# POLK SALAD, what is it??



## Heat (Jul 16, 2005)

Some freind was telling me about Polk salad, and i have never heard of it! He said maybe just the Hillbillies eat it?  He was offered some and said no thanks , ha ha ha . I was just wondering if Anyone can tell me about what they know about it? I'm a Southerner,  and consider myself more of a Southern chef, but, i have no ideas what Polk Salad is. I know i could look it up and find details . But, i'm very interested in knowing how many people know what it is as well!!


----------



## texasgirl (Jul 16, 2005)

My husband grew up eating this, and no, he's no hillbilly. lol
It is a wild grass that grows that you have to clean VERY good as not to get VERY sick from it. I never ate the stuff and my husband thought I was crazy. The poke is a paper bag that you use to gather it in.

http://web.ask.com/fr?u=http%3A%2F%2Fctasher.home.insightbb.com%2Fdocuments%2Fpokesalad.htm&s=a&bu=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.ask.com%2Fweb%3Fq%3Dpoke%2Bsalad%26o%3D0%26page%3D1&q=poke+salad&o=0&qt=0&ma=...is%20called%20poke%20salad%2C%20or%20poke%20salit%2C%20as%20my%20family%20says%20it.%20I%20always%20thought%20it%20was%20called%20poke%20salad%20because%20it%20has%20the%20appearance%20of%20salad...&mt=Poke%20Salad&mb=


----------



## Raine (Jul 16, 2005)

You have to be careful in which leaves you use. I can't keep them straight, but I think you need to use the young tendar ones, otherwise they are poisonus and can kill you.


Some years ago, a boy scout master kid some kids by fixing polk salad and used the wrong leaves.


----------



## Michael in FtW (Jul 16, 2005)

Good website Texasgirl! And you are right Raine - it's the young tender leaves in the center that are only 2-4 inches long that are the "safest" to eat - and only before it develops it's berries. When I was a kid Dad was stationed in Albany, Georgia and my Grandmothers came out and spent the summer with us. They got all excited that the field beside our house was full of pokeweed - and they took me with them several times when they went out picking.

All I remember about the preparation was that it was boiled a few minutes, drained and rinsed, then boiled again - about 4 times, to get rid of the toxins. Then, they added it to a cast iron skillet and finished cooking it in bacon grease with diced bacon and onion. I think they also added some vinegar - but I don't remember all the details exactly (that was about 47 years ago!).


----------



## comissaryqueen (Jul 17, 2005)

I eat poke all the time. I have never gotten sick from any of the leaves. The young ones are the most tender. Clean the leaves good then boil well. The traditional southern Poke Sallet calls for sauteing the greens in bacon grease then serve with chopped boiled egg. It's delicious. Remember the song "Poke Sallet Annie"?


----------



## Raine (Jul 18, 2005)

Yes, i was singing that song as during my previous reply.

chomp, chomp


----------



## buckytom (Jul 19, 2005)

is there any reason to eat these possibly poisonous leaves? seems kinda dumb if there ain't...


----------



## Claire (Jul 19, 2005)

For the same reason some folk eat Spam. Once upon a time, people actually went hungry. Poke salat was simply a result of people being hungry, then they develop a taste for something they once HAD to eat. I've actually never heard of anyone dying from the stuff, and believe me, I've had my share of buddies who were raised on it back in the days when Appalachia was truly poor. There's a song out there about Poke Salad Annie, and I'm trying to remember which CD it is on.  Brother!  I'm going to have to listen to a lot of music this week to find the song!


----------



## kyles (Jul 19, 2005)

Moved to vegetable forum


----------



## comissaryqueen (Jul 19, 2005)

Only the berries and stalks will make you sick. Here in the south many people (old folks) say it's like a tonic and their body craves it. I personally think it's very tasty.


----------



## Raine (Jul 19, 2005)

http://www.rockytopgen.com/polksalad/health.html


----------



## buckytom (Jul 19, 2005)

thanks claire. very interesting, anthropolgically speaking.

and thanks commisary queen. taste and tonic are good enough reasons, kinda what i expected...


