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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 1:39 pm 
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These are recipes from a 1969 North Carolina column describing how "granny doctors" back in the old days made poke berry wine, tonic and bitters.


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“Now, back when I was a boy, I recollect that my grandma made up a batch of poke berry bitters for her arthuritis. In the old days some folks made poke berry bitters and there was some who made poke berry wine.” He said. “There’s a big difference but grandma always told us younguns that the bitters was best for the rhematis.”

“Now there is three things about makin’ the bitters that’s important and don’t you forget ‘em. The poke berries are bound to be picked when they are reddish purple like, before they has been touched by frost. The bitters must be made in a rock crock or jar and a body must never add no water while it is in the makin’.”

“First thing you pick your poke berries when they turn the reddish purple color before frost has touched them. That’s when they are ripe and fullest with juice. Then you get a stone crock ‘cause it won’t do to make up your bitters in a metal tub or even glass.

“when you get your poke berries, you mash ‘em up. Don’t never wash them, just mash ‘em up like they come out of the field. If you wash ‘em, there might be some water left on ‘em and youwant to be sartin the inside of the crock is plum dry ‘cause grandma always said there’s to be narry a drap of water when makin’ the bitters.”

“a body can make up any size batch a body wants, but grandma always made hers like I’m a tellin’ you. She would mash up two measured gallons of poke berries, then she’d layer them.

“She’d put a layer of berries and a layer of sugar, a layer of berries and a layer of sugar until she had ‘em up to within a gallon of the top of the crock. Then she would set it in the corner nearest the hearth fire for it to ferment.”

The story is about a drink made from the mountain Poke Berry and old Jud had asked the obvious question in makin’—Why did she only fill the crock to within a gallon of the top when making the bitters?

Why son, so it wouldn’t spill over. When them poke berries got to workin’ they would bubble up and that space gave ‘em room to work in,” he answered. “the workin’ would take eight, maybe ten days, dependin’ on the weather, whether it was hot or cold.”

Then she would take ‘em when they finished workin’ and pour them in a flour sack.

“Fer every gallon of juice she would get, she added a pound of sugar

. She would put a lid on the crock with a hole in it and run a tube from the crock into a jug of water. Then she would seal the top air tight with beeswax.”

“Some folks would cover th crock with a bag of sand but grandma said her way was best. The juice in the crock was still workin.”

“Yes sir, when the bubbles stopped comin’ in the water through that tube sealed in the crock with beeswax, Grandma knew that the poke berry bitters was ready. She would stain it into jugs or jars and stopper ‘em good and tight.”

“For her arthuritis and rheumitis, she would take a tablespoon full after every meal. As long as she did, she never had a mite of trouble with the pains in her jints, and folks frou all around the settlement would come to get her bitters for their aches and pains.

“She would warn them though, ‘never take more than a tablespoon at a time, it might pisen a body ‘stead of curin’ ‘em’.”

“Now then,” he began after a pause,” There was a poke berry wine in the old days. It was different from the bitters although it had to be made in a stone crock just like the bitters.

“Grandma made her batches of wine by mashing up ten pounds of ripe juicy pokeberries gathered before frost had touched them. Then she’d put them in the crock and pour two and a half quarts of boiling water in on them and let it set for three days.

“Then she would strain that juice and water through a flour sack being sartin there was no seeds let in it . When she put the strained juice back in the crock she added two and one-half pounds of sugar. She would seal it up with beeswax just like she did the bitters and let it work off until the bubbling stopped.

“When the bubblin’ stopped, she strained it again and added a pint of corn likker to every gallon of the wine. Then she sould put it up in half-gallon jars and in each jar she would put some yaller root t hat she dug up.

“this poke berry wine with yaller root was a tonic-like, and good for the stomach, she claimed.”

“Puny folks who claimed they couldn’t eat, got to eatin’ like a hog after Grandma’s pok berry tonic fer a few days. Folks came from all around to get Grandma’s poke berry wine tonic.”

“Grandma set a heap of store on poke back in the old days. It’s a pity folks have forgot how to use it nowadays.”

“Poke bushes brow an awful big root. Grandma would dig that poke root, let it dry until she could grind it up into powder. In the fall of the year, she would gather the ripe poke berries, and Pik out three dozen of the biggest and juciest berries she could find.”

