Poke Sallet

Has anyone tried this vegetable? Can you find it at local restaurants?

Has anyone tried this vegetable? Can you find it at local restaurants?

If you're talking about Pokeweed (which I've heard called Poke Sallet), it's very toxic. I believe I recall my Granny telling me that some folks used to mix it with collard and turnip "greens' back in the "olden days" but that it had to be boiled two or three times (separately from any other green) and the boiling water discarded after each boil.

Has anyone tried this vegetable? Can you find it at local restaurants?

If you're talking about Pokeweed (which I've heard called Poke Sallet), it's very toxic. I believe I recall my Granny telling me that some folks used to mix it with collard and turnip "greens' back in the "olden days" but that it had to be boiled two or three times (separately from any other green) and the boiling water discarded after each boil.

I also recall that the gator got your granny, Steve.

Has anyone tried this vegetable? Can you find it at local restaurants?

If you're talking about Pokeweed (which I've heard called Poke Sallet), it's very toxic. I believe I recall my Granny telling me that some folks used to mix it with collard and turnip "greens' back in the "olden days" but that it had to be boiled two or three times (separately from any other green) and the boiling water discarded after each boil.

I also recall that the gator got your granny, Steve.

Just her leg Ed...and he paid the ultimate price for that mistake.

You'll be glad to know that there is a Poke Sallet Festival held every year (for as long as I've been around) in Harlan, Kentucky. My grand parents who were from Harlan, went every year and ate Poke Sallet with no ill effects. Full disclosure: I have no idea how it has to be prepared -- except that it is a green. There was never any mention of it being toxic and/or needing to be handled a certain way.

A google search indicates that the fest usually takes place around early June. Harlan is about 3 to 3.5 hours from here. However, you could always stop by Cumberland Falls and/or the very first KFC in Corbin on the way. And don't forget Cumberland Gap and "Chain Rock"
http://hubpages.com/hub/httpwwwkentucky ... eSalletcom

Steve - that whole area is dry. Take your own beer.

Has anyone tried this vegetable? Can you find it at local restaurants?

If you're talking about Pokeweed (which I've heard called Poke Sallet), it's very toxic. I believe I recall my Granny telling me that some folks used to mix it with collard and turnip "greens' back in the "olden days" but that it had to be boiled two or three times (separately from any other green) and the boiling water discarded after each boil.

I also recall that the gator got your granny, Stev e.

They got gators in Kentucky !!!!

You'll be glad to know that there is a Poke Sallet Festival held every year (for as long as I've been around) in Harlan, Kentucky. My grand parents who were from Harlan, went every year and ate Poke Sallet with no ill effects. Full disclosure: I have no idea how it has to be prepared -- except that it is a green. There was never any mention of it being toxic and/or needing to be handled a certain way.

A google search indicates that the fest usually takes place around early June. Harlan is about 3 to 3.5 hours from here. However, you could always stop by Cumberland Falls and/or the very first KFC in Corbin on the way. And don't forget Cumberland Gap and "Chain Rock"
http://hubpages.com/hub/httpwwwkentucky ... eSalletcom

Steve - that whole area is dry. Take your own beer.

Is it good? I think you can buy it canned.

Cue Elvis .... now I can't get Annie out of my head.

It will make you sick if you eat it raw. Gotta be cooked real good....at least that's what my Eastern Ky cousins say. I don't know about the discarding of the water.

It grows all around the local area along the road. It's a weed really.

We have neighbors come every year and cut poke off my field when its young. From what I understand, as long as you pick it while very young the toxic effect is negated.

I don't know if it's good. I can't specifically recall ever eating it. Although I was fed all sorts of greens etc. as a kid by my grandmother and didn't know what I was eating half the time. She would hand me a "leaf" every now and then and say "go find more plant leaves that look exactly like this. Everything was good. Obviously, I lived to tell the tale.

I'll give my dad a call and ask him what it tastes like. My guess is that if you make it with bacon/fat back/jowl etc. some onions and a bit of vinegar and it can't be bad. The difficult part would be finding it around here. Creation Gardens in early Spring maybe?

I've never seen poke sold anywhere. I've never tried it because I only recognize it when it's much too late to eat it. Oddly enough my car is parked next to a poke plant this very moment.

Once it gets big and has berries, the berries are toxic. I too have heard for the older plants the leaves need to be boiled a few times to remove the toxins.

My Mom grew up poor in Washington Co, KY and ate a lot of poke sallet in her younger years.

Her rule was that you could only cut, cook, and eat the greens BEFORE the berries formed. Once the berries were on the plant, no amount of boiling would make it non-poisonous. The berries were just the "red flag" to stay away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokeweed

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph24.htm

Take it for what's it's worth. Unless this stuff tastes ridiculously good, which would surprise me for a boiled green, no thanks.