they also use the word salad when referring to greens that are eaten raw.
I wish I could knew where to access that article I read 40 years ago and I wish I knew what that writer's sources were, but anyway I hope I have answered your question.
Both sides of my family have been gathering, cooking, and eating poke for as long as anyone can remember, as have most of the older families around here. I know of very few who boil it, especially not in several changes of water. In most cases, the poke is gathered, then the leaves stripped. The stems are either skinned (because the skin can be stringy), chopped and sautéed or fried, breaded or not, and the leaves just roughly chopped and fried separately. My Dad even had a recipe for pokeberry wine for medicinal uses. The first time I ever saw that 'several waters' nonsense was actually in National Geographic in the 1980s. The whole family laughed at that, but that seems to be where most of that nonsense started. As I recall, the article was about someone who was 'foraging ' in Central Park. Anyway, thank you for working so hard to educate yourself and everyone else, and thank you for such well-made videos.
Does it require rubber gloves or some kind of protection, to collect it?
@@thankmelater1254 No. It can be handled by hand. Don't mess with the berries though. But as said, once the berries develop, harvesting time is over.
Edit: I've harvested it myself and grew up eating it in my foraging family.
I have a burn on my arm from the sap today after picking some. Called tolerance, how you prepare it. Doesn't mean its edible nor healthy to eat if it doesn't kill you. Can you do this with poison ivy? im sure
@@yuioni9632 Thank you, yuioni. I'll look for this plant in the local park. I'll wear gloves I guess because there's various plants there which cause burns anyway. Plus being new to it makes it more likely to have a reaction.
@@Snowwarrior OK, I'm going to wear a raincoat to gather it if I find some. They say there's lots of it in this area. I'd be surprised if my dog hasn't nibbled some. He grabs all kinds of greens as we walk. He loves doing that.
Growing up in Appalachia poke was a mainstay for my family. We boiled the greens then fried them bacon gtease. We coated the stems in corn meal and fried them. No boiling first. I'd love to have some right now!
Funnily enough this plant has a giant, massive, brother called Phytolacca dioica (the Ombu) that grows like a tree around here in it's native range. Gorgeous plant.
Oh man, that thing right there IS a tree!! đ That's crazy. I wasn't familiar with this relative of P. americana. Thank you for sharing it!
I dream of finding or even making a channel like this for my region (western WA, U.S.). You give the info in a way that is accessible without patronizing, and it is clear to me that you put in a lot of thought into the visuals. It's especially hard to convey texture and flexibility in verbal or video format, and you did a fantastic job here. The blending of traditional use and modern western science is also helpful (that shade thrown at OSU lol). I've never even seen pokeweed in real life, as it's not native to where I live. But by golly, I'll know what to eat if I'm ever in your neck of the woods! Thanks for posting these, keep up the good work.
I'm in WA also, never heard of it!
Iâm in Oregon and we have it growing in loads of backyards :)
@@bexgoshorn274 You need to say what part of Oregon, it's got at least 3 different climates. I live just east of Portland. Hot dry summer, cool and drizzly the rest of the year. Never seen this plant, but I'll look for it.
Too bad you don't care for the leaves. I've eaten a lot of pokeweed over the decades, with picking and cooking passed down to me through generations. Those young shoots at 4:45 are perfect. They are not more toxic just because they are close to the roots. They are the most mild flavored of all the pokeweed harvests, but they aren't the most efficient picking for lots of food. I agree about the tender shoots, even the thick ones -- so delicious! But I like the big leaves, like you had on the stalks you were harvesting, too. They can provide a lot of food for a long season, especially if you keep the plants cut back for awhile so they keep sending up more shoots or keep branching out with new growth. Cutting an old not edible patch down to the ground in the late summer gives a good fall harvest, too. Such a great plant! Happy foraging!
Hey it's you! I recommended your video on poke as a supplement to this one in another comment. Don't know if you recognize me, but I commented on your video before. Love your channel! Much respect to you and your dad :)
Hey there!!! Love your channel too! Glad to hear from you! Are you still going to post videos on your channel? Haven't seen you upload one lately đą
Hello! Your video on Pokeweed is one of my personal favorites! For anyone reading this who IS interested in foraging and cooking the leaves, be sure to check their video out. I'll have to do more experiments with the extra young shoots myself, thank you for letting me know about that!
Thank you. That was very informative. I grew up eating poke leaves and still do. I canât wait to try these.
I live in Hazel Green Alabama in a forest. Itâs so nice to see a channel like this and with nearby food sources. I look forward to watching more videos.
Years ago I had some neighbors with a little boy who at the time was about 2 or 3 years old. I was out on my front porch when I saw the boy's grandma dragging him out of the bushes & the boy was covered in purple from head to toe. The grandma caught the boy eating poke berries. Everybody was terrified & they rushed him to the hospital. He just got a mild tummy ache đ
I've eaten it all my life. The best fried okra I've ever had đ
Poke is the first wild food I remember foraging, with my grandmother as a preschooler. I've only eaten the leaves, though. I find it funny that the way to avoid high concentrations of oxalic acid in poke - using leaves, not red stems - is the exact opposite of how to avoid high concentrations of oxalic acid in rhubarb - avoiding leaves, using stems, especially red stems. I've wondered something, however. I like to forage in large part because wild plants are often more nutritious than store-bought vegetables. After poke is properly prepared to make it safe (boiled and rinsed multiple times), does it have any nutritional value left?
My brother, I'm very concerned that despite your claim that you are "preparing them properly" I haven't seen a scrap of fatback in this video. For real though, great video. Thanks for the knowledge.
?
Baconâ@@user-xj8wy4uu1q
@@user-xj8wy4uu1qfatback is using to cook with - it is a fat.
@@user-xj8wy4uu1qFatback. Hard pork fat. Basically, cooking it in rendered lard.
Hahaha, good one XD
Just started foraging for this plant this year. Happy to know itâs more edible than Iâve heard. One note though about the timing on that reportâŠitâs A LOT warmer A LOT earlier now than it would have been in 1980. Meaning that the season could have naturally been later than it is now.
I was wondering about that, too - the climate changes
Your correct young man us old timers call it parboiling great video
My grandparents used to make Poke salad way back in the day (1970s).
my grandma was raised on it, and she was born in the 1940's
I had never planned on trying poke even though it's common to my area because of the toxicity. I think I'll give it a go next year though now that I have a resource to clarify what the actual risks and processes are
Thanks for this video. I've been eating a lot of wild edibles for a number of years but have always been a bit nervous about this plant. This video was great.
I'm a Blount county native. Polk weed used to grow around the edge of our garden. My mother would batter and fry the stalks like okra.
I'm from Blount County, TN and my Pa-paw used to scramble the young shoots/leaves with eggs.
This is great! I remember learning in Boy Scouts that you could eat this plant in some form, but I never learned exactly how. This is great to learn!
Also, it should be noted that the ripe berries actually can be used to make a natural reddish dye for fabric.
According to some British accounts, the dyes from the berries of a few other species in the genus were used to produce some of the more colorful tattoos in various Polynesian cultures. Given the toxins present in those dyes, this raises some questions.
One thing that has been confirmed from museum pieces is that the (now threatened) native species of pokeweed found in Hawaii was used to produce a red-purple dye used in clothing.
We used to wear white t-shirts in gym/P.E. class and have fights with the poke berrys if we ran that day. We would have purple sploches all over our skin and shirts by the time it was said and done. Mom used to get onto me about it, due to it not washing out. đ Turns the skin purple too.
I've also heard of the old southerners making pies out of the berries.
Thanks for sharing this! I found that around 50% of the plants on the US invasive plant list are edible or medicinal. Kudzu and cattails were my biggest surprise.