“ Why three dozen? I can’t say. I’m tellin’ you like she told me but she always said three dozen berries, not a single berry more nor a single berry less. Spoiled things if you didn’t get it exact, she said.”

“Grandma would mash up the poke berries and pour a measured pint of boiling water on them and let it set until real good an’ cool. Then she added a tablespoon of the powdered poke root”

“If a body would take one tablespoonful of that a day, they’d never have boils or pimples. Best blood purifier a body could get,”

“ Grandma told me she larned this remedy from an old Indian woman way back when she was just a young girl. Carbuncles and boils troubled folks a lot back in the old days but if a body took grandma’s poke berry blood purifier regular like, they never was troubled with such things.

“ Yep! There ain’t no doubt, the days of Granny Doctors and poke berry bitters is gone in these her mountains but I’d soon a body get them kinds of medicinals druther than what the doctors prescribe nowadays.

“The old stuff helped the arthuritis and rheumatis anyway. And you can’t beat that.”




Its a bit hard to know what "yellow root" is in this context and as a regional herb, but it could be:

Quote:
Yellow Root
Scientific Name(s): Xanthorhiza simplicissima Marsh. synon. with Zanthorhiza apiifolia . Family: Ranunculaceae (buttercups)

Common Name(s): Yellow root , parsley-leaved yellow root , yellow wart , shrub yellow root . Not to be confused with “yellow root,” also known as goldenseal ( Hydrastis canadensis L. ).

Yellow root has been used in folk medicine for mouth infections and sore throat, diabetes, and childbirth, and as an antibiotic, immunostimulant, anticonvulsant, sedative, hypotensive, uterotonic, and choleretic. However, research reveals no clinical data regarding the use of yellow root to treat any condition




http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclecti ... rhiza.html

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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 1:39 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 27, 2015 10:20 am
Posts: 515
POKE BERRY BITTERS, TONIC AND WINE

Three important points about making Poke
berry Bitters
1. Pick when reddish purple before affected
by frost.
2. Make in a rock crock or jar
3. Do not add water during the process
Don’t wash the berries before mashing.
The inside of the crock has to be dry and free
of water.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Jud’s Granny’s Poke berry Bitters

2 measured gallons of poke berries.
Layer berries and sugar in turn up to within a
gallon of the top of the crock.
Set near the fire to ferment until it stops working,
eight or ten days depending on the temperature.
The working of the brew will occupy
the space at the top of the crock.
When fermentation stops, strain through a
flour sack (or thin cotton bag) back into the
crock, making sure there are no seeds left
(these are poisonous).
Add a pound of sugar per gallon of juice.
Cover the crock with a lid and run a tube
through a hole in the lid into a jug of water.
Seal the top air tight with beeswax.
Allow fermentation to continue until no more
bubbles come through the tube into the water
jug.
Strain into jugs or jars and seal tightly.
For arthritis and rheumatism, take a tablespoonful
after every meal, but no more in case
it poisons the body.
----------------------------------------------------

Jud’s Granny’s Poke berry Wine.

(Original recipe from an old Indian woman
when Granny was a girl).
10 lbs ripe juicy pokeberries gathered before
frost has touched them.
Put in a crock and pour two and a half quarts
of boiling water on them. Leave for three
days.
Strain the juice and water through a flour sack,
making sure there are no seeds left in it.
Put the strained juice back in the crock and
add two and a half pounds of sugar.
Cover the crock with a lid and run a tube
through a hole in the lid into a jug of water.
Seal the top air tight with beeswax.
Allow fermentation to continue until no more
bubbles come through the tube into the water
jug.
When it stops bubbling, strain and add a pint
of corn liquor to each gallon of wine.
Put up in half gallon jars and add some yellow
root.
Taken as a tonic for the stomach and appetite.
(Yellow Root – Xanthorrhiza, Shrub Yellow
Root. Exceedingly bitter.
Jud’s Granny’s Poke berry Blood Purifier
Dig up a poke root and let it dry. Grind into
powder.
In the fall of the year, gather ripe poke berries
and pick out three dozen of the biggest and
juiciest berries.
Mash the poke berries and pour a measured
pint of boiling water on them. Allow to cool.
Add one tablespoon of the powdered poke root.

Take one tablespoonful a day for boils and
pimples.


Recollected by Jud and recorded by Mead
Parce in Town Topics in The Times News,
Hendersonville, NC Thurs Mar 27, 1969

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