Poke greens: collect tender young shoots of poke six to eight inches high, in the spring. Do not cut below surface of ground as root is poisonous. Wash and cook leaves and stems together, parboiling two times (pouring off water each time after boiling a few minutes). Boil in third water until tender, salting to taste. Drain and top with slices of hard-boiled egg. Or put three tablespoons grease in iron fry pan, add salt. Fry greens. You can scramble three eggs in it, or cook with a streak o’fat and streak o’lean. Or add little spring green onions. Or add pepper sauce or apple vinegar.
Poke sallet: put greens in a boiler of cold water; wash two or three times. Drain off all the water. Fry in pan of hot grease. Add half teaspoon of salt. Let cool. Beat two eggs and stir in after greens have cooled. Serve with vinegar or pickle juice.
Fried poke stalks: cut whole poke plant off level with ground when young (four to seven inches high). Wash. Slice like okra. Roll in a mixture of salt, pepper, flour. Fry in grease until brown on outside and tender on inside.
Poke soup: take leaves and stalks when about six inches high. Boil, adding meat gravy and a little corn meal to thicken, until tender.
Poke-tuna roll: spread cooked poke leaves flat; put tuna fish along middle. Roll leaves to enclose the tuna fish.
Poke pickles: collect very young stalks, scrape, remove leaves, and pack in jars. Combine one cup vinegar, half cup sugar, one tablespoon salt, one stick cinnamon, several whole cloves. Boil, pour over poke, and seal.
Pokeberry wine: [While many people believe pokeberries are poisonous, Mrs. Carrie Dixon swears the wine is good medicine for rheumatism.] Gather ripe pokeberries, wash, and place in crock. Cover with cheesecloth and let set until it ferments. Strain off juice and sweeten to taste. Take a spoonful when your rheumatism acts up.
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) (family Portulacaceae)
(pussley, pigweed)
A common weed in gardens or cultivated fields, purslane grows flat on the ground, with thick radiating stems, and small, pinkish fleshy leaves. Small yellow flowers in the leaf axils open only when the sun is shining. Seeds are in small lidded capsules.
ILLUSTRATION 18 Purslane
Purslane is rich in vitamin C. The whole plant is edible before flowering, and adds bulk to other greens. Someone said, “It tastes sort of indefinite.” Young shoots can be added to soups as a substitute for okra, or pickled. Poultices of purslane were once used for inflammation of the eyes.
Pussley casserole: cook, drain, and chop fine. Add eggs and cracker crumbs, or crumbled cornbread. Bake. Top with grated cheese just before serving. Or put the cooked greens in baking dish with bread crumbs, onion or poke greens, and beaten egg. Bake at low heat.
Fried purslane: cook lightly, drain, chop, and mix with corn meal and beaten egg. Fry in drippings or bacon grease. Or fry bits of ham or salt pork, add vinegar and brown sugar, and simmer. Add chopped pussley. Serve hot.
Pussley salad: wash well and chop fine. Mix with salt, oil, and vinegar. Add cress or peppergrass for sharper flavor. Or add purslane to cress and dandelion, serve with vinegar and chopped hard-boiled egg.
Pickled pussley: cook wild onions with vinegar and one-quarter cup ground mustard seed. Simmer, strain, pour over pussley tips.
Pussley dumplings: chop fine. Mix with biscuit dough, salt, pepper, and butter. Make into balls, drop into soup or stew.
Chickweed (Stellaria media) (family Caryophyllaceae)
(birdseed, starweed, starwort, winterweed, satinflower, tongue grass)
ILLUSTRATION 19 Chickweed
Chickweed is a naturalized native of Europe, grows all year, and can be gathered in the winter months. It is an annual growing to eight inches high, with weak stems, and succulent, bright green leaves. Flowers are small, white, and star-shaped.
The whole plant is edible before flowering, and a good source of vitamin C in winter time. It can be used as a potherb, or in salads, or in soup instead of okra. It is good mixed with sheep sorrel, or peppergrass, or more sharply flavored plants. It was once believed to be a medicine to heal and soothe cancers.
The closely related mouse-ear (Cerastium) is also edible, but less flavorsome as the whole plant is covered with woolly hairs.
