Pokeweed - One of my favorite wild greens of summer -Top 3!
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- Опубліковано 21 чер 2021
- Pokeweed is one of my favorite wild greens. It's in my top 3 for summer, and in my top 5 wild greens of any time of year! Pokeweed used to be one of America's most well known wild vegetables, and was even sold in grocery stores as Poke Salet Greens. But now there is so much misunderstanding and confusion about pokeweed. My dad shows how to harvest poke greens from an older plant, break down the toxic compounds, and cook it into a delicious mess of wild greens. I give you a strategy for getting to know pokeweed and forage it yourself in the spring, summer, and even into the fall. For hundreds of years, people have lived off eating pokeweed. It's real food for regular people. One of my favorite wild greens of all time!
Pokeweed does have some toxic compounds in them, and that changes over the growing season. So it's good to pay attention to the quality of the leaves. Plants grown in the semi-shade will have the longest season, biggest leaves, and produce the most food.
Step 1: Keep the leaves fresh by soaking them in cold water.
Step 2: Then put the leaves in plenty of boiling water to remove the saponin-based toxins that are water soluble. They don't have to be in there a long time, even a couple minutes is OK. The key is to use plenty of water compared to the leaves, and don't use that water again, or for anything else.
Step 3: Rinse the leaves thoroughly. That gets rids of the water soluble compounds that were released by the blanching or parboiling.
Step 4. Cook in water that's boiling or close to it, for at least 10 minutes, to get rid of the second king of toxic compounds. Time and heat are the key factors. One way is to simmer the leaves with onions and bacon until the flavors mix and older leaves get tender. That's plenty of time. Or you can just boil the leaves, alone, in a second pot of water. Then drain and cook with eggs, like the recipe on the back of the canned poke salet greens.
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Pokeweed - Phytolacca americana
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The books I shows are old classics, still full of good information, but no photos:
Stalking the Wild Asparagus, by Euell Gibbons
BIlly Joe Tatum's Wild Foods Cookbook and Field Guide
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Thanks to the iNaturalist photographers that put their Pokeweed photos into the public domain. You can find me on iNaturalist at hchrish200.
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My playlist on Pokeweed: • Poke Weed - The Real S...
The videos mentioned (and in the playlist):
Homesteading the Pioneer Way: • Picking a mess of polk... and • Cooking polk
OsiyoTV: • OsiyoTV Web Exclusive:...
Earth Healing: • The Many Uses of Pokeweed
Identify That Plant: • Plant portrait - Pokew...
DevaJones03: • The Herbal Series: Pok...
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My channel: Haphazard Homestead: / @haphazardhomestead
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Music: "Guts and Bourbon" by,Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Other music, "One Fine Day", "Together with You", "Tennessee Hayride", and "Walk the Dog", from UA-cam Music Library. - Навчання та стиль
Pokeweed is one of my most favorite wild greens. Do you enjoy pokeweed, or know people in your family that grew up eating it? So many people have relied on this plant for real food, good food. It's a shame more people don't know this plant better nowadays. I may add more videos to the playlist I mentioned. Happy summer!
Holly Chris, Thank You for another much needed video, filled with super important info. I grew up eating from our own gardens, along with some trail grazing (I call it), eating wild greens and berries on our walks. I learned about poke weed from some elder people living on the river, that were kind enough to give me and my sister some greens, but gave us no info. Long story short, my sister did all the wrong things (such as eating unrinsed greens, plus drinking the liquor from it) with her batch and it ended up nearly costing her life. I am extremely Grateful for your thoroughness in explaining this wonderful, delicious wild green. I'll be harvesting some tonight. : )
So sorry to hear about your sister's pokeweed experience, rockreader4. I'm glad you shared it here in the comments. The details matter with pokeweed. I'm glad you got it figured out now! Over-boiling of the tender leaves and young stems, I think, is one cause of people not liking pokeweed, because it loses texture and flavor. But your sister's experience is so much worse. I'm glad she recovered.
I learned of your channel looking for information on Lamb Shank and stayed for the pokeweed. Having heard the song...both versions...I am intrigued. Thank you! I've also enjoyed the pickling Elephant Garlic greens.
I grew up eating poke sallet. You have to know what you’re doing. Never knew they were commercially available in cans.
@@chomama1628 I was very surprised to see that. Almost like seeing dandelion greens in a can, which I've never seen.
I'm 70, and have eaten poke all my life, mostly out of necessity... My grandmother used to say, when we complained about eating it so often, "Eat it~! It'll make a turd..." But poke greens did much more than that... It gave us such steady vitamins when times were hard and we were wearing shoes with hog rings holding the soles on them... Now days I crave the things I had to eat as a child...
Your grandmother sure had an interesting way to handle you kids, Edward Brown, lol. You make a good point about how pokeweed kept families fed when times were hard. And how food from those times can have such a strong pull on us even decades later. When my grandmothers and great aunts were older, they sure appreciated when I brought them some wild harvested things. It helped them remember the good times from their hard times. Enjoy your pokeweed!
@@HaphazardHomestead my husband's response to a meal that turn out to be underwhelming, "it's not your best but it'll make a turd". Lol, I've never heard anyone else say it!
Once you’re full it really doesn’t matter what got you there.
Now this is my kind of channel.
💖💎🏆💐
We need more ladies like this educating us on what we can eat growing in our back yards wild. She is a wholesome good lady that really cares😊 for others.She is what America 🇺🇸 is all about and let's us not forget these ancient wild foods..
I'm cooking some poke right now for the first time in my life. You are so blessed to have such a wonderful dad
I hope you enjoyed your poke, Michelle McNeill. I'd be interested in your taste review, positive or negative. I was raised on poke, dock, and lambsquarter, all due to my dad. He is a wonderful dad.
