poke salad

plural poke salads · alternative poke salet · alternative poke sallet · alternative poke salat · alternative polk salad

1. countableuncountableA food made from boiled pokeweed leaves, which are poisonous unless cooked properly.

   The Harvard man went back into the kitchen and sat down at a rickety table covered with a red-checked oil-cloth. On it were spread the spoiled ham, a dish of poke salad, a corn pone, and a pot of weak coffee.

   1921, T. S. Stribling, Birthright

   2 more examples

   Whereas to most people, “salad” is made with raw greens, “poke salad” shoots and greens must be cooked, the cooking water changed and discarded several times. […] There are many documented deaths from eating improperly prepared “poke salad.”

   2013, Carole J. Skelly, Dictionary of Herbs, Spices, Seasonings, and Natural Flavorings, Routledge, →ISBN

   Despite the fact that the kudzu-like Phytolacca americana sprouts up all across North America, poke sallet, a dish made from the plant’s slightly-less-toxic leaves, is a regional thing, popular only to Appalachia and the American South.

   2019 October 3, Abby Carney, “How Did This Poisonous Plant Become One of the American South’s Most Long-Standing Staples?”, in Saveur, retrieved 06 Jun 2023

2. AppalachiaSouthern UScountableuncountablePokeweed, the leafy plant used to make such a dish.

   (see more at pokeweed)

   1 more example

   If some of ya'll never been down south too much / I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this / So that you'll understand what I'm talking about / Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods, and the fields / And it looks something like a turnip green / Everybody calls it polk salad

   1968, Tony Joe White, “Polk Salad Annie”, in Black and White

   Synonyms: poke, pokeweed, pocan

plural poke salads · alternative poké salad

1. countableuncountableA Hawaiian food made from diced raw fish, seasoning, diced fruit and vegetables, and sometimes rice.

   […] a wide range of creative seafood dishes (the Hawaiian-style poke salad with ahi tuna is a local favorite).

   2017, Fodor's Southern California: with Los Angeles, San Diego, the Central Coast & the Best Road Trips, Fodor's Travel, →ISBN

   Synonyms: poke bowl