This is neat --- from the VA mail list --- didn't know they had our old favorite --- personally, I prefer turnip greens after the frost, because they are bitter. Jane -----Original Message----- From: Pat Oneal <peon@icx.net> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Wednesday, May 19, 1999 1:17 AM Subject: Poke Sallet > When I was a kid, the older ladies in the neighborhood would gather Poke >from the Holler up the way from our house. They wore their handmade bonnets >to shade their faces, and longsleeved dresses with aprons. From my bedroom >window, I could see the little old ladies as they took a shortcut thru our >yard, carrying their big brown grocery sacks and the household butcherknife >for cutting the poke. I watched as their heads popped up and down in the >tall weeds. > Poke is a tall stalk with leaves about two-four feet high and growing >wild. It looks very much like another large weed to me. The ladies liked >to pick the poke when it was young and tender. They made salads just as you >would with spinach greens. Calling it Poke "Sallet" was just their southern >way of pronouncing salad. My mother used to fix poke salad, but I, being >the finicky eater, never tried it. I never knew where Poke got its name, >but it makes sense to me that its name came from the "brown paper poke" that >the ladies used to gather the greens. More than likely, it goes far beyond >the development of the paper poke. > Pat > > > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#3 Support the fight against unrequested junk e-mail (SPAM). >Visit the webpage at: http://www.cauce.org/ > -sysop > >