Oh my goodness. This is the best video I've watched about foraging plants to eat. Not because other videos are not informative, but because of the hostess. She isn't trying to be fancy or politically correct. She's friendly, very informative, and knowledgeable. I enjoyed listening to her talk. I have subscribed to her channel and look forward to watching more of her videos.
My ancestors were tenant and a few subsistence farmers. Polk was on the table along with kidney beans, and sour dough biscuits, pond fish and smoke cured meats. The girls even made purple dye from the berries. I’m a little old man now and would like to raise Polk myself, so Thank you. I liked and subscribed.
This sounds like a great meal
In the asian community we used the tender tips in chicken stews and yes it will improve your appetite and palettes for more. I love wild medicinal. Mt grandma is a herbal medicine lady in our village in Northern Laos. You're amazing 👏 💖 keep it coming.
i wish i could learn from your grandma!
Me too!!
When I was very young my Dad thought it was funny to make spinach and eggs and call it “poke salad”. Made sense to me, add eggs to spinach, give ‘em a poke and make a “salad”. It was several years before I learned about poke weed.
My favorite way to eat poke is mixed/ cooked with scrambled eggs. After it has been boiled of course. Wonderful !
Thanks for sharing your love of poke and how you enjoy it most, Russell Wenger. It helps other people appreciate that this plant is real food! Happy summer!
I’ll try it thanks
I may need to try this with eggs
I love eating Pokeweed, I grow up in a small village in Mexico, my grandma and my mom never rinsed just boiled with a little be salt after that she squeezed it with her hands ready to going in to salsa. A toasted tomatillos, garlic and 🌶 with home make tortillas super delicious 🤤
Thanks for sharing your family's traditions with pokeweed, Esther Garcia! It's so helpful for other people to see that pokeweed is real food for regular people, and there's flexibility in how it's prepared. I'm glad you enjoy such a wonderful plant! :D The way you cook it sounds delicious!
That sounds delicious!
I. Love. To. Eat..poke. weeds. The. Best
That recipe sounds delicious may I add that to a forage cookbook
So I'm in my sixties and my grandparents raised me on a farm in Kentucky. We went poke hunting every spring. But my grandparents always said we could only pick it before it gets 20 inches and NOT to pick after may!! Last Sunday I was out wild herb hunting and saw a ton of young poke!!!! So I can go back and get it!!!!!🌿
Thanks for sharing your family's experience with pokeweed, donna potee2. I really appreciate learning all the rules of thumb people learned in their traditions with this plant. I think rules like that made it easier to explain than evaluating the quality of a plant and its leaves in a particular location. Your grandparents must have really liked poke to have their limit at 20 inches -- they wanted to get all the pickings they could before the end of May! ; )
Yes
I always thought it was a poisonous plant
I always saw Allen's Poke Salet in California supermarkets but an AP news story "Canned Poke Salet A Southern Favorite" from 1990 had Blytheville Canning Co. as another selling canned poke. According to the USDA nutritional database even after preparation the shoots have lots of vitamin A and much more vitamin C than oranges. Impressive!
Thanks for adding your memories about the canned poke and the other canning company, antilogism. I've read that Bush Canning in Oklahoma did it, too, but I've never seen a can of it. That nutrition information on the back of the Allen's Poke Salet is pretty amazing. 180% of daily vitamin A in one-half cup of greens (1/4 of the can). That's a lot!
@@HaphazardHomestead I just now came back to your video and spotted your reply. With that, I looked up and found that Bush acquired the Blytheville Canning Company in 1944. It seems that Bush canned poke in Arkansas under Blythville as well as in Oklahoma, according to a Bush Brothers VP in 1990 ["Canned Poke Salet A Southern Favorite", The Oklahoman, 1990].
I came back years later to thank you. These two old guys are having poke with our supper and enjoying every minute of it. The best time of year!
You provided some memories for me. My dad and grandma called it poke salad here in Tennessee. Dad would pick the small leaves and par boil 3 times to remove he said poison. Then he'd fry in bacon grease and add eggs. It was real good. Was talking about it the other day with my sister. My yard is full of poke salad but never cooked it myself. Thanks for the memories.
I'm glad you have some nice memories around poke salad, Furry Friends. Your dad and grandma shared some good eating with you! :D
I grew up in TN and went hunting Polk Salad. My dad loved it. That sounds like the way my mom would make it for him.
I'm in my late 60s and I remember my grandmother fixing these. But I was very young and grew hearing how poison it was. Glad to hear CORRECT information.
It's amazing how wild plants can leave such strong memories. I'm glad your grandmother enjoyed poke. She knew how good this plant is. I hope you can find some plants around you and enjoy it now, too.
@@HaphazardHomestead 🌿☔🍀So very interesting to finally learn about Poke after growing up enjoying the song! (I always thought they were saying "Poke Salad Annie!"😄) I'll have to learn more from Google about the history of Poke now that you've shown us how to get it safely into our diets❣️
And please tell us what your other 2 favorite greens are! You are a wonderful teacher with a very entertaining way of passing on your knowledge. My very best to your parents for sharing what your great-great grandmother had learned❣️
My in-laws were from Kentucky, they canned polk with dock, wild lettuce in quart jars in vinegar, those were the best greens I’ve ever eaten !
Thanks for sharing your enjoyment of poke greens, Dale Rash. Your in-laws know what's good eating! Man, I would like a can or two of those mixed greens! Yumm!
Best darn presentation on this subject I have ever seen. I'm ate up with this plant here in West GA. It grows exceptionally well here.
