Wild Greens

MEMOIR Wild Greens Sidney Saylor Farr "WILD SALLET IS GOOD FOR YOU," my Granny Brock was fond of saying. "It is rich in vitamins, and it tones up the system. You can find wild lettuce, pepper grass, sheep's tongue, poke, creasies, and crow's foot in almost any field. Granny Brock and I would go into the hills and hunt lamb's quarters, woolen britches, what she called "shouny" ("it takes land facing north to grow shouny," she said). "Dock is good but you must pick it very young. There's yellow dock, narrow dock, and burdock." You do not have to go to the fields and hills to pick the wild varieties, however, to have a good "mess" of greens in the spring and summer. Mustard, turnip greens, kale, and spinach from the garden are good mixed together and cooked this same way. Cooked or Raw Greens Pick a basket of curly dock, dandelion leaves, watercress, and wood sorrel. Gather a few wild onions and chop them up with mixed greens. Serve with oil and vinegar dressing. Alternatively, cook them together in a kettle; drain off the cooking water, squeezing out excess liquid, and serve with green onions, white vinegar dressing, and hot cornbread. Most of the lore of wild "sallet" came from the Indians. It is said that in addition to greens, they knew and ate 278 different kinds of berries and fruits. One of their sweets was serviceberry cake. They gathered the delicious red berries and pounded them into a paste, and then, after pressing the paste into cakes, they dried them in the sun. They also made blackberry cakes in this manner. Early white settlers learned from the Indians how to do this along with many other things. In gathering wild greens, however, remember that not all plants are safe to eat such as poison ivy, nightshade, etc. If you don't know wild greens, don't take a chance. A favorite green was poke. It comes up early in April and must be eaten while the plants are young and tender. Poke was cooked and 58 fried different ways by different cooks. I always thought the way my mother fixed poke was the best way of all. Young leaves were gathered early in the spring, taken from stalks less than one foot tall. When parboiled in two changes of water of several minutes each and boiled in a third water until tender, they are good, especially with added butter, vinegar and bacon bits. Green Poke Gather poke shoots, cut off above the ground because the roots are poison. Cook leaves and stems together enough to wilt, then drain the water. Rinse the parboiled poke in cold water, squeezing out excess liquid. Fill the kettle with fresh water and again parboil a minute or two; rinse. Fill the kettle with fresh water, add salt to taste, and cook until tender. Mix shortening and butter half to half in iron skillet and add drained poke. Break three or four eggs over top of mixture and scramble with the greens. Poke cooked this way tastes a bit like very good, very tender broccoli. Use white vinegar as dressing if desired. Pokeweed is a large, perennial native plant that grows up to eight feet tall. The leaves are large with large stems. When the plant ages, the stems and leaf veins become red tinged. At maturity, the drooping white flowers turn into shiny purple or black berries. Warning: Berries, roots, and mature plants are considered poisonous and are therefore best used as new, young growth. Also, any red-tinged plant material should be discarded. To avoid collecting part of the toxic root, do not cut below ground level. Pokeweed is found throughout the United States in disturbed soils, often along roadsides and at the edge of woods. Its species is Phytolacca Americana, and it is called by several names to include inkberry, poke sallet, pigeonberry and pokeberry. As we have become dependent on a very fragile system not operated generally in our best interests, we have also overlooked the principles of seedtime and harvest. Wild edibles are a renewable food resource that thrives in harsh conditions and requires...