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 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.

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.

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!

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. 😊️