Pick Poke, a Wild Green, for Profit

(Page 3 of 3)

July/August 1979
By Dorothy Bowen 
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It's even possible to locate stands of the perennial after frost, when the tough woody stalks bleach out and stand stark and white against the brown and barren landscape.

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Winter is a good time to line up your picking territory, too . . . by getting advance permission from landowners to harvest on their property. (Need it be said that you must always ask leave before setting foot on someone else's land? There are people who'll run you off with a shotgun if you don't request permission, but be sweet as sorghum molasses if you do!)

I learned of the profit potential of this common plant too late to take advantage of it this year, but any would-be poke-pickers who knock at my door next spring are bound to be disappointed . . . 'cause I'm going to harvest—and sell—the tasty weed myself!

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you don't happen to live in the Arkansas/Oklahoma area . . . a few calls to local canneries now might well turn up a market for next spring's poke crop. And—even if you can't locate a buyer—you'll still have the delicious shoots and leaves to eat and enjoy (many foragers recommend changing the cooking water two to four times when preparing this vegetable . . . to get rid of any bitterness).

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  • JoJo 8/14/2009 10:40:41 AM

    I have Poke plants growing wild in my backyard that I have been trying to keep under control for years because when I first moved to the area, I was told by neighbors that the plant was poisonous. I've been digging and digging and DIGGING for years trying to get rid of it, and here I could have been EATING it!!

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