Just because some snooty botanist calls something a weed does not mean the Creator made a mistake.
On the contrary, the things labeled as weeds have medicine in them just as favored plants do. We were given everything we need to heal our bodies, minds, and souls.
Purslane is a good detoxer, plus it has effects to lubricate your insides.
Dandelions have Vitamin A and C and cancer fighting properties, as they are now being used in cancer treatments. Too bad they are still using toxins like chemo and radiation.
Poke berries. Every single website, save one, proclaimed these as toxic and not to eat them. They are ripening now and I grabbed some for making wine. I did this last year, drank it, and…lived to tell about it!! So there. Further proof that people who call themselves experts are clueless. Big Pharma doesn’t like it when you use God’s creation to heal yourself…
**edited to add: I found a great testimonial on a pokeberry website and a video on poke sallet (no, not salad, but sallet, a dish)–
- August 10, 2015, 11:57 pm
I loooove these testimonials that fly in the face of the so-called experts who just repeat what they are told instead of doing their own investigations! It is especially intriguing that this plant is thought to fight against parasites and HIV, which we know was lab created, along with Lyme.
I tried to make poke wine again, but it wasn’t cooperating, so I made it into an 1700 drink called shrub — video below. I really like the idea of using this instead of pop drinks. Very healthy with raw honey and raw apple cider vinegar PLUS the fresh berries. I had some possum berries that I made my first shrub with, and mixed it with mineral water — wow, it was delicious!
I’ve drank pokeberry juice and eaten raw pokeberries the past two days. So there.
Here’s the video on poke sallet. I had to try this and it is DELICIOUS. The leaves become crispy with the yummy bacon grease. Definitely comfort food!
First of all, I like that this guy looks like he’s ex-military and…he enjoys cooking…and he’s down-home folk who keep traditions alive. I love that. He mentions his nana had a recipe, but unfortunately, nobody got the recipe from her before she passed. That has got to be the saddest part of what has happened to us — women, especially older women, are not valued for their wisdom and making simple things like dinner warm and comforting. They really did a number on us with the feminist movement degrading all things that nurtured and comforted, and therefore healed us.
Speaking of nana’s…I never had the wonderful benefit of a nana. One nana died before I was ever born, and the other nana was waaay out in California, so I never got to know her or listen to her wise words.
So….I found this wonderful lady on youtube looking for ideas on cooking on a budget. Instead, with her warmth, she helps me find comfort in today’s world. Perhaps she will comfort some of you, too:
Eagle 
Hi James Crawford Pitts,
From long personal experience of ingesting poke & being told that pokeberries were poison, I can answer your question. What we preferred to pick was shoots (which I describe as short stalks displaying some leaves, but not necessarily unfurled or open)is very similar to asparagus spears, as being the most tasty. Parboil and eat the young stems or stalks with leaves. We never used more than 1 short early boil to wilting point followed with draining & rinsing, and then proceeded to cook it in manner of choice. Young leaves unfurled and even as I learned from my son, who is now 55 years old, picking new tender leaves from older plants also is safe to eat, as long as you follow the parboil, drain & rinse, then cook. My family always enjoyed these 1st spring greens to appear. I can remember my mother making poke stalk patties, but never fixed them this way myself, but ate my share of them. I don’t recall parboiling them first, but any fritter or patty recipe & frying should work.
Recall one year when we had an abundance of poke sallet growing in a freshly bulldozed acreage, and did we have a ball with harvesting that. We ate poke shoots and stalks, older ones with more leaves, but still shied away from red stems or stalks. Froze about 50 quarts of poke sallet that year & enjoyed poke all winter long. With such an abundance of white poke stalks, hit on the idea of making poke stalk pickles (used a dill pickle recipe from the Ball canning book), no parboiling and my young children ate them like candy. Fifty or more pints did not last through the winter.
One of our favorite recipes for poke when leaves were more prominent with less stalk was to let parboil stage run a few minutes longer, drain and rinse. Put bacon grease in cast iron skillet and put parboiled poke in, then beat eggs as to scramble while poke is heating up and pour over the poke in the skillet, stirring frequently while beaten eggs cook. Some of that crumbled bacon does enhance the flavor somewhat.
Now lets talk about those poison poke berries. A bout of what was probably a bad bout of gouty arthritis that had me moving like molasses in January – very slowly – as even my ribs hurt when I breathed. On the advice of a very near and dear woman, I started taking poke berries that fall – after a discussion re their being poison and her telling me that they never hurt her aunt who had taken them for arthritis pain as long as she could remember, and was then in her middle to late 80’s. I reminded this dear lady that if her poke berries killed me, she had to finish raising my children for me. When she didn’t back down after that bit of information, I watched my pokeweed closely and started taking them as soon as they ripened. However she didn’t know how many poke berries she took at a time or how often, so I had to work out that for myself. For the more daring ones who trust God’s medicine more than man’s, my advice is to start by taking 4 or 5 pokeberries at a time, 4 times per day and add a berry or 2 each day until you notice some improvement. The most likely side effect that might occur is some loose bowel movements. If this occurs, decrease the berries until it stops and hold the number of berries at that level 4 times per day.
When I first started taking pokeberries, my advisor told me that her aunt dehydrated the berries that ripened faster than she needed to take them, so again I followed her aunt’s wisdom. Since then I have gone on line to learn how to make a tincture or extract of herbs, which the poke berries are. Simple to do, a little time involved and also a little messy when straining the pulp and seeds our of your tincture or extract. My youngest child probably was less than 2 years old when I first started taking poke berries and I am still here to tell you and all others interested in good health about it, so get off your duff and get out there and pick those pokeberries.
Found a brother of mine suddenly limping badly with a walker and asked him what was going on. He replied that he had the gout in his foot and the doctor told him he nothing more to offer, so he would just have to live with it. After a long discussion, I told him that I had a healthy crop of pokeberries still ripe and I would bring him some if he would use them. Had more trouble talking him into eating asparagus (since this doctor had told him that it was bad for the gout), until I told him that the asparagus was bad for the gout, but it was good for him. He made a trip to the grocery for the asparagus, and the next morning I carried him a bag full of pokeberries and instructions of how to use them. Three days later he was walking fine without the walker and was one happy pain free camper.
As for that poisonous root, had a relative ask me for any natural remedy for scabies (itch), so I asked if she knew what poke sallet was and got a positive answer. Told her to dig some poke root. cover it with water and boil for 5 to 15 minutes. Throw root out and let water cool before applying it all over the body, leaving it on for a short period and shower off. Later asked her if it worked since I had only read about it myself. Her reply was that it worked just as she had hoped, but it sure did feel like she was on fire when she applied it to her skin – reports of any problem except for the initial discomfort of being on fire.
Have also read of at least one person who makes a poke root tincture or extract, but don’t recall what she used it for. My guess would be that if poke root water kills off scabies, it should also kill off head or body lice and probably internal parasites also. But if I were using the root extract, it would be in 1 or 2 drops in a glass of water 4 times a day and building up to point of noticing a difference, whether it was improvement or undesired side effect. If the difference was an improvement, you might increase by another drop or if an undesired side effect, decrease a drop or 2 until it stops.