Okay, okay, I've never eaten poke weed but I saw a couple of does a while back and they sure looked like they were nibbling on some. You are supposed to cook it twice and throw out the water- or something like that. How does it taste? Are there any similar looking plants that a person could confuse with poke weed? The stuff I saw has red/purple berries and stalks and green elliptical leaves.
Poke Weed
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No need to worry about that, poke weed can poison you all by itself.crockett said:
A friendly word of caution”¦ If you have no experience with poke weed, it would be wise to steer clear of it. It can be eaten, but only specific parts of the plant picked at just the right time and cooked in exactly the right way.
Just because deer can eat it, that doesn't mean it's safe for you.
Spence
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Symptoms of poisoning from common pokeweed include a burning sensation in the mouth, salivation, gastrointestinal cramps, vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Depending upon the amount consumed more severe symptoms can occur. These include: anemia, altered heart rate and respiration, convulsions and death from respiratory failure. In most cases both people and animals recover within 1 to 2 days if only small quantities are eaten
Not on my menu! :td:
Not on my menu! :td:
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TRUE! = Even as a guy who eats possum & sweet taters, I leave the pokeweed to the other mammals.
yours, satx
yours, satx
Billnpatti
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Once you have seen Poke, you won't have any difficulty recognizing it again. I don't know if there is anything that looks similar but Poke is easily recognized once you know what to look for. Poke has a mild toxin in it that if you don't par boil it, it can cause some people some gastric distress such as a good dose of the belly ache and "quick step", or as it is also known "Montazuma's Revenge". I have never personally known of anyone having any really serious reaction to improperly cooked poke. Properly cooked by parboiling it a couple times to get rid of the green in the water and the "weedie" odor, it has a mild taste much like spinach. I am very fond of it.
I have been told by a couple people that the berries are poison but I do not believe it. Many people make a delicious jelly from the juice. My warning to anyone who wants to try eating the berries is to just put them in your mouth and suck the juice but spit out the seeds. I had sucked the juice many times but one time I made the mistake of attempting to chew up the seeds and all and swallow it. Bad mistake!! Those seeds gave me the sensation of trying to swallow a mixture of sand and sawdust with a dose of Tabasco mixed it. Most unpleasant and I had no water at hand to ease things. I think this choking sensation caused by trying to eat the chewed up seeds may be the source of the belief by a few people that poke berries are poisonous. I had no other ill effects so I ruled out the possibility of the seeds containing any poison but I never again attempted to chew up the seeds. Just suck out the sweet tasty juice and spit out those damned seeds.
I have been told by a couple people that the berries are poison but I do not believe it. Many people make a delicious jelly from the juice. My warning to anyone who wants to try eating the berries is to just put them in your mouth and suck the juice but spit out the seeds. I had sucked the juice many times but one time I made the mistake of attempting to chew up the seeds and all and swallow it. Bad mistake!! Those seeds gave me the sensation of trying to swallow a mixture of sand and sawdust with a dose of Tabasco mixed it. Most unpleasant and I had no water at hand to ease things. I think this choking sensation caused by trying to eat the chewed up seeds may be the source of the belief by a few people that poke berries are poisonous. I had no other ill effects so I ruled out the possibility of the seeds containing any poison but I never again attempted to chew up the seeds. Just suck out the sweet tasty juice and spit out those damned seeds.
Billnpatti
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Here are some pictures of Poke Weed http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pokeweed&Form=IARRTH but it would be hard to be able to identify it in the field from just looking at photos. You really need to have someone who knows Poke Weed to actually show it to you. Once you see it, you will easily identify it in the future. The young sprouting leaves in the spring are the best but later in the late spring and summer, I will still pick the smallest and tenderest top leaves. The large leaves are tough and not suitable for eating. The stalks start out in the spring at ground level with just a few tender leaves showing but will grow taller than your head. Most of the ones in Indiana would grow up to not much taller than your head but I have heard of them growing to as much as 10 to 12 feet high in some places. By the time squirrel season starts in most places in the fall, the Poke Weed has grown to its full height and there are no edible leaves on the plant. They are all too tough and chewy to eat. But, by that time the berries will have started to develop and ripen. Like I said, the juice of the ripe deep red to purple berries is delicious. Until the berries fully ripen, they are not good to eat.