I think thatâs why a lot of them were brought over in the first place. Sadly, most of those invasives are only edible for humans, they leave a wildlife desert behind as they spread. Even national parks are rapidly being overrun now. Forests I visited less than 20 years ago look completely different now.
Thank you for this video. I have been hunting a video on poke.I used to gather it and take to my Mom. I have gobs growing around my property. I will definitely give it a try.
We ate the stalks and fried it in cornmeal and flour. So good. Ate them since the 70s. My parents probably ate them since the 50s.
Oooh, fried sounds delicious!
I'm a relatively new gardener, and pokeweed always strikes me as a handsome plant. I'll have to try cooking it now. Maybe it's worth keeping around after all!
I love Knotweed, it has a somewhat Rhubarb-esque flavor to it.
I wasnt too interested in the knotweed til right now.
I was disappointed in knotweed, but I only tried it one way. How did you cook it?
@@cynthiacollins2668 I actually eat it raw, but I suppose one could prepare it the same way one prepares Rhubarb, unless you ARE Barbara, then just don't use it to make pie. (small joke there for those that don't get the reference)
I think a part of the bad press for poke weed is that, at least in the southern US where I grew up, it was considered desperation food for the poor, and kind of looked down on. Never tried it myself, but I am going to give it a try next time I find some ripe for harvest.
Poke Salad Annie... đ¶
sallet
Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White.
âĄâĄâĄâĄ
When I was 3.. my pop and I won a daddy/daughter dance contest to it
...gator got your granny
This is crazy interesting to me! đ€Ż In Korea đ°đ·, Phytolacca (ìëŠŹêł”) has historically been used in poisonous concoctions called sayak (ìŹìœ), a capital punishment for the noble classes and royals. â So people are told to stay away from these plants here... Now, I'm tempted to give them a try when there are young plants again...
Korea really is an interesting peninsula. The land of fans with automatic timers because some people think having an electric fan in a closed room is going to end you.
The berries are also edible, it's the seeds (when crushed/opened) that are poisonous. In Appalachia the juice of the berries is made into a jam/jelly, wines, used as dye in food or clothes. Hypothetically speaking you could eat the berries whole as long as you didn't crush the seed and passed it through your bowels intact. You must collect the juice through extraction/double boiler method, or through gentle hand squeezing.
Caught your vid on the algorithm...Only tip I can give is to mix & cook them with greens...Granny is gone, but she called them poke salad...
All across the rural deep south it was called "Poke Salat" (with a T on the end), but I never knew of it being eaten as a salad, and I always wondered why they called it that.
@@notmyworld44 When I say greens I'm talking about Collards, mustard, & turnip greens...My Granny & her siblings were frm way back, so not sure about salat or salad...She was frm 1918 & they were raised on a farm...She never said they were poison...Maybe she just knew how to cook them...She lived to be 101yrs, 2019...
its interesting to see that the older commenters are the ones more likely to have tried this before!
I always knew the poke plant for being toxic, so I never tried poke salad or anything but i might give this a shot when im camping
My grandpa got polk stalks when they were about ten to a foot inches tall mainly green not purple. Then just removed the leaves and chopped the stalks, washed them, then rolled them in cornmeal and flour and some salt. Then fried them oil in a skillet.
As a true "born native" of the Appalachian Mountains, my family and I have been harvesting and eating this plant for as long as we lived in our native mountains. I was taught at such a young age when to harvest the eatable parts of the poke plant or as we call it "poke salad". The stalk tastes like fried okra and is quite delicious, but you have to harvest it when it's not turned red or too big of a stalk, for it becomes poisonous after that stage. Same goes for the leaves. Pick the leaves early and fill your poke with free food. Boil several times, changing the water with each boil. Eats like spinach or greens. Add white vinegar for a extra kick or mix poke leaves with eggs for a breakfast treat. Fry the stalks sliced like okra rolled in flour or cornmeal. Good stuff, but you got to know when to harvest. Never eat poke plant raw or when the stalks turned pinkish red. Of course I've HEARD of this. Lol!
imy first experience with poke was when I stopped in a dinner in TN ...1977 ... and Poke and eggs were on the menu ... plenty growing in the back yard (..eastern shore of MD) ... And though I've foraged it before ..I rarely think to eat it . a nice reminder and deep dive ..thanks!