Creamed chickweed: parboil, strain, chop fine. Reheat with milk, butter, salt, and pepper.
Peppergrass (Lepidium virginicum) (family Cruciferae)
(bird’s pepper, poor man’s pepper, tongue grass)
ILLUSTRATION 20 Peppergrass
Peppergrass is an annual weed, naturalized from Europe, and common in waste places. It grows to twenty inches tall with branched stems and small leaves. Tiny white flowers are followed by flat, peppery seed capsules. Young leaves are used in greens or raw in salads, and the seeds as a substitute for pepper.
Garden cress, or tongue grass (Lepidium sativum), is sometimes planted in gardens, and escapes or runs wild. It has bright green, very peppery leaves, and round flat peppery pods. Seeds of both cresses can be ground and mixed with vinegar and flour as a substitute for mustard.
Greens: peppergrass is good with poke salad. It is not quite as tender as poke salad, and must be cooked five to seven minutes, when used in combination. Or mix it with other greens such as dandelions, lamb’s quarters, mouse-ear (chickweed), dock, or wild lettuce. Just cook peppergrass like cresses or turnip greens.
Peppergrass sauce: mix seeds with vinegar and a little salt. Use as a sauce on fish.
Pepper substitute: “You know the wild pepper plant? It blooms and has seed on it, just like little seeds in the pod of peppers, and you use that for seasoning.” Use in salads or on tomatoes (Mrs. Mann Norton).
Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) (family Cruciferae)
(mother’s heart, caseweed, St. James wort, poor man’s pepper, topwort, clapper)
I LLUSTRATION 21 Shepherd’s purse
Shepherd’s purse is another common annual weed, growing to eighteen inches high. Flowers are white and followed by flat, heart-shaped seed capsules.
The young leaves can be cooked and added to salads; or the seeds used in salads, or ground and mixed with vinegar as a substitute for mustard. Use in the same manner as peppergrass in any of the same recipes.
Juice of shepherd’s purse on a piece of cotton will stop a nosebleed.
Wild radish (Raphanus rhaphanistrum) (family Cruciferae)
Wild radish grows to five feet high and is found in waste places. Leaves are coarsely toothed. Flowers are white or pale violet or yellowish with darker veins. Seeds are in a jointed pod.
Young leaves are used in salads with cooked greens, or in meat sauce. Young pods are cut up in salads.
ILLUSTRATION 22 Wild radish
Mustards
All of the mustards can be lumped together in terms of edibility, and any of them can be used in any of the recipes. Cultivated collards, turnip greens, and cultivated mustard varieties can escape or naturalize and grow wild in old garden spots. All these members of the mustard family are characterized by having flowers with four crosslike petals, and a smarting taste. All of the mustards contain vitamins A, B, B-2, and C, and minerals very important to health. Leaves of all should be gathered when plants are very young and tender. Their pungent odor will identify the plants at once. Most of them are best if first cooking water is drained off. They are good “blood purifiers” and much-favored spring tonics.
ILLUSTRATION 23 Kenny Runion with wild mustard.
White mustard (Brassica hirta) (family Cruciferae)
(pale mustard, kedlick)
An erect, winter annual, occurring in cultivated fields and low places, white mustard is a native of Europe naturalized in this country. Leaves are rough, hairy, and greatly dissected. Pale yellow flowers are followed by bristly seed pods. Rich in vitamin C and sulfur, young leaves are used in salads, greens, and in sandwiches, and seeds ground up for mustard or mustard sauce.
Black mustard (Brassica nigra)
(warlock)
This is another native of Europe, very we
edy in cultivated fields. Leaves are large and very coarse, and strongly flavored. Clusters of four-petaled flowers are bright yellow. Leaves are edible when very young and tender. Seeds, when mature, are ground for prepared mustard. In olden days, black mustard was used in love potions to overcome lassitude in females.
Indian mustard (Brassica juncea)
(Chinese mustard)
This mustard is very similar to white mustard, but the leaves are smooth and covered with a bloom. Flowers are bright yellow. The leaves are edible when young.
