All about Pokeweed and how to make Poke Salad

First off, what is pokeweed you may ask? Well pokeweed is a plant the grows starting in the spring all over the place and it grows in all sorts of soils and even in open places. You can find it growing in fields, along roadsides and in the woods. If you have a piece of property that has been cleared years back you can find pokeweed growing in the weeds of the pushed off areas. The best way to explain about pokeweed is you have to look at a few pictures, so there is a cool slide show added with this article.

The plants can grow to a height of about 12 foot tall and are found in numerous countries around the globe. You will recognize them once their purple berries form on the green stems in the summer. Until then you would have to be able to recognize the large slightly pointy leaves of the short poke plant. Deer berries are another name the poke is known for as well as poke sallat, poke salad, poke root and poke berry, all mean the same plant.

Although pokeweed is a poisonous plant do not let that hinder you from harvesting it's leaves and roots to be eaten and used in herbal medicines. If it is done right there is nothing to fear. Just use this information and you will be eating poke salad every spring season from now on. Here are the details of how to harvest this plant the correct and safe way:

In the spring time before It gets real hot you want to harvest the leaves of the pokeweed and leave the roots alone. This is because in the spring time all the plants poison is concentrated in it's roots and has not spread throughout the plant just yet. During this time people harvest the plants leaves and cook them up just like you do collards, spinach or turnip greens. In fact poke salad, as it is called, taste identical to spinach after it is cooked. So some people have come to call this edible herb, wild spinach.

In the summer you want to stay away from the plants berries and leaves and concentrate on the root. This is because when it starts getting hotter the berries will begin to form. Once they turn purple the poison that was once concentrated in the plants roots is not concentrated in the plant itself, and not in the roots. But the safest time to harvest the roots for use is in the fall. Harvest poke root and store it for later use. Now for a word on the purple berries of the poke plant. Just when the berries ripen the juice from the berries is edible.

The seed in the berry remains poisonous so do not eat or use it for anything. History points to native Americans using the berry juice of the poke plant for a purple dye, which you can still do today. Dye made with the poke berry juice is highly staining and a permanent dye. Before the leaves of the plant get their well know red color they are picked for use. Then you have to boil the leaves, rinse them off and discard the water and then boil them again.

Do this three times and then they will be ready to eat safely. After that all you do is put them in a skillet with some oil and fry them up as you would fresh spinach. After it is fried up some you add in some chopped boiled eggs and enjoy this all natural food of nature. The boiled leaves are called Poke Weed Salad and there are of course some people today that still do not agree with this way of processing the plant but every spring hundreds of southern folks enjoy poke salad with no problems.

If you are into baking then the juice of the poke berry can be extracted and used in pies, although remember to discard the poke berry seed. If you are into making jelly there is something called poke jelly where the juice is used too. But you can not eat any part of this plant uncooked, underdone or unprocessed. When it comes to what the health benefits of this plant is the list is long and has been tested over time. First with the Indians and then some of the first herbalists and now even today there is a formula that is made with pokeweed that promises to fight cancer, it is called Hoxsey Formula.

Herbal Health uses of pokeweed:

Topically applied it eases acne
Taken internally to soothe infections, treat tonsillitis and inflammation of the glands
Grated pokeweed root is used to treat breast swelling and rashes and soothes mastitis
From both topical and internal use, treatment of cancers of the uterus, throat and breasts
Treatment of scrofula, eczema, psoriasis and other skin problems
Rheumatism, achy joints

Today there are a great deal of studies being done with pokeweed for use as a treatment for AIDS and cancer but the studies are still not conclusive. Those of use that practice herbalism today feel that pokeweed can stimulate the thyroid gland if it is found to be weak. Although there is a lot of information here about pokeweed this is not all that there is. Someone doing extensive research on the uses of pokeweed will find a lot more uses including anti-viral properties.

For a more glamorous reference, Poke Salad Annie was a song performed by Tony Joe White in 1969. The song was later performed by Elvis Presley. Enjoy the tune from the video posted on the left of this article.