I'm glad you enjoyed my pokeweed video, PressedEarth. I've been a fan of this plant for a long time and could go on and on, lol. I wonder how much poke has been eaten in Georgia over the years. It's been such an important food plant for so many people. Very nice that you have it near by - and that it's so healthy. You must have good soil! Happy summer!
Thanks for the info 👍 I talk to a lot of old timers over the years I tell them they should start there own UA-cam channel for the amount of knowledge and wisdom with life experiences that they have👍 Passing on all this enrichment to the young helps them grow better inside and out☦️ God Bless ☦️
Glad you enjoyed my pokeweed video, Peter Gunn. It's a shame to think of all that understanding being lost every year. UA-cam is a great way to preserve some of it. I'm fortunate to still have my parents around to share with. Have a great summer!
In. VI
I mix my poke greens with nettles, the combination is wonderful. I am in my 60's and my grandmother is who taught me how to collect and cook wild greens. I also keep Poke near my yard also, this allow me to locate it in the spring.
That sounds like a great combination of wild greens, Rick S! That's great you learned about poke from your grandmother. So many people never get that. And thanks for sharing that you, too, like having poke nearby. There's such a strong tradition of people encouraging wild plants near them, for that very reason. Enjoy your poke greens!
I mix poke, spinach and Burdock about 2-3 times a week in the summer. I also grow my own herbs sage, thyme, and basil and I add fresh mushrooms most wonderful salad.. Lots of love and light to everyone..
Wow! Nettles and poke! Both are growing abundantly in my yard, right in town. Next door to the manicured lawbs. To think, I was going to hire someone clear it all out. Yesterday I saw a video on eating nettles too. So now I am proud of my poke and nettles and going to eat them! Much thanks!!
So smart!
@@cynthiadavis3102 Please be cautious of chemicals on lawns. We still have many around us using Monsanto/Bayer poisons
My mother cooked young poke weed leaves during my childhood and beyond. We love it so much. I would cook it now if I could find it.
Mom would boil, drain and press poke weed three times, sauté wild onions in margarine, and add the greens, a few eggs, and salt and pepper. Then, she would scramble the mix until done. So delicious alongside hoe cakes or flapjacks!
I acquired a load of fill dirt that turned out to be loaded with pokeweed. I let them grow till they were old enough to transplant into an area where some was already growing. They look a bit pitiful now, but I’m keeping them watered. Hopefully by next season, I’ll be able to do like Annie and pick me a mess of it and carry it home in a tow sack. I’m going to buy a tow sack just so I can say I really did that.
You've taught me so much about wild edibles you're awesome and God bless you
I'm glad my videos have been helpful, Blake Hill! It's amazing how much good food is out there, just waiting for us to know it!
My husband loves pokeweed! We have several plants growing in our back yard and he cuts the leaves regularly for boiling and eating with butter, salt and black pepper - like spinach. The plants are just now forming tiny white berries, so the days of getting fresh poke are coming to a close for this season. Not to worry - he has bags of the stuff in the freezer! Thanks for this interesting video.
I cooked and ate pokeweed for the first time this spring. I can not express how delicious it was! Spinach, what's that?
Congratulations on becoming a pokeweed fan, Rosemary Schiebel! Thanks for letting us all know your taste review of it, too. I'm excited for you and how you will get to enjoy some fine eating for the rest of your life! :D
Yes....it is better than: turnips, collards, mustards (which I hate).
Since you mentioned spinach, I have to say I never had much luck growing it. I planted it early, but it grew so slow in the cooler weather. Then once it got warmer, the darn stuff bolted right away. I've been substituting stinging nettle instead. I harvest it early in spring when about 4" high and clean and cook it like spinach. I can't tell a difference in flavor. I like using it in a Spinach Pie recipe. I may have to try pokeweed, since it can be harvested for a longer period of time, and it keeps coming up despite my efforts to get rid of it.
Ok, you've convinced me- I have so many poke plants in my yard and I've been afraid to try it after hearing someone say you had to boil twice. I'm going to try it (and stop cutting it all down and putting it on the burn pile- oops!)
Native Americans have been living off the land way before Europeans.
We call it poke salad here. I've never had it but my mom spotted it growing on the side of my house and got excited.
Your mom knows what's up, shyekiera! I hope your mom can make you some poke salad. If you like cooked greens, poke might become your favorite. I'm excited for you to try it out. Say hey to your mom, from one poke fan to another. It's a plant worth getting excited about! :D
Yea I know it as poke salad too
Girl you ROCK!!!!! Love your channel, voice, teachings...keep bringing us these videos 💓
Thanks, Elizabeth P.! Nature is amazing and there are so many great plants and mushrooms out there, just waiting for us to get to know them! :D
She really really rocks. Tip top instructions. Thanks.
One thousand thank-yous for such an in-depth and detailed lecture on proper use and dispelling myths because I tell you what there's a lot of people that are misinformed out there. I've got beautiful pokeweed in my yard and I think I have just a few more days before they start to set flowers
Whaaat I thought this was not edible!!! So excited cause it grows so well around us.
People can make serious mistakes by eating pokeweed raw or not cooked right. But it's been real, substantial food for so many people across the centuries. You already have an idea about how much food could be out there, it sounds like, with the plants near you. Choose your leaves well, don't skimp on the water for boiling or rinsing, and cook it thoroughly with enough time. If you like cooked greens, I think you will like poke greens. I'd be interested in hearing about your experience, if you do get to try it out. Good luck!
Woo hooo, I kept missing poke weed, growing up with it. I called out to the great mystery Then suddenly it appeared growing in my yard! Never saw it in the Pacific northwest
In native medicine we used it as food and for arthritis.
Please keep up the work. I've been a herbalist for decades. I love your work.
I've been kicked out of herbal groups online Facebook and message boards for promoting poke weed.
