I was born & raised in Michigan. But our mother originated from Arkansas. I remember her cooking Poke Sallat when we were growing up. She would boil it off a couple times then she would cook it in with other greens (YUM). It is much like the texture of spinach and it taste so good! I've never cooked any myself and living in California all these years I've never seen it here. Sure would love to have some of Mama's right now. It just brought back so many Good memories for me seeing this! To see that people are still eating and enjoying them and from all the reviews nobody has ever died from them yet. 😊️

My Momma used to make Poke Sallet every spring pretty much the traditional ways until she got a Crock-Pot and we started trying different ways to cook it. The best we found was to add a ham bone like when cooking turnips, add some more salt and dried onions and just a little fresh garlic, cook it on low for most of the day then put it in a strainer and let it pretty much all dry out then pour a little melted butter over it and toss it with chopped scallions either store bought or pulled from the yard. Serve with cornbread (not the sweet kind) and pickle relish. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Best food I ever had!

My parents were raised in Arkansas and my dad especially loved pokeweed. As far as toxicity, my mother said many people blanched it and poured the cooking water off three times before eating it but she only did it once.

After reading the other comments about its toxicity, I quote from a University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources site ( https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27983 ) "All plant parts, especially the roots, contain numerous saponins and oxalates and can be fatally toxic to humans and livestock when ingested raw or with improper preparations. Severe digestive tract irritations are the primary symptom."

I have picked it and blanched it only once and eaten it with no ill effects, but it caused my husband some slight gastric distress. Maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others.

I accidentally ate a leaf, and a root from a poke plant, and it definitely made me violently ill for a couple days. I did actually think I might die. I haven't gotten up the guts to try the leaves cooked yet. IMHO anything forage should be tried a little at a time. What may be medicinal in some bodies, could be poison to others. You know your body best. Honor it.

When I was growing up momma and daddy would pile us 3 kids in the car or van wagon as we called it lol... and we would go searching the woods for poke. We always seemed to find all we needed around old house places etc. We would go home & wash enough leaves for a good mess. added enough water to cook the greens until tender. Momma would drain the greens in a colander & let cool enough to handle, **then she would squeeze all the water out of greens and rinsed them under cool water. She repeated this 3 times. She fried 3-4 slices of bacon in same skillet . She had chopped 1 onion 7 boiled 4-5 eggs & peeled those (On the side) To skillet with bacon grease; add onions & saute them until good & translucent. (Almost done) Then add greens and fry about 5-6 min. Take out & put into serving plate and slice boiled eggs on top. A little salt & pepper to taste. You talking about good; THEY ARE GOOD!

I have a lot of memories of poke. Growing up on a ranch in the Arkansas Ozarks, we ate a lot of poke. In the late summer, early fall we would put on white tee shirts and have pokeberry fights. Didn't exactly thrill Mom...
We also have eaten the berries by the handful, they don't taste very good, but I don't believe they are poisonous. It's just a wives tale.
You can also blanch the stalks when small, peel off the skin, roll in cornmeal and fry, tastes great, just like okra.
Calvin is right on how to prepare the poke.

The young tender leaves and stems are good to eat. You can boil or cook them like you are cooking spinach, with some bacon grease until they are wilted. The larger leaves and stems are bitter and tend to be tough.
NEVER eat the berries! While they have no good flavor of their own, the seeds are poisonous.
The berries, once ripened to a deep purple, are good to dye fabrics... and your fingers :-)

Pokeberry Shoots (poke) cooked

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 84 kJ (20 kcal)

Carbohydrates 3.1 g
Sugars 1.6 g
Dietary fiber 1.5 g

Fat 0.4 g

Protein 2.3 g

Vitamins Quantity %DV
Vitamin A equiv. 54% 435 μg
beta-Carotene, 48% 5200 μg
lutein zeaxanthin 1747 μg
Thiamine (B1) 6% 0.07 mg
Riboflavin (B2) 21% 0.25 mg
Niacin (B3) 7% 1.1 mg
Vitamin B6 9% 0.111 mg
Vitamin C 99% 82 mg
Vitamin K 103% 108 μg

Minerals Quantity %DV
Calcium 5% 53 mg
Iron 9% 1.2 mg
Magnesium 4% 14 mg
Manganese 16% 0.336 mg
Phosphorus 5% 33 mg
Potassium 4% 184 mg
Sodium 1% 18 mg

Ate poke all my life. Wash thoroughly then boil it once. My favorite is to mix with mustard greens and a little salt. The two greens really complement each other. After boiling once I put in an iron skillet with a little bacon grease and wilted mustard greens and cook well.

We freeze the poke after boiling so we can enjoy year round. A pone of cornbread and just wonderful. Problem is I cannot decide if I like it best as freshly cooked or as a leftover.

I'm not much into greens, so I gave it only 3 stars. My grandmother didn't specify how many times to boil the greens, she just said it had to be "parboiled", which usually means changing the water until it is clear. My grandmother liked to have poke salad exactly one time each year in the spring. We would pick enough tender greens to fill one large paper grocery sack that was what my grandmother considered "a mess" of poke salad.

I am 70 and I have ate poke all my life. My Mom never boiled it two or three times. It is just cooked until tender. I always just get young chutes. I was told once it gets berries it is poison. Before the stalks turn red they are delicious rolled in flour and meal and fried.

If you get constipated, you can boil poke and drink about 2oz of the light green tea. It will loosen you up quite well. The first time I tried it, I drank about 6 oz. I won't make that mistake again...

Never heard of ANYONE getting sick from eating polk that had been boiled until tender in ONE water. Would be the same if you used hay from the barn as a filler because there would be no taste left in the polk. Grocery stores started putting in newspapers around 75 years ago that polk was poison so people would not eat free polk and buy greens at the store. Boy did it work. I also think that anyone that claims to be an expert and says polk is poison if boiled until tender in one water is in the pocket of large grocery store chains. For well over 100 years my family has been eating polk boiled only once and feeding it to anyone that may be around when it is on the table. For many, it was the first time to eat it and no one ever got sick.

I am from South Carolina and I have cooked poke sallet for years. I parboil it 4 times - then cook just as I would cook turnip greens. I put onion - salt - pepper - sugar and chicken broth (instead of bacon grease). Eat it just like turnip greens with a little hot pepper vinegar just like all 84 year old southerns eat their greens. I ate so much poke sallet today that I had to take a nap. Ya'll need to try some!

We all love here in Eastern KY. So in spring we gather it put in the freezer so when we want it in the winter we have it so we eat it year around. It is great anytime!