I have so much poke weed around and it looks to be right at the perfect stage. Iâll give it a try tomorrow.
I've always been told to boil them through 3 waters. Worked pretty well so far.
Same. Even if not needed itâs a ritual at that point.
Yup, it is popping up again, now I know what to do with it, thanksđ
I am also here in northern Alabama, so I remember my grandmother preparing polk. Thanks for the info, your gorgeous.
I will refer to this video again next Spring when the pokeweed pokes up in my Atlanta garden again. Thanks.
I have tons in my yard I just got done cutting down 9ft tall over an inch thick. When cutting up fir storm damage
Very interesting video! I have a population of American pokeweed by my house in Ohio and saved a bunch of seeds for seed bombs but was convinced the plants themselves were too risky to eat. Maybe Iâll give them a try! Iâve eaten Adamâs Needle yucca stalks and similar to your description it tasted a lot like asparagus.
My Dad grew up in far southern Illinois. Died at the age of 84 from old age. Ate Polk berries all his life. (Leaves and Stems too) Said it helped his arthritis. I don't know how this came to be known as a poisonous plant, but people in the Middle Ages thought Tomatoes would kill you.
Love this information ! Thanks a Lot ! Can't wait to find some if it's not too late this year.
Excellent report! In the rural south that plant used to be often referred to as "Poke Salat" (with the T), although I never knew of it being eaten literally as a salad. I've eaten cooked poke "greens" (leaves) several times, although it was long ago and prepared by an experienced rural person. The greens were parboiled and drained twice, then cooked a third time with crumbled fried bacon added to the water. I could be wrong, but all that parboiling and draining simply has to destroy whatever vitamins might have been in the plant. The end product was filling and tasted nice, but what real nutrition could possibly remain in it? I haven't tried the shoots. Thanks for a really fine video presentation here.
LOVE this channel that I just discovered
Kudos, sir
Your channel is very informative. Growing up I see these pokeweed berries All the time I didn't know the name, but I call them poisonberries. Now I'm interested to try to eat some the shoots.
I have to really check out that recipe. My family (we're from Virginia, along the va/ky line) always eat them small, no higher than 3-4 inches with the leaves still curved inward. We prepare them the same way we prepare morels. Soaked in cold water for an hour or two, drained, rolled in a 50/50 mix of cornmeal & flour, then fried until golden brown. We never eat a large quantity of it at a time, because we only gather it as we hunt dry land fish (morels). When I was a kid, I often ate enough to give my tongue a tiny blister or two (lie bumps, we called them) but I have never known of anyone getting sick. Morels grow from mid march to the end of april here so we only eat poke shoots during that time. My family never ate the leaves because everyone one thought the same thing "Too much work, and we grew much tastier greens in the garden, mustard, collards, creasy greens..."
Edit~I'm 61, by the way, so I'm with you on the whole "killer plant" thing. I've been eating poke my whole life, I can't remember a spring that I haven't eaten dry land fish & poke shoots. đ€·ââïž
I'm not familiar with "dry land fish." Is that a recipe or a type of fish?