How nice that you've got pokeweed growing in your yard, Mikowacomet! And thanks for sharing your experience in using it, too. There's more and more pokeweed showing up around the Pacific Northwest because people brought it in from back east, they liked eating it so much. And now it spreads by the seeds. I'm with you that pokeweed deserves more appreciation!
Well, you know there's a lot of "internet experts" out there. Stay strong 💪 Mikowacomet 👍🇺🇸
Ll
😰sorry about being kicked out
SO Glad this popped up in my suggestion bar. I am 70 and have loved PS since the first time I tried it at around age 4. I distinctly remember it. I have done a video about finding it and using it, too, but YOUR video is so informative. I did not know you could prune and train it. I have several plants in the yard that I cultivate and harvest from. (I live in Fort Smith AR). I have used PS as a substitute for spinach in creamed spinach and that very popular Knorr Spinach Dip. Excellent.
Thanks for sharing about your videos, granny bee. I enjoyed watching the first video with the big root, and then turning it into creamed spinach. Pokeweed is just the best! Have a great summer!
I haven’t had poke weed for a long time! I come from Appalachian stock, and also used to spend a lot of time out in the wilderness backpacking and such.
Learning to forage for wild foods was just a natural thing for me.
I live in KY and my grandma was born in 1919, she taught us how to hunt mustard greens. She like to cook poke and mustard and collard or turnip greens in one opt with some bacon grease or salt pork . Wow were they good. She'd say look em good and wash them good.
My Mom, from Southeastern Kentucky, combined Mustard, Turnip and Poke weed and it was delicious!
She told me that people who said you had to pick it while small were just wrong.
Her family were substance farmers and Poke Weed was a staple.
Sounds great
In Arkansas we mostly eat it in spring as a spring "tonic" to thin the blood and kill parasites in your body for a yearly detox. The first picking of small plants just need one parboiling for a good 20 -30 mins , then drained and fried with eggs. It does burn a little in the throat like a good olive oil, yummmm. If you let it go to seed be sure to leave them all winter for the deer. Then be sure to disturb the ground where the seeds fell to make them come up.
Thanks for sharing how you harvest, process, and cook your poke, Terri Jaree. It's so fascinating how different people do their picking, processing, and cooking of this plant. So, even though the details matter with pokeweed, there is still plenty of flexibility in what people do. Happy poke picking!
I've lived in Arkansas my whole life and I have so many memories è of picking wild "poke salad" (sallet) with my Mom, my Aunt Marilyn and my "Pa-Paw" out in the woods surrounding his farm. We always prepared ours the same way, Terri, with the eggs mixed in, though I think they used scrambled eggs as opposed to fried but, as any good Southern cook does to a mess of greens, we added a bit of bacon grease to them for flavor.
@@sunnidavis195 Thanks for sharing your family's pokeweed cooking, Sunni Davis! Good eating! :D
I grew up eating poke salad, but I learned never considered pruning my plants. Thank you!
I"m glad you got to enjoy eating poke, Sleepless ITC. : )
Thank you so much for pointing out the key points of how to spot and harvest, more importantly when not to harvest. Your explanation on what an what not to do is the most informative and pleasant that I've encountered on UA-cam so far!
I"m glad my pokeweed video was helpful for you, Lois Lai! It is a great plant for people that take the time to get to know it, and who like cooked greens.
This was really neat. I’ve always heard it was edible, but you had to process it correctly.
I never knew it was canned! 😮
Thanks. You heard right on both aspects of pokeweed, Stephen B. I hope my video helped you understand what the deal is with choosing the right plants and leaves, and processing it correctly. It would be so nice if poke greens were still available in the grocery stores.
I have eaten the greens and the berries raw, and never got sick. And the birds in my yard eat the raw berries too. As the bible says, "seed-bearing plants shall be food for you." God's food is perfect just the way He created it.
You arent supposed to pick it when the stems turn red.
@@sheliashuck1633 .. Says who? According to God "All seed-bearing plants are food for you."
@@peacetoall1201 we grew up knowing it from the old people and its akso in books like Edible wild olants by Lee Allen Peterson
Great video! I have a bed of Poke that I grow in my garden every year. I usually get two harvests a year from well taken care of plants. I harvest all good leaves and any tender stems. I rinse several times in a very large pot and then I boil twice for one minute each time. I drain and use fresh water for second boil but I don’t use a final rinse. I just pull my basket out and drain. I use a very large crawfish pot with basket. I drain and then place in freezer bags and squeeze out most liquid and then freeze. If you over process Poke Weed it looses its flavor, it’s already a mild green. I mostly eat Poke for breakfast, mixed with scrambled eggs, onions, peppers. Most of my Poke processing is done outside on a propane burner, since I usually process a large batch at one time and it makes cleanup very easy.
Thanks for sharing your poke processing methods so well, D V. It sounds like a good system, especially with that crawfish pot and basket. Poke is definitely worth freezing for use later. I'm with you that less processing is better, as long as there is plenty of water, like you use. I think over-processing is one reason people try poke and then don't like it. It would be nice if everyone got a good meal of pokeweed to start off with! Happy gardening!
" 'Poke Salet Annie' gators got your granny! Everybody said it was a shame cause her momma was working on a chain gang!" Song by Tony Joe White
Thought it was Elvis. ? Guess he re did it. 😉
Chom, chomp. Chomp chomp lol ! my grown kids and my grandkids sing that song.Good song!
@@lynnmitzy1643 as far as I know I don't think Elvis ever recorded this song but he possibly sung it in one of his live shows that may have been recorded. Tony Joe White, an old Louisiana boy, had a sound a lot similar to Elvis.
@@waynegilchrist1596 thank you, it may have been Live, ..I'm pretty old.
