The only part of Poke Salt that is poisonous is the roots, and they are deadly! That being said, the berries contain so much B12 that it you eat more than 1, it can make you feel flushed, light headed, nauseous, and if you eat 4 or 5 they can make you projectile vomit!
That's why is important to run the berries thru some yeast first, in other words, make a wine from them. Even then they are still pretty strong so you only want to take 1 or 2 spoonfull per day right after eating breakfast.
The leaves are delicious! But only if cooked right. They too contain 12, but not nearly as much as the berries. They taste like a mix of fresh spinach and asparagus. You want to pick a bunch of they leaves (they seem better to me when young and tender in spring), wash and devein them (cut out center vein/stem). Cut them into 1 inch strips.
That was prep. This is how to cook them.
1st boil.
Cover them with fresh clean water in a large cooking put with a lid.
Bring to a boil on high. Once boiling, set timer for 10 minutes.
When 10 minutes are up, be careful and drain the greens, refill pot with just a couple inches of water over the greens.
2nd boil
set timer and boil greens at a high rapid boil just like the 1st time for 10 mins. Once timer goes off, drain them again.
3rd Boil
This is the final boil before eating and different from the first 2. The first 2 boils hot rod of the excess B12 so you don't get flushed after eating them.
Cover the greens for the last time with about 1 inch of water or preferably chicken stock. If you started off with enough poke greens to fill a 5 quart pot, cut 1 medium size onion into 4 pieces and throw it in the pot. You can also put in a stick or 2 of celery if you like celery. Some people will just toss in their favorite veggie bouillon. I myself like to add a cup of ham chunks or a couple pieces of bacon. Ham bouillon is good too in a pinch.
Bring to a boil then set stove to low heat and cover. Let simmer for about 30 mins.
Once done, enjoy them straight from the pot with some homemade cornbread.
If you have some leftover poke the next morning, you can make poke and eggs.
Warm up the poke just enough you can squeeze the excess water from the greens then set then aside. Scramble up some eggs and start cooking them in your cast iron skillet that nothing sticks to. Next add a couple healing heaping spoons of the strained poke to your eggs and finish cooking like you would normally. You can throw in some American cheese or shredded cheese you like.
Everyone I have ever made it for said it taste like spinach quiche but only better.
I cooked up a mess of poke weed week before last, cleaned up all the few leaves that were left this far south this year. The spring leaves are a lot better but even these older leaves are pretty good.
If your in North Bama or higher, you may have some good leaves still worth eating. Always follow the 3 boil cooking method, only use berries for arthritis tonic one spoonful at a time.
AND NEVER EAT OR USE THE ROOTS.
THE ROOTS ARE WHAT'S POISONOUS!
