Pick Poke Weed for Profit

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A young poke weed shoot of
A young poke weed shoot of "canning size."
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Mature poke is poisonous.
Mature poke is poisonous.
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Poke weed grows abundantly along fence rows.
Poke weed grows abundantly along fence rows.

I’d been aware of the culinary possibilities of young poke weed (Phytolacca americana) for years. It’s one of the first wild greens I eat each spring, cooking the finger-sized shoots like asparagus and the tender leaves like spinach.

I also knew that some people here in eastern Oklahoma pick poke to sell, since the sign reading “We buy poke, 5¢ a pound” had gone up in front of the local gas station as it does every spring. It never occurred to me to harvest and market any “extra” greens myself, however, since I figured I’d need to collect an incredible number of the four-inch-tall spears (the size I usually gather for eating) to make such a venture worthwhile.

That’s what I thought anyway, until one day last May when a young woman in a pickup truck stopped and knocked on the door.

“Mind if I pick your poke?” she asked.

“Help yourself,” I answered. (After all, we have several acres infested with the weed.) “But I’m afraid it’s already too large to be really tender.”

  • Published on Jul 1, 1979
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