Frying Poke Sallet the Native Way

Not everyone can cook a poisonous weed and make it taste good. For Jackson County natives, poke sallet goes well with almost any dish, but most prefer to fry it.

Dale Smith is commander of Post 129 in American Legion and a native of Jackson County.

“My wife, she will, like I say, power boil it two or three times what they call poison out of it, or whatever, if it’s raw. and then she will fry it,” Smith said. “And put eggs in it, a certain amount of eggs, maybe meat, a little bit of pork something in it, to give it a little better taste. But basically, that’s about the only way.”

Some people can or freeze poke sallet and save it, Smith said.

Smith said boiling is important to it tasting good, but also getting the poison out of the plant.

Everett Vanhouser has lived in Jackson County for over seventy years and helps coordinate the annual Poke Sallet Festival.

Vanhooser said bacon grease and eggs make poke sallet taste the best.

“You could use some other kind of shortening,” Vanhooser said. “But bacon grease, you are going to get the best taste.”

After poke sallet comes to a boil and fried, poke sallet is ready to be eaten, said Vanhooser.

“And you will come with a product that is green. You can see the stems but they’ll be tender,” Vanhooser said. “And you can see the veins in the leaves, but they will be tender. And you’ll see little specks of eggs. ”

Smith said poke sallet tastes like other table greens.

“It tastes, with eggs in it, you can taste the eggs,” Smith said. “But to me, it is a go-between turnip greens and spinach.”

Smith and Vanhooser said they have never met anybody who got sick from eating poke sallet, even though it is poisonous.

The Annual Poke Sallet Festival in Gainesboro continues into Saturday, May 12.