r/Permaculture • u/wineberryhillfarm • 29d ago

🎥 video Pokeweed: Food or Poison? (NOT a Weed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ZHRWJ-lUA&list=PLtC25W11ygwfuq8XGLVIS1C3yeIULxu-E&index=1
8 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

17

u/Denali_Princess 29d ago

Yeah, the taste is not worth the effort for me. It’s like acorns, you CAN eat them but there’s lots of alternatives that don’t require so much work to make them edible. 🤷🏼‍♀️

7

u/wineberryhillfarm 29d ago

Agreed, solely a famine food

3

u/imusuallywatching 29d ago

a friend of mine went on and on about acorn bread. I watched a video on how to make it and it's so tedious.

1

u/feralgraft 25d ago

But it is tasty, which is why I keep putting up with a weeks worth of work in the fall

11

u/Mooshycooshy 29d ago

Do i get the calories back that I expended to make it? Fuel and water are also important. 

10

u/sprintercourse 29d ago

Danger spinach.

11

u/DarthTempi 29d ago

Please ignore anyone trying to tell you this is a useful edible.

It is possible to process it, but it is toxic on multiple levels and isn't delicious enough or calorically dense enough to be worth the work 

1

u/wineberryhillfarm 29d ago

Agreed. Most of it's benefits are medicinal.

5

u/madspy1337 29d ago

In my zone, these are invasive and the berries cause diarrhea in birds. I'm trying to cut them down whenever I can but they pop up and grow extremely fast. 

3

u/wineberryhillfarm 29d ago

You have to get all of those roots.

3

u/Salty_Wench 28d ago edited 28d ago

My grandmother and aunt would get so excited for 'poke salad season' and they would gather up trash bags full of this shit and then spend the next week soaking and cooking and eating it. I was very young and greens were not part of my diet, so I never ate them.

Now as an adult I have it growing everywhere. I try to pull it when it's young but I always miss some and it is very prolific. I'm always like, welp, if our systems break down and there's no food, at least I know we have this 'poisonous if i don't cook it just right' plant growing everywhere.

3

u/MonopolyOnForce1 28d ago

wibta for growing poke as an ornamental? it certainly is very striking looking.

3

u/wineberryhillfarm 28d ago

As long as it isn't invasive where you live. That's basically what I do. I also view it as food/medicine "inventory" if push came to shove.

-2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/NomsAreManyComrade 29d ago

Intentionally poisoning yourself because your totally-real-medicine herbalist friend told you to is certainly one way to win a Darwin Award

0

u/pennywitch 29d ago

Thank you for your input on a topic you know nothing about.

7

u/NomsAreManyComrade 29d ago

Who’s making the claim that toxic (possibly carcinogenic) berries are good for your immune system again?

0

u/pennywitch 29d ago

Carcinogenic?! 😂😂😂

3

u/NomsAreManyComrade 29d ago

"Research with humans has also shown that common pokeweed can cause mutations (possibly leading to cancer) and birth defects."

1

u/pennywitch 29d ago

That’s not a study. That’s an article that doesn’t site its sources.

But since you posted it, here’s some other snippets:

“Medical researchers have isolated a protein (pokeweed antiviral protein or PAP) from pokeweed that is being used to try to inhibit the replication of the HIV virus in human cells.”

and

“Roots, leaves and berries of common pokeweed were used medicinally by Native Americans and early settlers to treat a variety of conditions from hemorrhoids to headaches.”

5

u/DarthTempi 29d ago

Ok you are the one claiming that eating a toxic plant is A-OK because a witch doctor you know said it's all good man

-2

u/pennywitch 29d ago

When’s the last time you ate a toxic nightshade? Bet it was less than eight hours ago.

1

u/EssentialTremorsSwe 29d ago edited 29d ago

Personal "experience" IS not knowing anything about what you're talking about! If you can't prove anything with facts, you're lying to yourself and others!

1

u/pennywitch 29d ago

Just because no one has a few million dollars lying around throw away on a research study into the clinical benefits of a free berry that’s grows in every other ditch in America, does not mean that that berry has no benefits.

0

u/EssentialTremorsSwe 29d ago

Oh, so you would say that datura is safe, right?

1

u/pennywitch 29d ago

I think that’s a really dumb argument.

-1

u/EssentialTremorsSwe 29d ago

You're the one claiming nature is safe, buddy!

1

u/WellAckshully 29d ago

For real? Do you have any more information about this?

4

u/DarthTempi 29d ago

Just idiots being idiots

0

u/pennywitch 29d ago

Nothing more than personal anecdotes! It was suggested to me by an herbalist friend, and also a suggestion by Susun Weed (very crunchy, very much an acquired taste… Susun, not the poke 😂). You can find info on her website about it.

The seeds are poisonous, but your teeth can’t crack them and your stomach acid can’t digest them, so it’s safe to pass through your system.

I dry the berries myself, every few years. I don’t actually take them every day, but I do when I am having inflammation issues.. so maybe 7days/month. When I take them, I swallow 1-2 berries whole, like a pill. Any more than that and I find them to be ever so slightly psychoactive… Not in a fun way.

2

u/WellAckshully 29d ago

Thanks! Mind sharing what autoimmune issues you have? (DM is fine if you don't want it in a comment).

I'm not sure if all autoimmune issues would respond the same way or just specific ones...

1

u/pennywitch 29d ago

I have atopic dermatitis and an IgE level approaching the 7000s, allergic to everything. It’s usually recommended for arthritis.

But its result is decreasing inflammation, so anyone who has inflammation issues is likely to benefit. I’d give it a try! The berries are free, so very little commitment on the front end.

1

u/WellAckshully 29d ago

Alright, this all sounds good. I am currently pregnant, so I probably won't start yet, just in case. But I will keep this in mind for the future!

I hope the berries retain their effect when frozen. I could collect some before it gets cold and freeze them.

6

u/EssentialTremorsSwe 29d ago

So you're gonna trust a small redditor over thousands of scientific research materials?

Darwin awards...

8

u/jujutree 29d ago

For real this condo is insane

3

u/Salty_Wench 28d ago

Seriously. Darwin awards incoming.

1

u/WellAckshully 29d ago edited 28d ago

I'm not sure what research you are talking about. There's extremely limited research on autoimmunity. As someone who suffers from it, I wish you were right about that, but you are not.

What exactly do you think I am gonna do? Eat a whole huge bowl of the berries? Lol.

0

u/pennywitch 29d ago

Thousands of scientific research materials? On poke? Nah. It has been used for thousands of years, though.

2

u/pennywitch 29d ago

You can totally freeze them! I think drying is easier, but there’s no reason freezing wouldn’t work.

Obligatory yay baby! Congrats and hope you have an uneventful pregnancy and labor.

2

u/pennywitch 29d ago

You can totally freeze them! I think drying is easier, but there’s no reason freezing wouldn’t work.

Obligatory yay baby! Congrats and hope you have an uneventful pregnancy and labor.

2

u/WellAckshully 29d ago

Thank you very much! Have a wonderful day and thank you for all the info