quote:Recently, while visiting me in Brooklyn, my mom’s eyes went twinkly as she noticed all the wild pokeweed growing around the neighborhood. A woolgathering reminiscence of her childhood in Texas spilled forth: cooking and eating the onion-infused greens straight from the pan; her stoic anticipation as her mother added vinegar to the last dregs of poke-broth, knocking it back like a shot of whiskey.
She was surprised to find that my New England–bred boyfriend had never heard of the poisonous, towering perennial weed, with its oblong leaves and magenta berries and stalks. Despite the fact that the kudzu-like Phytolacca americana sprouts up all across North America, poke sallet, a dish made from the plant’s slightly-less-toxic leaves, is a regional thing, popular only to Appalachia and the American South. The leaves must be boiled in water three times to cook out their toxins, and, as aficionados will tell you, it’s well worth the extra effort.
But if pokeweed is so toxic, why did people start eating it in the first place? In a word, poke sallet is survival food.
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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Mary Anna Evans
http://www.maryannaevans.com
MaryAnna@ermosworld.com
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"A mob is a place where people go to get away from their conscience" Atticus Finch
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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The earth laughs in flowers
Gators got your Granny!quote:Originally posted by Nina:
Pokeweed = poke sallet = poke salad = Poke Salad Annie?
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
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Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.