@@waynegilchrist1596 ua-cam.com/video/u4csFnpZXek/v-deo.html
We eat pokeweed too, mostly boil then serve with pork and rice or just itself. I also use the berries for dying my wool. Wish your video has closed captioning enabled. Thank you for posting
I''m glad you enjoy pokeweed, Wooly Wonders! Thanks for letting me, and everyone else, know how you like to eat cook it. It helps people understand and appreciate this great plant. I haven't figured out the closed captions stuff. After your comment, I've checked a few things and will try to figure it out. On some of my videos, UA-cam has automatically provided captions, but I don't know how accurate they are. I may be able to edit those. Thanks for the idea.
What color does it produce in your wool?
What color does the dye bring to your wool? A dark purplish? Or a blue?
i have berries and plan to save them for painting probably need to crush them and i will label it toxic paint 😮 so i dont forget... toxic berries
i didn’t grow up eating this stuff & im a lot younger than most in the poke salad fan club but i haven’t been able to get it off my mind lately for some reason. out of nowhere i developed this fascination with it. thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Poke is an amazing plant. I'm glad you are getting to know it! It has such a history and has fed so many people over the years. I hope you enjoy it, too!
They are ubiquitous in AL. They seem to grow really large next to Kudzu. When I was a kid my relatives would go to a patch that grew next to kudzu. It was covering a plot of trees near my parents house. I never ate it, but I can remember the smell of the plant to this day despite how long ago it was. Sadly, most of those people are no longer with us. They would say what sounded like "Powke Salit" when they referred to it. Thanks for the details. Maybe I'll try it!
My Mother would can these greens in Mason jars. SO DELICIOUS to eat during the winter too. We lived in Georgia.
My aunt used tender poked stalks. She sliced them in rings, blanched and drained them, then fried them. They were rolled in seasoned cornmeal, and fried like okra. Delish.
I've eat poke all my life. I've got a spot about 30 ft. from the house on the east side of the place here, that poke grows like crazy, so I don't have to go far to get it. I freeze it after going thru the boils and rinses. I've canned it too. I like wringing lots of the water out before eating it, and dribble on some real hot bacon drippings on the poke, with some bacon bits in the poke and eggs. Even good at supper time with beans and cornbread.
Thanks for adding how you like to cook your poke, Dale Smyth. It helps people get ideas for how they can enjoy it, too. You are making me hungry! :D
Can't go wrong with bacon grease
One of my favorite meals!
Oh gosh now I'm hungry, that sounds amazing!
Yum
Never had Poke Weed but love Dandelion greens with lambsquarter and wild mustard---delish. So now I am learning how to identify Poke and will try it.
I hope you do get to try pokeweed sometime, Alice Phillips. It does have to be processed differently than other greens (like not using the water in that first step). But I put it in my top 3, maybe top 2. Only the lambs quarter is better, I think. And Amaranth greens are delicious, too. If you do try it, I'll appreciate your taste review, because you have other wild greens experience to compare it to. Happy summer!
Dandelion greens and flowers with pokeweed and eggs is a favorite of mine
I have grown up around poke weed my whole life and knew some of the older generations ate it in hard times. My dilemma in trying it was all of the mixed information I would hear. Your video gives clear instruction and great clips to put my mind at ease. I will be scoping out some poke weed soon! Thank you!
Yes. I’ve been fighting poke weed in my yard for years.
I knew it was edible but was leery of messing with it to make it safe to eat.
I may try them now but I’ll wait til next spring. I’ve been cutting it down this year.
The spring shoots are a good place to start with pokeweed, Katmandu Dawn. They do not need to be boiled to pieces like many folks fear, especially at the stage of young shoots. I hope you enjoy your pokeweed. If you want to share your experience next spring, I'll be paying attention to the comments here.
I'm glad my pokeweed video was helpful for you, ben f. I think poke weed is good enough to eat in easy times, too, as you could guess by now. If you do try your poke weed, I'll be checking comments, so you can leave your taste review next spring!
Love all your videos. Heartwarming dedication to your father. I’m a new father to a 3 month old daughter that I will share what I’ve learned someday. Thank you!
I'm glad you are enjoying my videos, JT! And that your daughter will be learning about wild food from you, too! So many kids don't get that chance. Happy summer!
Congratulations Daddy❤😊
I’m 68 and been eating poke all my life. I so enjoy watching how your dad preserves his poke to last longer in the season . I’ve learned that from you because we stop eating after a certain time . Thank you for sharing. NOW I’m going to enjoy some poke. We always would boil then drain then add flour with banana peppers with salt and pepper to taste. Wow I’m wanting some poke now.
I"m wanting some poke now, too, Darlene G., with your recipe with the banana peppers. Man, that sounds good!
I've been eating poke all my life, I collect my poke when it's 2 - 3 foot in height, I take the young leaves and fry in butter and the stalks peel off the outer layer and cut 2 - 3 inches long cut in half and roll it in cornmeal fry to a light brown, lightly salt, very good.
Thank you for the video, everyone stay safe and have a great day.
Thanks so much for this video! I'm so glad that poke can be harvested longer than just in the spring! I discovered red sumac through books on American Indian food, and I love red sumac "lemonade". 'Fraid my friends all thought me crazy.
