Guest guest Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Good evening (EST), I'm living on a WV mountaintop paradise for a little while and this morning a friend gave me some poke greens to try. He's not raw so he usually prepares them like asparagus (sauteed). When I asked him if he'd ever tried them raw he said no so I ate a leaf and stalk. We then went inside and he found this on the internet..... Young pokeweed leaves can be boiled three times to reduce the toxin, discarding the water after each boiling. The result is known as poke salit, or Poke salad, and is occasionally available commercially. Many authorities advise against eating pokeweed even after thrice boiling, as traces of the toxin may still remain. Consequences of eating them raw were said to be violent vomitting and diarhea within 2 hours. I didn't get any of that. Is there anyone here who can say if eating raw poke greens is nutritionally beneficial in any way? My friend had heard that you shouldn't eat them if they have any red coloring. Thanks. Nick Hein Morgantown, WV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Hi Nick, Give us an update of any symptoms. Keep in mind, toxic to someone on a standard American diet (even whole vegan cooked diet) may be different to someone on an all-raw diet. I'm sure it could be quite different. I've learned that my body works quite differently on raw foods than it did on cooked foods, especially back when I included animal products and preservatives, etc. My body works more efficiently now. Foods I eat are treated differently (IMO). Also consider that the medicinal properties could be affecting an unhealthy body much differently than a clean healthy body. What if the plant has a detoxing effect on the body? I suspect the symptoms would be much more dramatic to someone on a standard diet. For nutritional breakdown (both raw and cooked), look up poke (aka pokeweed, pokeberry) here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ (they don't go into shoulds or should nots of eating raw) Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Jeff, Thanks for asking. The bottom line is there were no symptoms. I didn't eat anything else before that and didn't have anything else until noon. I felt a little uneasiness after read the supposed symptoms, but nothing happened. I had a slight burn on my tongue like I get when I eat beets or rough greens. I agree that it's quite possible that a mild reaction could be cleansing. I know ramps (our other local wild staple) definitely feels detoxing. Thanks again. Nick - Jeff Rogers Sunday, July 05, 2009 8:00 PM Re: I've been poked Hi Nick, Give us an update of any symptoms. Keep in mind, toxic to someone on a standard American diet (even whole vegan cooked diet) may be different to someone on an all-raw diet. I'm sure it could be quite different. I've learned that my body works quite differently on raw foods than it did on cooked foods, especially back when I included animal products and preservatives, etc. My body works more efficiently now. Foods I eat are treated differently (IMO). Also consider that the medicinal properties could be affecting an unhealthy body much differently than a clean healthy body. What if the plant has a detoxing effect on the body? I suspect the symptoms would be much more dramatic to someone on a standard diet. For nutritional breakdown (both raw and cooked), look up poke (aka pokeweed, pokeberry) here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ (they don't go into shoulds or should nots of eating raw) Jeff Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.386 / Virus Database: 270.13.5/2220 - Release 07/05/09 17:54:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 I may be getting it mixed up with another herb (probably should research first but I dont have the time) Poke rt (leaves) is known/used as a poultice for skin cancer etc. very toxic internally. Catherine - Nick Hein Sunday, July 05, 2009 4:41 PM I've been poked Good evening (EST), I'm living on a WV mountaintop paradise for a little while and this morning a friend gave me some poke greens to try. He's not raw so he usually prepares them like asparagus (sauteed). When I asked him if he'd ever tried them raw he said no so I ate a leaf and stalk. We then went inside and he found this on the internet..... Young pokeweed leaves can be boiled three times to reduce the toxin, discarding the water after each boiling. The result is known as poke salit, or Poke salad, and is occasionally available commercially. Many authorities advise against eating pokeweed even after thrice boiling, as traces of the toxin may still remain. Consequences of eating them raw were said to be violent vomitting and diarhea within 2 hours. I didn't get any of that. Is there anyone here who can say if eating raw poke greens is nutritionally beneficial in any way? My friend had heard that you shouldn't eat them if they have any red coloring. Thanks. Nick Hein Morgantown, WV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Hi Nick, Did you check the North American Database of Native American Ethnobotany for the plant you ate? http://herb.umd.umich.edu I find this very helpful in providing clues as to how edible something might be, and what kinds of uses were most acceptable. It mentions which particular parts of a plant were eaten raw, dried, cooked, or in several ways, if that was the case. While a lot of things they ate raw, there were things they only ate after being cooked. Since they ate so much raw food, I always wonder when some part of a plant was only eaten after being cooked. What causes me to be very cautious on experimenting with wild food, in a form that isn't usually eaten by the people who lived there for thousands of years, is that many of the toxins that cause liver damage don't show any symptoms until after the liver is already damaged, and liver damage is one of the most difficult injuries to recover from. The problem is that some of the liver toxins in plants are so potent that the person dies from the liver damage before the liver can heal - this is the problem with many mushrooms. The more subtle problem is that a person doesn't show any symptoms after the first serving of the food, adds it to the their regular diet, and then only notices there are problems after the liver is close to failure. It would be great if there was a reliable way to detect a minor amount of damage to the liver. This way a person could experiment with new foods, and then quit experimenting with eating a specific food before there was significant amount of liver damage. May your day be filled with clarity, grace, strength, progress, and warm laughter, Roger - " Nick Hein " <nick.hein Sunday, July 05, 2009 7:20 PM Re: I've been poked > Jeff, > Thanks for asking. The bottom line is there were no symptoms. > ... > Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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