----------



## Robt (Jul 20, 2005)

As a Kid in Missouri we ate Polkweed too; but only in the early spring.  

When the stalk starts turning red that signals the build up of oxalic acid which can cause you to be very dead.  

We mostly ate it steamed with a vinaigrette.  I remember liking it.


----------



## Michael in FtW (Jul 20, 2005)

Well, buckytom - in the South polk salad is comfort food, call it soul food if you will ... something handed down from our grandparents .... something that we no longer have to eat but eat in celebratation or rememberance of days done by. And, besides, it's mighty tasty! That's why we "risk our lives" to eat it.


----------



## *Christina* (Jul 20, 2005)

I have never seen this in Europe...is this only grows in the US?


----------



## bknox (Jul 20, 2005)

We used to eat polk salad as a kid. I do not remember any rules about the leaves and the size. We would gather leaves from plants with and without berries. A polk plant creates purplish blue berries that are excellent for pissing off a brother or two when squeezed and thrown. We would also make a tea out of sumack (sp?). This plant acts like poison ivy to some people but the berries make a bitter tea.

bryan


----------



## Constance (Jul 20, 2005)

Before the era of supermarkets, people went all winter without fresh greens. My Grandma White used to pick a variety of wild spring greens...polk, purslane, dandylion, and lambsquarters to name a few. They were, indeed, a spring "tonic" as they sent one to the outhouse pretty fast. 
I was always taught that the berries were poisonous, but we made some great "ink" out of them as children. 
The older people around here still have to have a mess of fresh polk in the spring.


----------



## buckytom (Jul 21, 2005)

thanks robt, michael in phtwpth (sorry, had a pokeberry seed   ), bknox, daisy, and constance. now we're getting somewhere. it must be a hearty plant, i'm guessing that can handle frosts, has a long season to fruit, and grows in poor conditions, given what you all have said.
from a survival standpoint, you eat what providence has left for you. eventually, it becomes a sociologic curiosity, and a tie to our past.


----------



## Claire (Jul 23, 2005)

Thanks, Constance, for bringing up that point.  People still assume that everyone can get everything,  every time of the year.  Then there are the TV talking head idiots who say "only eat fresh, local, in season."  Duh.  When we could all eat ONLY fresh, ONLY local, and ONLY in season, nutrition went down the hill, and diseases abounded.  Even when I was a kid, in many places I lived, fish and seafood was a stinky, thawed, nasty tasting stuff I had to eat on Fridays during lent.  In winter we had apples and oranges, period (and you don't have to get much older than me to remember when it was only apples).  Vegetables in the winter meant carrots and potatoes and whatever you could get out of a can.  A salad was iceberg and cucumbers and sorry grocery store tomatoes.  Mom still fed us nutritiously, and in the summer we had it all, but most folk like to think about the good ol' days who weren't there.  My mom was an excellent cook who made the most of what we had when we had it, and we lived over much of the country and in Europe.  But the reason people learned to use what was locally available was sometimes because they couldn't get anything else.  I've never had Polk Salad (I've read it spelled all of the above, most often Poke Salat), but plan on asking an Appalachian friend tomorrow.


----------



## Ishbel (Jul 23, 2005)

Claire
I suppose I'm like one of those 'talking heads' you mention.  I advocate, where possible, eating meats/vegs/fruits in season.  That doesn't mean I turn my nose up at Dutch or Canary tomatoes in our winter. But what it does mean is I CHOOSE the vegetables, meats etc available locally at the proper season - in preference to imported or frozen foods.  

For instance, Welsh or Scots spring lamb is vastly superior to chilled lamb brought all the way from, say, New Zealand.  I do not buy frozen meat of any kind, or fish.