Good
That long harvest season was so important for people that really relied on pokeweed for food, Comm.Corner. I'm glad you are enjoying sumac (Rhus spp.), too. Those hairs on the red seeds are good for so many tasty treats, like your lemonade. Have a great summer, and keep your friends entertained with your wild food! ; )
Thanks a million times over for this video my dear friend! We have hundreds of this plant growing in our woods and our neighbor would come over regularly and pick the weed, he also informed us that it was highly poisonous unless cooked correctly. He passed away this year, so I never got a chance to ask all the questions about how to prepare what he called i”poke salad” I grow collards and mustard greens 🥬 that get devoured by aphids in the summer… This is a good alternative until I can harvest again in the fall. Thanks again my friend! 🥰👩🏽🌾Peaches
I grew up in the Appalachian mountains really only used it in the spring but then we used the berries for dyeing our basket etc. Thanks for this great video
Thanks for adding how you are used to enjoying pokeweed, eric mccann. I'm glad you enjoyed my video. There's so much history in different uses of this plant, it's amazing how abundant it still is. It is one hard working plant!
This is great information.
I'm in my late 70s. In the mid 1950s we lived on a farm in central Texas. We had pecan trees growing in large numbers along the creek bed that formed the eastern boundary of our farm.
Poke weed grew in abundance under the pecan trees. I routinely harvested poke weed for the family and it was great to have this natural vegetable.
Thanks for sharing your experience with pokeweed, Rich Weatherly. I can picture how nice a stand of pokeweed you could have under pecan grove. The soil and high shade would be just perfect. Nice work in bringing such great food to your family!
Does this plant go by another name.?I am from RSA.Would love an answer if you know please.
@@faithnaidoo7647 Pokeweed, (Phytolacca americana), also called pokeberry, poke, or American pokeweed, strong-smelling plant with a poisonous root resembling that of a horseradish.
@@Me2Lancer Thank you so much.GOD BLESS.
My mother kept Polk weed growing in our yard,. Her recipe looked like it was cooked the way you did, which is always yummy.
Thanks for sharing what your mother did with pokeweed, Pyewhackett, and your taste review. I'm glad you got to enjoy that good eating! :D
I hope you get back to posting more often because I love your info and approach. Thank you for making such a thorough video on poke! We have made it and eaten it before. Ours likes to grow behind our chicken coop on the edge or our forest, near a black walnut (the only on our land). We are in SW Michigan, and yes it grows all over the place around here, though most northerners don't know what to do with it.
I just remember the old song "Poke Salad Annie" when I was growing up. Never knew that the plant was called Poke Sallet and people really ate it until years later.
So many people fed big families on Poke Sallet. When the song says she brought it home in a tote sack, that's how it was. People picked a lot of it!
We used to collect the pokeweed shoots, cook and eat them, but never the leaves. I have a nice big healthy plant growing in a shady area of my home, I think I might give it a try. Thanks for the video.
It's nice that you have some pokeweed so close by, Moonshinedave. And in the shade, too, so that's extra nice for quality leaves. If you do try them, I'll be interested in what your think, since you can compare to the shoots. Enjoy your summer!
I remember picking poke as a young child for my great Aunt. She and her friends would cook and eat it as a spring green. Thank you for a detailed explanation on how it should be cultivated and prepared.
Thanks for sharing your pokeweed memories, Mike Frizzell! I hope more people learn to appreciate how good it is for real food.
Loved every minute, what a useful video! Thanks for sharing how to safely process this wonderful plant. Folks already thought I was strange planting stinging nettle's. Got a weedy garden I will have to add this to the collection 🍀
Hey, CST! I'm glad you enjoyed all that pokeweed talk! Lots of folks consider pokeweed a weed, but it's controllable if you don't let it make mature berries with seeds. It will last for years and can be a beautful shrub like the ones my dad has. I hope you do get to enjoy some poke greens and provide a taste review sometime. Enjoy your weeds! :D
Hard to beat nettles for nutrition.
Excellent. My grand parents told me to never eat the berries... But they ate the leaves in the depression... But we never ate them - guess we got too fancy. They didn't say we couldn't through the berries at each other!!! ;) Thanks for this clear video on how to eat them safely.
I ate poke while growing up. Loved it!!! I raised my kids on cooked spinach and mustard greens. They loved it. I never got the chance to ask my dad how to recognize the poke plant...CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH YOUR NEXT VIDEO. I'm going out to get me some!!! Thank YOU SO MUCH!!!
Bring memories of my miscreant youth. Picking Polk, watching my grandmother and mother fixing them, right good with crackling cornbread
Thanks for sharing your history with poke, Alvin Meeks. Your grandmother and mother fed you well! I'd like some poke and cornbread right now. : )
Thank you for posting this! I had these greens a time or two when I was a kid, sent out with the neighbor's son, to collect the leaves (they were from the mountains of Tennessee). She fixed them with bacon and crumbled hard boiled eggs on top! I have it growing in my yard here in northern KY and have used the berries to make ink for my crafts. So excited to finally have some instruction on how to take advantage of the forage in my own LITERAL backyard!
I also have Lamb's Quarters growing in my yard, which I have cooked fresh, and this year will be canning. I like it even better than spinach.
I remember seeing my mother pick this sooo many times as a little kid. Didn't know it came in a can... wow! Memories
Thanks for sharing your memories with pokeweed, Tia Simmons. Your mother fed you well!
Thank you for this video! 40 years ago, I lived in the upstairs apartment of an old couple's home. This couple would do almost anyting to save money and one thing I witnessed while living with them was the wife boiling apple peels and the cores (after making a pie), in a small pot to make jam out of the scraps. They would also pick poke sallet in the woods nearby and cook it to eat. Man was it delicious! I've only had it that one time but have never forgotten how delicious it tasted. I just found some poke sallet growing under a large azaliea bush in my back yard and I plan to move over to near the ravine, on the edge of our lot, to see if I can keep it growing.
Thanks for sharing your connection with poke, Emily Dear! I'm glad you got to try it yourself, made by people that appreciated it for the good food it is. So many people have relied on poke to feed their families for generations. Thanks for sharing about how they made apple jam, too.
