Pokeweed- OT?

[Rosemary C Hyde PhD]

I was taught by my herbalist informants in the Missouri Ozark Mountains (rural South Central US) that poke (phytolacca) is a perfectly edible and praiseworthy igredient for salads or for mixed greens (boiled), as long as it is picked in early spring. It's one of the spring greens that people historically swore by to "thiin the blood" once winter had passed. Once the characteristic red stems start to develop, it becomes poisonous and should be avoided as a food plant. (of course, to my amateur eyes, it's only recognizable once it gets red stems, but that's another point -- I stuck to greens whose identity was unequivocal, for myself). What was meant by thinning the blood or why that was a good thing to do after winter were rather hazy concepts -- just what people had always done -- although I suspect that it simply refers to the dietary deprivation of fresh produce during winter months before the advent of worldwide distribution of produce, and these wild greens appeared long before any cultivated vegetables could come to tables from a garden and hence represented the first opportunity each year to remedy that deficiency. Rosemary

[andyh]

I think it is also in the Hoxsey cancer internal formula--if I recall correctly, one of Hoxsey's relatives discovered anti-tumor properties of phytolacca/pokeweed in a case of horse cancer. So in herbal form, it likely has some sort of cleansing action--and if cancer is in some cases a case of backed up toxic overload from dysfunctional organ elimination--then "thinning of the blood" is a close approximation of "spring cleaning".
Best,
Andy

Rosemary C Hyde PhD wrote: