I am determined to wild gather on my home of twenty acres of swamp, woods, and clearing for pasture, home, and garden. I live in North Florida, almost in Alabama. This year I picked and prepared poke greens for the first time. I did pick them early in the spring, the leaves shouldn't linger than the length of your hand. I blanched them in boiling water 3 times, draining and replacing the water each time. I only used a small piece of low fat bacon to quickly saute after that. They were the best greens I had ever had. All parts of the poke plant can be used by someone that knows medicine. Last week some one started laughing when I told them about the tiny little wild blue berries I had found and I was informed they were sparkle berries , the blackberries stopped producing just before the sparkle berries turned green. I have also found 2 kinds of wild grape, a large variety and a smaller one. I had a wild persimmon tree but something broke it down. I also gather the green pads of the cactus and the blooms. I am trying to find someone to identify plants here that were used by Creek. There are 2 plants that are very similiar one is Yaupon and the other looks almost identical. Mvhayv ----- Original Message ----- From: "csmoke" > Phil, > My experience also, my people only eat the poke at the very earliest in > the > spring when it is small and just comming up .. the tops of the small new > plants. It was considered an annual spring experience "to clean out your > innards". Cooked in small pieces, fried in a skillet with bacon grease > and > bits of bacon. Never understood why they did not get heart disease and > clogged arteries from all that bacon they had to eat. Come to think of > it, > my native grandfather died of heart disease. > > Richard B. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Phil Whitley" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 8:07 PM > Subject: Re: [CREEK-SOUTHEAST] Appearance of the Native Sweet Potato > > >> Sam, poke sallat is best when you use the young leaves. I thought I had >> better let you know that it should be boiled two or three times, pouring >> off the water each time. Poke contains oxalic acid, which isn't good for >> you. My grandma mixed her poke with turnip greens since it is pretty >> strong-flavored. >> >> Brew >> ========== >> >> Sam Gipson wrote: >> >>>We have Poke Salad in our back yard on the creek >>>bed, She ha snot cooked it yet. Some is at least 4 feet tall. Bet it >>>is >>>tough. >>>Tks, Sam >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >