Pokeberry wine

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Does anyone have a recipe for pokeberry wine. I do not need to make 40 gals. but a few bottles would nice. Thank you very much. Tim Price

-- Tim Price (TimNCaseyPrice@aol.com), December 10, 2000

Answers

DO WHAT???polk berrys are generaly regarded as poisonous are you confused with elderberrys? polk berrys were used in eourope as an adulterant to port wines but the affects were considered bad enough that cultivation of the plants was made ilegal in wine producing areas early in the 1800s.polk is Phytolacca Americana elder is Sambucus species mabey where you grew up somthing else was refered to as a polkberry wine.proced with caution

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), December 10, 2000.

Are you perhaps refering to chokecherry? If so, I have recipes for a dinner wine (dry) and a dessert wine (slightly port). If you contact E.C. Kraus wine and beer supply at (816) 254-7448, they will send you their latest catalog. They include a free 101 recipe book with your first order if it exceeds $15. The book is a $5 value and the supplies are reasonably priced and effective.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 10, 2000.

I would like to add that native elderberries, the red-berried ones, are also regarded as poisonous. I haven't personally tried it. The elderberries for wine should be the black ones, preferably named varieties as they have better flavour and tend to be sweeter.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), December 11, 2000.

Hi Tim..Good Grief..Don't be eating or drinking poke berries in any form.. ...they are toxic..You must mean another kind of berry.

-- Lynn (mscratch1@semo.net), December 11, 2000.

Hi Tim: The old timers around here make and drink poke berry wine. It doesn't seem to hurt them. I don't know their recipe, but I have heard them say they don't use yeast or anything to begin the fermentation.

This is what World Book has to say about poke weed. Pokeweed is a tall, branching perennial herb with greenish-white flowers and a red stem. It grows natively in waste places and along roadsides from Ontario to Florida, and west to Texas and Minnesota. It has been introduced into western North America and into other continents. Pokeweed grows 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3 meters) high. In fall, the berries ripen to a deep purple-black. The plant is known locally as poke, scoke, pigeonberry, pokeberry, poke salet, and inkberry.

The stems, leaves, seeds, and large fleshy roots of the pokeweed are poisonous. The plants must be cut off below ground level to kill them. The leafy sprouts are edible if cooked properly. The berries may be used as ink and food coloring. The roots and berries have been used to treat inflammation and skin diseases. Pokeweed is a source of several chemical compounds used in cancer research.

Scientific Classification. Pokeweed is in the pokeweed family, Phytolaccaceae. It is Phytolacca americana.

Contributor: Donna M. Eggers Ware, Ph.D., Curator of the Herbarium and Adjunct Associate Prof., Biology Department, College of William and Mary.

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-- Jim (catchthesun@yahoo.com), December 11, 2000.



Just pulled out my book Hoosier Home remedies By Varro Tyler,for anoyher post,and saw recipes for pokeberry wine,for arthritis.I too believe pokeberry to be poisonous,however this former Dean Of Pharmacy of Purdue,has a different opinion.He says the berries are much less poisonous than the root,and may even be quite safe.He said more research is needed,but there may be benefit to arthritics from pokeberry,via enhancement of the immune system.Keep posted,I guess.

The recipes by the way were put berries in wine or whiskey.Not what you were looking for.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 11, 2000.


According to the current issue of the "Journal of the American Herbalists Guild," which has an article on Poke (Phytolacca americana), the berries are less toxic than the root and green berries more toxic than ripe berries. It goes on to say that most poisoning from the berries occur in children, when eaten uncooked (I've taught my children to stay away from Poke!). Turkey poults have also been known to get sick from eating the berries. I think Poke is one of those plants that is extremely useful medicine if used wisely as it has a long history of treatment for cancer and arthritis. Otherwise, you can get sick from it if you don't know what you are doing. Not sure about making wine from the berries. It's possible with processing the ripe berries it will be okay?

Amy

-- Amy C. (acook@in4web.com), December 13, 2000.


It's my understanding (don't remember where I learned this) that the seeds are poisonous, though the ripe berries are not. People around here make pokeberry jelly. Also some eat a dried berry every day to ward off arthritis. I've not tried anything but the greens, myself. I would squeeze the juice before cooking and then use any berry wine recipe. And I would drink a very modest amount at a time.

-- Sam in W.Va. (snorris@dnr.state.wv.us), December 13, 2000.

Very interesting.... I have a goat that has sore knees a cronic condition. After eating Poke Berries I noticed significant improvement in his knees. However, after eating about 20 bunches or so of the berries he became rather ill. He recovered in a day or so. I stopped him from eating any more berries and his knees got worse. Whenever he eats the berries his swollen knees get better. Poke berries are powerful medicine.... for goats anyways.

-- Mark R. Kantor (Hoofprint@aol.com), November 23, 2001.

The seeds of the ripe pokeberry are toxic. The flesh of the ripe pokeberry is not toxic. The green berries are toxic along with every other portion of the plant to a greater or lesser degree. The young green shoots and the leaves can be safely cooked (as in NOT raw) and eaten though you should use two changes of water.

I'd cite sources but the one already cited above is as authoritative as anything I've got so would be redundant.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (live-oak@atlantic.net), November 23, 2001.



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