Honestly, I'm an urban kid with scant knowledge of the land or cooking. Hence, my interest in this channel. âïžđ
@@erinmac4750 it's both! đ In the southern Appalachian mountain area we call morel mushrooms "dry land fish" because the mushrooms have a meaty texture (unlike other foraged foods my people have traditionally eaten, ie. berries, nuts, plants...) AND we prepare it the way we prepare fresh water fish. For the mushrooms, you slice them in half lengthwise, and soak them about an hour in cold water (it both cleans them and gets any tiny bugs out) drain them and roll (dredge) them in a mixture of flour & cornbread mix and fry them in a skillet. Drain them on paper towels. Fresh water fish is excellent cooked this way also. I was an adult the first time I heard them called by their proper name, Morels.
Amazing video my guy!! Iâm going to try some this year. They are all over the place. Thanks for removing the fear.
I had these growing in the backyard of my childhood home, I always thought they were pretty, but never thought they could be edible!
I just bought my house 2 years ago and this stuff grows wild along the fence in my backyard....I just let the animals have it since the birds are the ones who most likely planted it with their droppings, lol...They planted a few Mulberry trees too!! Haha
Could you recommend a book on foraging with decent pictures and what needs to be done to make sure it's safe to eat.... Thanks
Good recommendations. I remember Polk Salad in stores in East Texas in the 70's. I loved the stuff. Sadly, there isn't any in Southern California.
Poke Salat was mostly considered a spring tonic herb where I grew up. It seemed to helpwith circulation.
Wait for cow parsnip and giant hog weed! Very tasty IF you know what you are doing.
Great info! Thank you
Fun fact, you can make a pest repellant for your garden with the boiled water. You would want to use the more purple plants and the roots are the best according to Youngsang Cho, founder of JADAM. His instruction say to take a 1:5 ratio of plant material to soft water, and boil it down to about a half to a quarter the water you started with. Use some sterilized bottles and you have a natural, shelf stable, home made, free pest repellant.
I'm thinking that repellent might not be advisable for use in your veg garden due to the toxins.
@@asnormal1362 it degrades in a few days with normal weather and can be washed off without much trouble especially if you use a cleaning spray of sorts
Thanks so much for this info! Iâd like to add that as an Indigenous person I think itâs important to leave some kind of offering as a thank you to the plant. Even if itâs plentiful. Some water or tobacco is typical.
God there's several good ones coming up in the back yard...I'm waiting for the berries so I can spread em around more and next year I'll be very happy to harvest them. Gonna leave the mature earlier plants alone for another year or two
We've had Poke every day for weeks. The only reason we haven't had any this week is because it's too hot to cook. I look forward to it every year!
Looks so delicious. Thanks for calling out those misinfo studies! Love ur stuff â€
I dont think ive Ever seen these before, ill have to keep an eye out. Woudnt mind giving it a go. Thanks for the info mate. Cheers
There's some growing right on the side of my house right now, and a bunch out back. I'm not interested in eating them, but they look cool. They have small flower/berry clusters forming already.
Despite KNOWING that they're poison, the poke berries just looked too good, so I did the "what the heck, it's just one." Which tasted like a deeply musky black currant/mulberry. So I had another, and a third. And, happy to say a whole THREE berries did absolutely nothing. Thank goodness. I know better, just couldn't help myself. And thanks for the info about the shoots. I'm more experienced with nightshade berries-with the right ripeness, they're safe when cooked-pie, jam, tarts etc
This is definitely a vegetable I HAVE had. My grandma used to make us stop on the side of country roads when she spotted this stuff growing.
I remember eating the berries a few times as a kid, just to give them a try (spent a lot of time "exploring" in the woods, building tree houses, catching crawfish from the creek, etc.), and never once did I have any adverse reactions. Just a few will not harm you, and you _won't_ have more than one or two, trust me. They're bitter and acrid and just overall very unpleasant.
That said, they do stain a deep burgundy color, and my brother and I frequently smashed the berries and used them as warrior paint on our faces. (Again, no adverse reactions.)
I see this and knotweed everywhere on one of my dog walks. I've tried knotweed and didn't really like it but will def give poke a try. Thanks.
