Is this weed edible?

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 857

Is this NE US weed edible?

What is its name?

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1395

Looks like Polk (or Poke) to me. Yes, it's edible - with the following caveat.

You can only eat the very young, tender leaves at the first of the year. They must be boiled and drained twice. Eating mature leaves, or not boiling and draining them twice will make you sick. The berries are poisonous. That being said, young polksalad is very good, especially if you stirfry it with bacon (after boiling). Heck, anything's good with bacon Smile

a bit about pokeweed

(oh, and btw, Allen Canning Company is in Arkansas - I don't know if they still make polk or not...)

coyote · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: Re: Is this weed edible?

If that's pokeweed, then you can also make a very bright magenta or violet ink from the berries. Ferment it and it gets a bit darker and more permanent. It's the ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence.

Pokeweed ink
_________________
"If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy

Ferretlover · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:12 am Post subject: Re: Is this weed edible?

Looks a bit like spinach to me (never having seen pokeweed).
_________________
"RRrrruuuunnnn!!!" ~Apocalypto

green_achers · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:48 am Post subject: Re: Is this weed edible?

Poke salat was my first guess, but I'd have to see the berries.
_________________
WWJD? What would Joel Salatin do?

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1395

Well here in AR the poke doesn't have mature berries yet. Very small green/white ones, but they're not purple yet. So allen's plant may not have had berries yet. Were there berries, Allen?
K

oxj · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:35 pm Post subject: Re: Is this weed edible?

If you recall last year's bird excrement staining your lawn chairs, you can be sure the mighty pokeweed is around.
_________________
- the ox

Kingcoal · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:39 pm Post subject: Re: Is this weed edible?

I don't know, go ahead, eat it and tell us how you feel afterward.
_________________
"That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money

Forester · Coal Joined: Jan 25, 2008 Posts: 8 Location: Atlanta

I've read a few articles that claim poke salad is potentially carcinogenic. Pokeweed contains a mitogen that provokes rapid cell reproduction in some instances--i.e. the beginnings of a tumor. However, pokeweed mitogen therapy is also under investigation as a therapy for HIV, because it may cause immune cells to reproduce prodigiously, too. (You can Google "pokeweed mitogen" and find plenty on this angle.)

You can also allegedly absorb the toxins through your skin simply by handling the plant, particularly if your hands have wounds or abrasions.

Appalachian Voice

That said, the elderly woman who used to live next door to us ate poke salad occasionally. Personally, I would only eat it if I couldn't find any other (safer) wild foods in the area.

Jenab6 · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: Is this weed edible?

Pokeweed has a thick, fleshy purplish green main stem. This time of year, the green berries are beginning to appear, though they have not yet reached their full size and mature purple color. Those leaves do look a bit like poke, but the poke around my house has a more irregular meeting of the leaf at the stem side. Usually one side will merge with the stem lower than the other side. Your leaves' stems are more even in that respect.

Gothor · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 14, 2008 Posts: 89

looks like poke to me

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 857

Thanks to all for the help.

This was just a few inch tall weed and I pulled it out. I never let the weeds get that high to make berries.

Sounds like a problem child if it has to be cooked with such a demanding recipe to avoid poisoning.

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1395

Perhaps, Allen, but I grew up eating polk. I've eaten some in the last month, in fact. It's quite tasty. It's bascially just boiling and draining twice that removes the toxins. Honestly, I'm not too worried about it. We have some growing near the house in several places. I do cut it back, but I never kill it out, although we're not currently harvesting it. Those greens will come in handy in the future.

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 857

I wanted to make sure we are identifying the right weed since I found a similar weed.

Original weed I submitted for identification on the left. (You said it was polkweed) New weed is on the right and close up of the new weed is in bottom photo.

The new weed taste bad raw. The original weed you thought was polkweed taste kind of bland and not bad raw. The polkweed has reddish stripped stalk and the new weed has no extra color on the stalk.

Still same proposal that the weed on the left is polkweed?

Any idea what the weed on the right is?

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 857