Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Tony Joe White
Polk Salad Annie

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Something weird: The plant is actually called "Poke Sallet" or Pokeweed. It didn't become Poke Salad until this song came out with the misspelling.

To make this even weirder, the plant is poisonous eaten raw and has to be boiled to get the toxins out. How it ever became a meal consumed by humans is a mystery. But in the Appalachians and further South it was a common dish cooked at home by the very poor.

Always On Watch said...

My family wasn't among the very poor, but my mother occasionally fixed "Poke Sallet." Only the youngest of plants. A lot of boiling and draining -- then served with homemade cornbread and ham. YUM!

Anonymous said...

AOW, Your account bring back memories. My cousins back in the hills ate it. I'm sure I did at one time or another but not at home. My mother wouldn't go near it!

Rednecktexan said...

I have dome black neighbors that come by occasionally just to pick some poke out of a ditch on my place. I dont think they are that poor, they just like it