Iâm in north Alabama as well (sand mountain ) I had a poke grow taller than my house last year. I just left it to grow and see what happened and it just kept going.
Thank you!!
Acrid, my favorite flavor.
I found the berries to be very useful for fibromyalgia, chronic pain and exhaustion especially in the winter. I give my old little doggie one and it puts a pep in her step. Of course she swallows it right down, like I do, and doesn't chew. The seeds pass right through.
Just never ever chew or crush the seeds, that is where the poison comes from. Use it responsibly. Keep away from children, label it, etc.
Thank you for making this!!!! I tried reading about this years ago and there was so much conflicting information I decided against harvesting.
Hope it helps to clear things up!
Ive never actually eaten it. My brother & I used to chop up the stalk as "sushi" in our pretend sushi bar. Mom went on a crusade against it one year because we were staining our clothes with the verries while making "potions".
We ate the leaves growing up and they made my gums a little sore, although I was getting my wisdom teeth at the time, but it seemed to sensitize that area. As far as wild greens I always liked lamb's quarters much more. I will try the poke shoots this year though.
Yes I have eaten poke leaves and young stalks , poke salad is great mixed with mustard greens and take the young stalks and fry them like you do okra DELICIOUS đ
Thank you for information.
Great video đ
Found you on Praxis. Great content!
Recently moved to ky. While walking through the property, I found that I have an abundance of poke weed, among many other things, a lot I have not been able to identify yet. I'm a have to try once kind of guy and wow they are awesome, I did it differently from all other ways I saw to cook it, so did boil it twice then sautéed them in butter and complete seasoning & pepper ate little to see if any adverse reaction none so I chowed down they were so good I couldn't believe I've never eaten it before and I'm 50 now highly suggest them if you like greens. Can't wait to find out what else I have that's edible here. I know there are lots of medically weeds I don't really have a use for, which is kind of sad, but I'm glad I don't need them.
This is awesome ! I have so many nearby and I also have some purple milkweeds I would like to try once they grow
i have been wondering if theres something i can do with these.. thank you for this informative and in depth video! looking forward to testing it out when possible
Great video.
Lots of Poke Weed around here.
Plus bacon grease is always a good idea in cooking.
I don't see that it can be extremely nutritious if it's boiled over and over. We ate polk when I was growing up but I only remember my mom boiling it once.
Never tried the stems before. Will be giving it a go.
I live in the hills of SEMO and i let the polk grow wherever it wishes around in my yard...:)...
Me too. Great privacy and they give nutrients to the soil... cheers
Yesssss I want all the Poke info
Never eaten it before but I think it's such a beautiful plantđâ€â€â€â€.
Testing the stalks for tenderness reminds me of the method used to break asparagus to avoid the parts that have gotten too woody to eat
I really need a place to forage, I would love to try some poke stems!
Love making Poke Berry Jam for people I don't like. LOL! Totally Kidding!!!!
In New York it is considered a noxious weed and is illegal to cultivate in NYC. The berries are said to be poisonous and only need 8 to kill a small child, but I could never find actual cases online. The berries are good for a natural dye. I would see a few southern old timers visiting the Rockaways harvesting wild growing plants near the boardwalk.
Poke Greens Are Great and The Shoots.
My Family Ate Them For Years In Kentucky.
I Never Boiled And Poured Off Poke Greens Or The Shoots.
I Peal Off The Poke Shoots Cut Them Up
Put Them In Egg Then Roll Them In Jiffy Corn Mix And Fry Them.
Delicious!
Great infornation.I did not even know the stalks were edible and it grow like crazy around here.
When I was growing up, the old timers referred to this plant as "poke salet," which could lead someone to believe they are referring to it as "salad." I read an account of someone eating it raw because of this. I'm curious to know where this terminology came from.
I love poke salat, I forage, and eat poke many ways, and use its medicine.
Thereâs a bunch of these along the pasture lines Iâm gonna make some next time Iâm on the farm ::)))