Recipes

[novamc1]

I saved this "recipe"  from  an old Tennessee community cookbook and just came across it again.  Reminds me of a song that was popular years ago, "Polk Salad Annie"..

(Pokeweed is a nasty sort of vegetation that even grew in the neighbor's yard too close to mine in a Wash DC suburb.  I fought that stuff back all the time.

POKE SALAD

Go out into the "cuntree" or on the roadside or fence row and pick yourself some poke.

Be sure to git small tender leaves and don't get snakebit.  Bring 'em home an' throw 'em in a pot an' boil 'em up good. 

Then scramble you up some fresh eggs an' mix 'em with the fresh poke an' add a tastin' of some salt an' you got yo'self some poke salad.

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From Wikipedia:

"Polk Salad Annie” is a 1968 song written and performed by Tony Joe White. It was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Its lyrics describe the lifestyle of a poor rural Southern girl and her family. Traditionally, the term to describe the type of food highlighted in the song is polk or poke sallet, a cooked greens dish made from pokeweed. Its 1969 single release peaked at Number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.  (Elvis also sang it.)

[Goodie2shoes]

This is actually a recipe my grandma (rest her soul) use to make. We lived in the suburbs and poke grew there as well, not just in the country.  Yep it grew along fencesi and in yards.  Thanks for the memories

[proudlyfromNJ]

I grew up in NJ. Whenever we were driving around and my Dad would see poke, he stopped the car and sent one of us to go get it for him. He cooked it for himself to have with dinner that night.

[Carmie]

I remember picking poke sallet and dandelion greens when I was a child every spring. I haven't had either for many years.

We, unlike our parents work hard to keep weeds out of the yard.

Fond memories, though.

[novamc1]

Just google this:  Is pokeweed poisonous?

Absolutely yes, according to many sources.  Cooking the leaves seems to be acceptable, however.

I knew nothing about it until my Dad came over one day, saw the heavy crop of weeds that my seldom-home-lawyer-neighbor was growing and told me  one of them was pokeweed and it is poisonous.

[Sooner]

What I learned growing up.  Bring poke greens to a boil and throw away the water.  Do this three times.

Don't eat the poke that is really big, use the smaller.

My mom cooked it, I have cooked it and I love it!  It has a real bite to it and is cooked with some ham or a hamhock and we always ate it with cornbread.  Poke salad was one of my favorite things!