Polk salad

[Rihanna]

It is a plant that grows in the south. It is very common in Georgia. It grows on a stalk and has green leaves. The plant can reach several feet tall by summer. I have seen them 6 feet tall. In the summer it produces red berries that birds love. The leaves are boiled, rinsed then cooked in bacon fat or lard with onions or eggs. It tastes like spinach. The tender stalks are chopped, coated in flour and fried, and tastes like okra. I have eaten tis wild plant all my life, and love it! It is said you can not harvest the plants once they produce berries. Old wives tales are once the plants produce berries they are poisionous, but birds do eat them and are not affected by them.

[Sonia]

Polk salad is a toxic plant containing phytolaccatoxin and phytolaccigenin. These substances are toxic to mammals and may cause death. Polk salad is however eaten in the Southeren United states. The young greens should be boiled and drained three times to purge the toxins before they are fried in hot oil or bacon fat with eggs. Polk salad likley gained popularity in the south during hard times when people had little else to eat.

[PussyCat]

A short, hardy, rugged bush which grows in the southern United States, which is sometimes boiled and eaten for food.