Pokeweed began to grow in the shady part of my backyard where I started a new garden bed this year. I stumbled upon your video while researching. It's actually a beautiful leafy plant and mine just started to show flower buds. The vitamin content on that Allens can was actually pretty awesome! I was about to cut them down today but glad I held off! I think there are about 5 or more plants bacl there in a cluster. Great educational video and thanks for taking the time to share your family's expertise. 😊
I do hope you can enjoy your pokeweed plants, Dawn of Truth. People that like cooked greens usually do like it, if it's prepared well. If you do try it, I'll be interested in what you think of it, good or not so good. If you like it, you have a lifetime of easy eating, no gardening required, lol.
@@HaphazardHomestead I actually did make up a batch after I watched your playlist and did a bit more research. My first reaction was it tasted like spinich but then I had a bit of a pokey taste, not sure how to explain it. I hadnt heard anyone mention the pokey taste/sensation so I thought maybe it's in my head!? 😂😂😂
Here's the thing. I have been cleaning out this backyard for three years now and uprooting everything from poison ivy, actual ivy, even honey suckle. There have been times I couldn't tell the difference between the underground vines and I know for certain Ive uprooted these pokeweed plants bare handed at the root. Infact, I've even pulled them up by the root thinking they were self seeded Zinnias at first! This is my first year planting zinnas. So live and learn when you garden! 😂 Thanks for your response and the information again. The newly transplanted pokeweed is still growing and all of the transplants that I transplanted recently took really well.
Will I make it again? Not really sure yet but I may collect seeds for those who may want them!
@@dawn6954 Thanks for your review of your pokeweed cooking, DoT. In the playlist I made, in the OsiyoTV one they talk about the pokeweed 'tingle' and comments in other pokeweed videos mention it, too. It's not something I've ever experienced, but people do cook it a little differently from each other. You might want to try the shoots in the spring for a different take on the plant. ANyway, good luck with your land clearning. It's amazing how many plants can be packed in one place, underground!
I grew up eating it !! I still love it !
Yay! Another fan of pokeweed! Thanks for sharing that, Letha Harris. We were both fortunate to get to know pokeweed from early in our lives. : )
Miss you! Please come back!!
Blessings, from the great Smokey Mountains. Thank you. 🌿
That is some beautiful poke country you are in, jlb4288. I hope you get to enjoy pokeweed yourself. Happy summer!
Thank you for this video. My grandfather would pick it in the spring but he never took me with him. My grandmother cooked it with bacon and onions. I have seen the plant but I was afraid to try it since I knew it had to be cooked in a special way. I cook my spinach and swiss chard like my grandmother cooked the "poke salad."
Great video, Holly! And extra special because it features your Dad, who knows so much about real nature and foraging! Childhood summers in the Ozarks with his Grandma Holland taught him so much!
Thanks! You have cooked a lot poke that we all picked, that's for sure! I wonder how much poke Daddy has eaten over his lifetime, lol. I need to find that picture in G. Hesse's backyard when the pokeweed came up in her garden after she had the big cedar trees removed. Everyone is smiling so big, with our bags of young poke stalks!
Ma’am, many thanks to you and your father for giving us such detailed information on how to harvest and prepare pokeweed!
My husband and I recently moved to Connecticut from Los Angeles, and we have several acres of land and woods, and we’re very excited about foraging.
I have a can of poke sallet, just like the one you showed us, which I purchased in Morro Bay, California in 2000 (because I was curious. But not curious enough to open it and eat it.
I know we have lots of poke- weed growing here. We’ve seen it in numerous places here, and we love it because it’s beautiful. Now we’re also going to be eating it!
Thanks again!
Welcome to CT. My wife and I have an organic farm and we eat wild edibles and have wild edibles classes along with other classes related to farming and homesteading.
Welcome back, I love your channel. We miss you.
Thanks, Sam Sam! This video took some time to put together. There will be more soon. Happy summer!
@@HaphazardHomestead thanks, I look forward to watching your videos.
Never eaten it before, but my chickens seem to love it. I snapped one off at the base and they have eaten all the leaves.
hello holly! I've got poke growing all over my homestead. I'm not harvested any because it seemed like it was too daunting a task to make it actually edible. You made it seem easy! Thank you so much!
Hey, Ann, Good to see you here and thanks for stopping by! Once you get to know poke, you have a lifetime of easy eating. It really is easy. Back in the day, people with big families didn't have time to mess around with inefficient things. If you do try the poke around you, I'll look forward to what you think of it. You eat enough wild food to have a valuable perspective about it. Happy foraging!
You're video is full of information and does not have all the fluff and filler that many other youtube contributors include. I love that kind of video. - I have known that I could eat poke salat (as we have always called it in GA, SC and NC) but heard it had to be cooked (and water drained) three times. I know the plant very well; it is usually considered a weed. It is very fast growing, and does have a distinctive pungent odor. I think the main reason I have not tried cooking it myself is because of that smell when it is raw. But your video has convinced me that I should at least try it once. I live in the South after all...
Glad you enjoyed my video, J Wise! The cooked pokeweed (poke salat) doesn't have the same strong aroma. If you do try it out, I'd like to know what you think of it. People that like cooked greens typically do like pokeweed, too.
I still use that same series of pots and pans from my mom's place back in the 70's that your dad is using, and I use those dollar store plates, too, from 30 years ago, every day, lol. I may have to try these leaves. I think these are from the nightshade family, though, like peppers and eggplant, which I'm not supposed to eat. Thanks, so much, Holly. Stay cool.
Very cook that you recognized my parents' pots and pans. That's when kitchen ware was meant to last, lol. Pokeweed is in its own family, RidgeHill Jillie. They are not in the same famly as nightshade, and are not even related at the next level up. I feel for you, though, in not being able to eat the nightshades. If you do try the pokeweed, I'll appreciate your review of how you liked it or not.