Charlock (Brassica kaber)
(field mustard, kedluck, shellick, hevuck, field kale)
An annual weed, charlock grows to two feet high and is naturalized in waste places. Leaves are yellow-green, rough, coarsely toothed, and are very strong smelling. Bright yellow flowers are followed by hairy pods. The leaves are edible and rich in vitamin C.
Greens: parboil greens, drain, and cook again. When you cook mustard, the secret is to add some sugar to a big pot of greens to take out the bitterness. Add chopped onion, salt and pepper, or bits of fatback and grease. Another favorite recipe for mustard is to take three large ham hocks; two chopped medium onions; one quart water; three pounds greens; three tablespoons bacon fat; one teaspoon salt; one-fourth teaspoon red pepper flakes; and freshly ground black pepper. Boil the hocks and onions slowly for over an hour. Chop greens in small pieces; add to ham hocks; add seasonings; cover and simmer one hour until greens are tender. Then serve with cornbread.
Mustard buds: gather buds just before they open. Cook, drain, serve with sauce made of prepared mustard and mayonnaise. (Tastes like broccoli.)
Prepared mustard: grind mature mustard seeds; mix with flour, water, and vinegar. Serve with meat or fish.
Flavoring: add tiny young mustard leaves to sandwiches, or put in deviled eggs.
Mustard flowers: gather newly opened blooms. Cook in boiling water. Remove from heat, add butter or bacon fat.
Mustard-ramp soup: clean and wash leaves. Heat one quart milk, almost to boiling. Meanwhile melt bacon fat in skillet, add chopped ramps, cook until brown. Add salt, pepper, flour, and mustard. Cook five minutes. Add milk and simmer.
Water cress (Nasturtium officinale) (family Cruciferae)
Water cress is a perennial, introduced from Europe and naturalized in cold, limestone-based streams. Stems grow to ten inches and recline weakly. The dark green leaves are small and scalloped and very pungent to taste or smell; they are often used raw in salads to give a spicy, tangy flavor. Small white flowers appear in April and May. The whole plant is rich in iron and vitamins A, B, and C, and is prized for salads, sandwiches, or soups. Raw cress, chopped fine, mixed with mayonnaise and served on whole wheat bread, makes delicious sandwiches.
ILLUSTRATION 24 Dean Beasley with a clump of water cress she has just picked out of a nearby stream for noonday salad.
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) (family Cruciferae)
ILLUSTRATION 25 Horseradish
Horseradish, native to Europe, is planted in gardens, but it also persists around old house sites, or naturalizes in rich ground. It has large, rather crinkled roots, somewhat like those of dock, but pungently flavored and odorous. Flowers appear in midsummer on high branched stalks. The deep, white, very pungent roots are edible, and supposed to be an excellent spring tonic. They were once used for dyspepsia, rheumatism, scurvy, and hoarseness, made into a tea of one teaspoon ground roots to one cup of boiling water. Eating horseradish is a spur to digestion. It is also supposed to expel kidney stones.
Some people say the young leaves are edible; others say that they are not good to eat. They are extremely pungent and could probably be used only when very young and tender.
Relish: dig roots in early spring. Grate and cover with vinegar. A little salt and pepper may be added, or a touch of sugar. Beets may be added for color. Dill seeds or honey may be added if desired.
Horseradish sauce: three tablespoons butter, one tablespoon flour, one and one-half cups boiling beef stock and horseradish to taste are mixed together until smooth. Serve over meat or fish.
Mix very young leaves with purslane or pigweed. The liquid makes good pot liquor with corn pone.
Food preservation: “It looks quite a bit like mustard, but the roots are as hot as any red pepper you ever saw. You know, we didn’t have a lot of refrigerators to keep things in back then. They’d get it and wash it and slice it up and put it in pickles to keep them from having that mold that comes over the top of them when they set” (Mrs. Selvin Hopper).
Creases (Barbarea verna) (family Cruciferae)
(dry land cress, upland cress, herb barbara, St. Barbara’s cress, bitter cress, poor man’s cabbage, scurvy grass, yellow rocket, rugula)
ILLUSTRATION 26 Jake Waldroop with a clump of young creases from his cornfield.
This cress grows to two feet high in damp ground, along streams, and in old fields. It is a common weed naturalized from Europe. Dark green, divided, basal leaves appear in late fall, and can be gathered all winter. In late spring the plant has a stalk of bright yellow, four-petaled flowers. Seed pods are one inch long, slender and slightly curved.