If you want to have some Poke with your squirrels, you will have to pick the young tender leaves in the spring, par boil them a couple of times and then freeze them until squirrel season. But, you can pick some Poke berries during your squirrel hunt and have the juice for a tasty dessert. Go easy on both the cooked leaves and the juice until you see if you are sensitive to it. A few people can get the "trots" from eating either the leaves or the juice in excess. Properly prepared, neither seems to bother me and I love both.
If you want to gather some Poke, have someone show some to you so you will know what to look for. It seems to prefer areas of disturbed soil and can often be found growing along fence rows next to plowed fields or areas where earth moving equipment, bulldozers, etc. have disturbed the soil in the last year but have let the weeds grow up.
If you want to have some Poke with your squirrels, you will have to pick the young tender leaves in the spring, par boil them a couple of times and then freeze them until squirrel season. But, you can pick some Poke berries during your squirrel hunt and have the juice for a tasty dessert. Go easy on both the cooked leaves and the juice until you see if you are sensitive to it. A few people can get the "trots" from eating either the leaves or the juice in excess. Properly prepared, neither seems to bother me and I love both.
If you want to gather some Poke, have someone show some to you so you will know what to look for. It seems to prefer areas of disturbed soil and can often be found growing along fence rows next to plowed fields or areas where earth moving equipment, bulldozers, etc. have disturbed the soil in the last year but have let the weeds grow up.
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I was taught that you find it on fence lines and along farm power line tracts, as the seeds need to be exposed to some gastric juices, to soften the outer husks so they can germinate, and normally do so in the tummy of birds...so where they land an poop...if they've had poke berries, you get poke weed.
I heard that this was the reason why tries to cultivate it failed...they didn't know the exposure to the stomach acids was needed.
LD
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Cannon
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Simmer the leaves of young plants awhile.part
And toss the greenish likker then simmer again in fresh water. Sprnkle with salt and vinegar , good stuff. It does have a spinach flavor and is good nutrition. Seems I read the roots of it have some medicinal use but can't recollect specifics.
And toss the greenish likker then simmer again in fresh water. Sprnkle with salt and vinegar , good stuff. It does have a spinach flavor and is good nutrition. Seems I read the roots of it have some medicinal use but can't recollect specifics.
Well there's a lot of crazy stuff on the net, some folks claim poke weed is a cure-all for whatever ails you. I think at certain times of the year the young shoots can be somehow used, also the roots, etc. but not sure.
Then again one of my pals actually thought your blood got thick over the winter and you needed sassafras tea each spring to thin it out. :grin:
Then again one of my pals actually thought your blood got thick over the winter and you needed sassafras tea each spring to thin it out. :grin:
I got my wife and kids eatin poke about 4 years ago. Definitely, only use the youngest of sprouts in spring, like shin high. Cut with scissors. We use the small stems like asparagus---remove the leaves (cook later, differently), and put the stems in a glass pan, with some melted butter, little water to make steam, and salt/pepper. Bake in the oven til tender.
Take the leaves and cook like spinach. We don't dump the water, trying to keep the nutrition, but it will give you a funny aftertaste on your teeth. I read it is VERY high in vitamin A, almost to the point of toxicity, if you have too much, and I suspect that is the source of the aftertaste. Our kids call it "chokeweed," but they eat whatever we put in front of them. We eat some, and freeze what we have cooked extra, for later in the year. This is probably the one thing we get from the wild we eat the most of in a year.
Take the leaves and cook like spinach. We don't dump the water, trying to keep the nutrition, but it will give you a funny aftertaste on your teeth. I read it is VERY high in vitamin A, almost to the point of toxicity, if you have too much, and I suspect that is the source of the aftertaste. Our kids call it "chokeweed," but they eat whatever we put in front of them. We eat some, and freeze what we have cooked extra, for later in the year. This is probably the one thing we get from the wild we eat the most of in a year.
I have eaten a bunch of "poke salat",
I pick just the sprouting tops with hand sized leaves in the spring.
To be on the safe side I boil the tops twice and dump off the water. Next it is into the skillet with a little oil, onion, salt and pepper and an egg. Cook everything until the egg and onion are done and you are good to go.
If you cook fresh spinach the same way you can't tell the difference between it an poke weed.
I pick just the sprouting tops with hand sized leaves in the spring.
To be on the safe side I boil the tops twice and dump off the water. Next it is into the skillet with a little oil, onion, salt and pepper and an egg. Cook everything until the egg and onion are done and you are good to go.
If you cook fresh spinach the same way you can't tell the difference between it an poke weed.