I ate a lot of poke when I was a kid at home. My mother would show us what to pick. I have not eaten any in at least 20 years but it was as good as spinach or mustard greens. We always found them in fence rows, these areas are generally very fertile. Unfortunately I live in southeast Missouri in row crop country and farmers use herbicides and farm from the road to the end of the field and fence rows and country roads don't have vegetation like they once did. I don't miss poke nearly as much as I miss the dew berries that used to grow in every fence row in the sandy part of this area. They would be ready around Memorial Day and then we could go to the hilly parts of the area and pick blackberries about the 4th of July.
You are an absolute doll! So blessed to have your parents. Enjoy!
How sweet, Susie Harman. Yes, I have been so fortunate in life. Have a great summer!
Thank you for this video, my family ate poke as a common green. And your video explains the issues the best I have seen.
Well done !
You're welcome, Stephen Robb. I'm glad you grew up enjoying pokeweed. I hope more people can appreciate it for the great food plant that it has been for so many generations. I can't even begin to imagine how many people relied on poke for a substantial part of their food. And it's so under appreciated nowadays. Thanks for commenting!
Yay!! A new video! :) And grandpa is a guest in it! Cool! I attended Billy Joe Tatum’s presentation at Wooly Hollow State Park years ago! Beth says hi. :)
Hey, Josh, nice to see you here! I still have the autograph from Billy Joe Tatum that your mom got for me from that presentation. I've used that book for a long time. But I still think that your Grandpa knows more about poke than in any book I've come across. Your great-great-grandma Holland is who taught him and fed everybody on poke. They all lived on it. Take care in that Texas heat!
Excellent breakdown of how to use this delicious green. Thank you for submitting this.
You're welcome, Wayne S. I hope you can find some pokeweed around you and enjoy it yourself sometime!
I love your channel! Great info always. Thank you
I’m inspired to grow it and try it out! Thank you so much. I have them trying to come up all in the yard in the spring.
long time viewer. Love your channel; I did fully expect to hear the DRUMS and then the "WILL I EAT THIS, OR NOT?
Great to see you're back here; Loved to hear Dad's wisdom too.
haha, Ky B! I will eat pokeweed, any time I can get it! There will be more of the mushroom ID game ahead, so stay tuned for that. I'm fortunate to still have my parents around to keep sharing so much, so many people don't get that. Thanks for watching and commenting, too!
I found your history and discussion of wild pokeweed greens interesting and filled with measured precautions. I remembered that my mom picked and cooked wild greens when I was a child.
You are WONDERFUL! Love your 'real' style and how clearly you explain everything like we're right there! Thank you.
this is an excellent video and you did a very good job of explaining. we moved to our current little farm about 6 years ago and the pasture had 8' tall patches of poke weed I was told it was extremely toxic to livestock so we started mowing it down I bet there was a quarter of an acre then we got goats and when the berries were on they would go down and eat the leaves and their horns would be stained purple all over but never lost a goat. well we kept brush hogging it down so that now there is not anything hardly left there but grass. I wish I would have seen this video it would have saved me a lot of work and given us some really good greens to eat thanks again for posting
Oh my goodness, after 57 yrs I finally have the answer to what my grandma was talking about when she said she made a "poke salad" I never questioned, just let roll lolol
EDIT: "Salet not salad" wow all these years ....
It's nice you have an answer to your mystery and a connection to pokeweed, T Spaulding. Some people say 'salad', some people say 'salet' like on the Allen's can I showed in the video. Poke salad -- it's your heritage! :D
I love watching Haphazard Homestead because I still learning about edible weeds and plants, I’m living in USA now I’m still eating edible weeds I know plus Haphazard recommended more edible weeds.. I have enough salads 🥙
Thanks for your kind words, Esther Garcia! There are so many different wild plants that are good to eat, I'm still learning new ones myself, every year. None of us can know all of them, so I'm glad when people share their experience and knowledge, too. Enjoy your salads! :D
Weed? A weed is called a weed by someone who dislikes the plant. Poke in your corn? A weed, if you have no intention of harvesting it too.
I'm 73 year's old and I grew up in the Mts of NC eating poke salad as we call it is very delicious and I still eat it BUT I did learn something New I didn't know you could eat the leaves after it got that big , so glad I ran across this video now I will have a lot more poke salad to eat ALL year long. Thank you and God bless you for sharing this. 💕💕🙏🙏
I just discovered you! You are so charming, and so knowledgeable; I’m so grateful for your information!
holly you inspire me every day!!
Nature's bounty is pretty amazing! Thanks for your nice comment, UberHaley!
Congratulations on the success of your channel, I notice its grown a lot this year! You deserve it, I love your videos.
Hi, Give It a Grow! It's nice of you to stop by and comment! I'm glad you enjoy my videos, especially since yours are always so well done with the camera work and variety of nature subjects. I hope you see some pokeweed in your area sometime, they are such pretty plants. Have a great summer!
I have loved your videos and just think you know how to bless many people! THANK-YOU!
This video has been so helpful! Thank you so much! Probably one of THE best videos on poke sallet :D
Love this I learned from Granny here in Georgia I send you many blessings!
I'm glad she taught you about Pokeweed, EugenePatti V! It's such a great plant. Happy summer and I hope you can enjoy some poke greens, too!
I've been curious about this plant for a while. I have a bunch growing near my apartment. I'll have to try it out! Thanks!
It's amazing how much pokeweed is around. If you ever do try pokeweed, I'll look forward to your taste review, good or not so good.
I’m so glad that I learned a little about preparing this plant, I want to try it.
I'm so excited to finally learn about using the poker greens yum yum yay and thank you