poke salad en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /ˌpoʊk ˈsælɪt/ (Appalachia, obsolete, traditional)
- pōk săʹləd
- /ˌpoʊk ˈsæləd/
Etymology
poke (“pokeweed”) + salad or sallet. “Poke salad” and “poke sallet” mean the same thing—carefully boiled pokeweed. Uncooked pokeweed is poisonous. Given that “salad” connotes “raw,” many speakers favor the original “sallet” which connotes “cooked greens.”
Meanings
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(countable, uncountable) A 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: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:
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(Appalachia, Southern-US, countable, uncountable) Pokeweed, the leafy plant used to make such a dish.
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:(see more at pokeweed)
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| poke sallet | alternative | lexicographic | |
| poke salat | alternative | lexicographic | |
| polk salad | alternative | lexicographic | |
| poke salads | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| poke salet | alternative | lexicographic |