Wednesday, July 31, 2013

CANNING POKE GREENS OR JUST PLAIN POKE

This is from a local friend who shared her canning of poke salad
Poke - canned

It takes a lot of poke to make enough to can. Two very full kitchen trash bagsof tender stem tops will yield about 2 gallons of cooked poke depending on how close you trim the leaves. Some people prefer no stems in their poke (like spinach) and some prefer some of the more tender stems in their poke.

Wash poke leaves in water several times. We set up an assembly line: strip leaves off stems and cut the stem ends then move thru two or three water baths to the cutting board. Cut bundles of washed leaves in 1 inch strips. Put in large pot with boiling water. Stir and cook until poke looses its bright green color and becomes dull green. Pour off the water (oxalic acid). Cover with fresh water and stir to rinse the cooked leaves. Pour off this second water and add just enough water to cover. At this point, the cooked poke can be cooled and placed in freezer bags. To can, heat back up. Fill clean canning jars to within 1 inch of the top, packing the poke tightly to remove the air bubbles. Top off with canning salt. (pints get 1/2 tsp and quarts get 1 tsp). Seal with hot sterile lids. Water bath for 3 hours or pressure can at 15 pounds for 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.


Today we put up 15 quart bags in the freezer and pressure canned 19 pints. We had 7 or those white kitchen trash bags full. the stems ends and trimmings went to the chickens who stripped every little tidbit off those stems.

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