----------



## Claire (Jul 24, 2005)

Ishbel, you know what I'm talking about.  If we never ate anything that wasn't fresh and in season in much of the country (and I've lived in most of it), we'd suffer severe malnutrition (as people did when that was the only option).  There's a reason Brits are called Limeys.  You have to live on vegs and fruits grown elsewhere in much of the world.  Even in Florida and Hawaii, we were quite dependent upon fruits & vegs from other parts of the world.  Here, in Northern Illinios, we simply couldnt' live if we didn't have some food shipped in from southern climes.  No matter what the chefs say in NYC, I have yet to find a fresh fruit or veg that grows in February this far north.  They don't taste as great as they do fresh-in-season (why there is such a thing as harvest fests), obviously.  But nothing, and I do mean nothing, grows in February in this climate.  So I, personally, am happy to be able to have some selection in the grocery store at the end of winter.  

That said, given a choice, of course we eat fresh, in season.  I have a half dozen tomatoes sitting on my sideboard.  It was too hot, so the cukes didn't fruit the way they should (just starting).  My zuchs (courgettes) (from a friend's garden) are waiting to become a great curry.  But in February, this just isn't going to happen, and we'd get pretty fat living on only potatoes and other vegs (roots, really) that can be stored through the winter.  I've kept up a decent sized garden for two every where I've lived, and I tryto use thelocal market.  But in Feb/March, trust me, there is nothing.  Actuallyl, there is close to nothing right now, and I have friends who are farmers.  In two or three weeks, we will have huge amounts of wonderful tomatoes and cukes.  Corn is just getting in.  But to say we should do without this except during the  month they are in season is silly.  But we love them when they are.  Corn boils.  salads to beat the band.  Tomatoes in every form, so much that we get sores on our faces.  

We try, we really do. But you can only fight ma nature so much.


----------



## Ishbel (Jul 25, 2005)

No......

Read my post again!  I didn't SAY 'only in season'....


----------



## Timeloyd (May 8, 2006)

Poke is easy to collect and recognize. I look for the large old stalks which had the purple berries on it last year. Once you find or know where the old stalks we you can go back in April and May and find the Poke plants and collect the Poke Greens. Often times finding lots of it. I usually find it growing in a woody area where there is light. I have also found it growing in sideyards. 
When collecting Poke you can collect it until you see the flowers start forming. If the plant is too big or like me you pickle the Poke and so use larger plants with thicker shoots remember when you cut a plant it sends up new shoots so you can keep collecting until the flowers form instead of giving up when it seems to big. If you find a large stalk and you want shoots just make sure there are no flowers, and cut the stalk for a new supply of young plants. Oh yes NEVER CUT A PLANT ABOVE GROUND LEVEL IF YOU EXPECT TO GATHER MORE. 
You can fry Poke in Bacon drippps ahh I gave that up as I do not eat Pork now. You can consider this the Vegetarian Way of fixing Polk. I use 5 large scoops of margarine or butter, and 2 tablespoons salt mixed together in a frying pan until it sizzlees good.. You then add the poke shoots you have rolled in a flour and egg batter and fry it till done.. I cook by site so that is hard to describe. If the butter/salt mix gets low add more. I do not use Pork but I love Poke.
When I make Pan Galactic Peter Parker's Pickled Poke or is that Peter Parker's Pan Galactic Pickled Poke ( a tongue twister in your pantry/frig) I use stalks that are big enough arround to peel. I peel the leaves off the stalk and put the leaves in the sink, and remove the remaining outside of the stalk with a potato peeler then cut them up to fit into a Canning/Spaghetti jar. I then usually have a sink full of Polk Leaves. You can add the leaves to the pickled shoots but they drip alot when removed after opening so I don't pickle them. Perhaps they should be canned. Suggestions on how to use all those Polk Leaves? Anyway I cut the strings from the stalks off the Poke Leaves. and use / share the leaves since I have a whole lot of them left over from pickling the stalks. 
For Pickled Poke, other Polk recepies and infromation on Foraging and using other wild foods go to Foraging THe Edible Wild ~<-<-%

http://community.webtv.net/Taimloyd/FORAGINGTHEEDIBLE 

Galactic Hitchhiker Resource

http://community.webtv.net/Timeloyd/GALACTICHITCHHIKER

HAPPY FORAGING AND REMEMBER WHERE YOUR TOWEL IS


----------



## Michael in FtW (May 9, 2006)

So, in other words, we are still left to wonder about ... If Peter Parker Pickled a Peck of Pan Galactic Poke - how many pints of Pan Galactic Pickled Poke did Peter Parker Pickle?


