Hi all. Just wanted to make a minor correction. Poke is wonderful and it's everywhere know that springs in full swing!!! The common misconception about poke is that its a poison. This is false. It is very medicinal and is an alternative among other things.

I have always heard that poke can be poisonous. According to my grandmother, when my great grandmother was learning about how to prepare poke; she did not cook it correctly, so she threw it out for the hogs to eat. Unfortunately, the hogs died. Therefore, I am a believer that poke is poisonous, if not prepared correctly. I was told that it had to be boiled several times. Also, it had to be picked a certain time of year.

Whoever wrote this recipe has no idea what they are talking about. For over 100 years, my family has been eating poke greens, serving it to friends, neighbors, or anyone else that may be around when some was cooked. It is or was never boiled but once and never rinsed after boiling. I eat it from the time it comes up until frost kills it in the fall.
The older leaves just take longer to cook. They all tast the same.

Raised on a farm in Western North Carolina. My mother fixed poke salat every Spring . She claimed it would "change your blood from winter blood to summer blood". Said she heard that from a doctor. I am 76 and got to fix it every Spring. I only boil once.

Yes!! Many ways to prepare poke salad. Depends on your taster. We boil out twice, depends on age of salad. BUT... I am 58 and I have NEVER heard of 'death by poke salad'.
Also, best way here in Ar. After cooking poke for 2nd time, drain well. Press out as much of liquid as possible, scramble several eggs and cook with poke like scrambled eggs. YUM...

My mother in law made the salad with scrambled eggs and onions. Wonderful!

Wash and hang it out on a clothes line and let it dry until brown... Then roll it up real tight and smoke it... You'll never forget the experience... Better than corn silks...

I tried smoking once when I was about 15 or 16 but never tried smoking cornsilk. I did try my sons vape ONCE becoz it smelled so good (kinda like blueberries cooking). OMWord!!! I choked, coughed, gagged, I probably even turned green! So... when you smoke it, does it taste like poke salad with bacon & scrambled eggs?

86 yrs old. Raised on poke salad but never tried it rolled and fried in hot oil. About ten years ago, a friend said... Take a stem with leaves, dip it in your favorite batter, then fry. It will be crisp like bacon. No boiling. You will not believe how good. Not poison.

Should only boil ONE time (loose flavor otherwise) until greens are tender. discard water. Fry chopped onions & bacon Bits until onions wilt. Put greens in with bacon & onions. Add slightly beaten eggs. When eggs are ready, it is ready to eat. Be sure to have Cornbread.

Remember to tie or pen all the male dogs just before poke salad season so they wont pee on it. My mom always mixed the poke with turnip greens. Born and raised in Missippy

I never cook poke more than one time when I prepare it and then I usually steam/saute like spinach. However, if I happen to run out of fresh lettuce for a sandwich, I use a couple of fresh poke leaves. Still alive and kicking at 60.

Boiling and rinsing all these times is not necessary. The old wives tales of it being so toxic it might kill you is false. The berries and root are medical. But the leaves are fine as long as they are cooked. I mostly saute rather than boil as my granny did. But my family has eaten Poke for hundreds of years(Eastern Tennessee Cherokee/hillfolk) and none every died of it. If you want fresh greens after the big leaves get tough, cut the plant down to the ground and the new growth will be tender again, you can do this several time before it goes to seed.

My dad was born in 1886 and passed away in 1988 (102 years) He ate poke all his life. I will be 80 in October and have been eating poke all my life. For as long as I can remember (and for much longer) friends, neighbors, visitors (anyone that happened to be around) ate poke at our home and NO ONE ever got sick. My mother never boiled it but ONCE, I have never boiled it but once. I can say nothing about any part of the poke plant except the leaves as that is the only part that I eat. I eat the leaves from spring until late in the Fall (when frost kills them) The taste is the same, the only reason I like the young leaves is because you don't have to boil them as long. My dad said he never heard anything about poke being poison until about the early 1940's. In about the early 1950's, I starting seeing articles in the newspaper saying poke was poison. NO ONE ever claimed the articles. The Grocery stores put the articles in the paper to stop people from eating free poke and buy their greens. IT HAS WORKED FOR OVER 70 YEARS. Do you know of ANYONE ever dying from eating poke greens? I am not talking about hear say! A death certificate stating that poke caused the death???

Good point.

Never

Thank you for this info. I love seeing your true historical story about poke. So much gets lost and distorted by greed. God gave us wonderful free food!!! So happy to know it's not the big bad green of the south.

I saw my dad take the big poke stalks and split them roll in cornmeal. salt and pepper and fry in hot grease. I didn't try them cooked that way. But he ate them, and he never got sick. He said that poke salet was a spring tonic to clean your system out.

It's better when just sprouting (6 or 8 inches) or the tender tops after the plants get larger. Boil and rinse only once and fry in bacon or country ham grease. Break in 1 or 2 eggs and cook until eggs are done. A splash of soy sauce ain't bad.

Poke berries are really good at alleviating pain from arthritis and sore joints.
Dry the berries (air dry for several weeks or dehydrate.) Store them in a glass container out of direct sun and keep them cool.
For one week take one dried berry every morning. The next week take two dried berries. Either both at the same time or one in the morning and one in the evening. The third week take three dried berries. Keep increasing through the fifth week (5 berries) and on the sixth week don't take any berries. You give yourself a break. On the seventh and subsequent weeks continue with 5 berries a day always breaking for the sixth week. You can continue this as long as you feel the berries help with the pain, but if you stop for more than a week you need to build back up again.

I've eaten pokeweed for decades. If the new growth (or early shoots) can be easily snapped off, it's good to go. I do boil once for a few minutes, then drain. Then cook with cream sauce topped with bacon. Billie Jo Tatum has wonderful poke recipes in her 1977 book on wild foods. Joan Tidwell, Louisiana and North Carolina.