Winter cress (Barbarea vulgaris) is very similar in appearance, with large, more deeply cut leaves.
This plant was named for St. Barbara’s Day, December 4, for one could gather the green leaves from December on. The leaves are sharp-tasting, very like water cress, and can be cooked or used raw in salads. The Barbareas are sometimes cultivated under the name “upland cress.”
Mrs. Norton told us, “They bloom yeller all over a cornfield, that’s creases. They have the same seed on them as mustard.” The root is a tiny bulb but Ethel Corn says, “That part ain’t fit to eat.”
Greens: pick, wash, and boil in water with piece of fat meat until tender, cooking slowly. Or parboil them. Take out of water and put in frying pan with grease. Fry five minutes with a little salt. Pick more greens than you think you need, as they shrink. Serve with vinegar or dill pickles, or cook and season as you would spinach. When greens are older, cook in two waters, throwing cooking water away. Aunt Arie Carpenter likes to put in a piece of middlin’ meat in the morning to boil. Boil that for at least two hours, or as long as it takes to get it tender. Take the grease off the meat; add it to a pot of water and bring to a boil. Add cleaned creases and boil for thirty minutes. Mustard may be done the same way.
Cress salad: toss together lightly, two cups finely cut creases, one-fourth teaspoon salt, one tablespoon salad oil, one tablespoon salad oil, one tablespoon vinegar, one tablespoon French dressing. Or chop young leaves, mix with sliced radishes, oil, and vinegar.
Sandwiches: add chopped cress leaves and peppergrass seeds to sandwiches.
Fried creases: fry fatback meat in heavy pot, preferably old black dinner pot. Have creases washed. Take meat out, leaving grease in pot. Shake out creases and drop in hot grease, mixing thoroughly with grease. Add just enough water to keep from sticking to pot. Add salt, as desired, and cook about twenty minutes, or until tender. Stir often.
Cooked buds: gather buds of cress. Pour boiling water over buds. Let stand half minute. Drain. Cover with fresh boiling water. Boil three minutes. Drain. Season with salt, pepper, and butter. (Tastes like broccoli.)
Spring cress (Cardamine hirsuta) (family Cruciferae)
Spring cress is found growing in all damp places, with a purplish stem, and many basal, finely cut leaves. The stem is topped with a cluster of very small, white, four-petaled flowers. Seed pods are very slender.
ILLUSTRATION 27 Spring cress
Bitter cress (Cardamine pensylvanica) is very similar, and is found in wet places, often growing in the water.
Bulbous cress (Cardamine bulbosa) also grows in wet places, with long round leaves and white flowers. It grows from a bulb-like root.
The foliage of all the Cardamine cresses can be used in greens or salads, and can be substituted in any recipe using creases. Leaves are especially good raw in salads.
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sp; Toothwort (Dentaria diphylla) (family Cruciferae)
(turkey mustard, turkey salad, turkey cress, crinkleroot, pepper-root).
A small plant with creeping stems, toothwort has three-parted leaves veined with white. Stems and underside of leaves may be purple. The white, four-petaled flowers grow in a cluster and are very showy. Both the leaves and the bulbous roots are edible. Turkey mustard grows in rich woodlands, deciduous coves, and along mountain streams.
ILLUSTRATION 28 Turkey mustard
Dentaria laciniata, crowfoot or turkeyfoot, has leaves divided into narrow segments. This grows in colonies in rich woodlands.
Peeled roots or young leaves add flavoring to salads, but a very little goes a long way. “You talk about something strong, it’s strong. It grows on branches and tastes like tame mustard. It can be used as a tonic for old people in the spring,” said Harley Carpenter.
“It’s a right tasty little weed,” said Delia Williams. “It will remind you of mustard quite a bit.”
Greens: pick leaves. Cut up in bite-size pieces and wash thoroughly. Place in bowl, pour hot grease over them, salt and serve. A quart basket of leaves will make two or three servings. If desired, pour a little vinegar over them. Or cut up the leaves and put bacon gravy over them and salt.
Wild Spring Plant Foods: The Foxfire Americana Library (7) Page 3