----------



## Robo410 (May 9, 2006)

well, I've had it well made and like any fine southern green cooked with pork product, it was luscious and yummy.  

Seriouly, when I go into a store such as whole foods and see the Gorgeous Produce, carefully arranged, fresh, not decomposing like at some stores, I pack the cart full and my meat purchase becomes complimentary rather than primary.  We may have begn this through poverty but today it is a luxury to have at one's table all the bounty of wonderful produce ... I find the body does indeed crave it.


----------



## BreezyCooking (May 9, 2006)

Timeloyd - isn't it way past the point of being safe to eat once it's large enough to start flowering?  I've always read/heard that except for the new young shoots, the adult plants can be toxic, & all of the Pokeweed around here is over 5-foot tall by the time it starts setting buds.


----------



## Timeloyd (May 10, 2006)

I am in Southern Illinois and the plants are just starting to bud/flower here. There are still lots of plants availale to collect and even pickle. I have found if you cut the tall plants and keep cutting the plants at ground level no matter how tall they are even if bigger then what you collect before they flower the Poke will continue to send up edible shoots. Thus I make my supply last longer by cutting them at ground level and collecting them until they flower. 
    I will use the tips of stalks and the leaves.
on them before they flower. I peel the leaf and skin off with a Potato Peeler but will not eat the skin off the stalk accept in small plants.

VEGETARIAN FRIED POKE GREENS ~Bring Pot of Water to boil, add Poke leaves, young shoots and stalk tips. Boil for 10 minutes. I eat Poke but I do not eat Pork so in place of Bacon I fried the Poke in Beef Suet/Fat . Then I got an idea for Vegetarian Poke Greens . For Imitation Bacon Drippings heat 4 Tablespoons of Margarine and 2 Teaspoons salt together (amount may vary with amount of Poke) to simulate taste of Bacon (contains fat and salt). When sizzling add the cooked Poke Greens and/or
peeled and battered fried stalks and fry them turning until sizzling and done. Drain. SERVE

For recepies for Pickled Polk and other Polk and wild recepies go to Foraging The Edible Wild
http://community.webtv.net/Taimloyd/FORAGINGTHEEDIBLE

                          Timeloyd Rich

Time is an illusion. Lunch time doubly so.
Ford Prefect ~ The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy


----------



## Timeloyd (May 21, 2006)

I pickle poke stalks and COLLECT POKE BEFORE THE FLOWERS FORM. Cut it at ground level and it keeps coming up. After removing the leaves from the stalk filling my kitchen sink I remove the strings from the stalk ends of leaves and make

OHITASHI BLANCHED POLK 
Rinse young Polk plants and Polk stalk leaf ends, cut as far down as tender) in boiling water. 
The rest of the Stalk can be used in Pickled Polk.
Bring to a boil again and then simmer about 10 minutes. Drain. and then cover leaves with ice water until cold. Squeeze the water out of the leaves. Cut the Polk shoots and stalk leaf ends into serving or bite size. Add Soy Sauce or Teriyaki Sauce to it. Serve and enjoy. 

POKE TEA ~ You can use the water from the cooked Polk like Tea by adding Honey to taste.

TO MAKE VEGETARIAN FRIED POLK ~
I remembered that Bacon contains a lot of fat and salt to preserve it in a small frying pan put 4 Tablespoons of soft margarine or butter and 2 Teaspoons of salt instead of Bacon Drippings. Amount of these may vary with the amount of Polk being cooked and your taste. Heat until it sizzles. 
Add drained cooked Poke greens and stalk shoots after being battered or from the pot to frying margarine ~ salt mixture.
Fry together mixing and turning the Poke Greens until they are sizzling and they look done.
Drain and Serve immediately.
Hmmm How else to use Polk? Try topping this. Hmmm

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1971_March_April/PokeSllet


----------

